Support Alice
Two ways to help, and they do different things.
You can give money straight to someone by scanning their code — it reaches them in seconds and we take nothing. Or you can fund the map, which pays for the unglamorous work of keeping thousands of listings accurate. Both matter. They just aren’t the same thing.
Giving directly
“Sorry, I don’t have any cash.”
It’s usually true now. Most of us stopped carrying notes and coins years ago, and the money that used to go into a cup on the footpath simply stopped — not because people became less generous, but because the means disappeared.
Alice gives every person who wants one their own PayID and a QR code. You scan it with your banking app and send whatever you like. It reaches them in seconds.
They show a code
Anyone using Alice can set up a wallet in about a minute. The app gives them a QR code — theirs, tied to their own account.
You scan it
Open your banking app and scan, the same way you’d pay anyone else. You choose the amount. No app to download, no account to make.
It arrives in seconds
The payment settles over the New Payments Platform almost immediately. They can see it land, and withdraw it to their own bank account.
Every cent reaches the person.
Alice takes no commission, no platform fee and no processing cut from money given this way. It never passes through our accounts — the payment goes from your bank straight to an account in their name. We couldn’t take a share even if we wanted to, because the money is never ours to touch.
It’s their money
The account is in their name and they control it. They decide what to spend it on, the same as anyone else with a bank account. Alice doesn’t restrict, monitor or approve how it’s used.
You’re not scanning a stranger’s link
PayID is bank infrastructure, not a third-party app. Before you confirm, your own banking app shows you who the account belongs to — exactly as it would for any other payment.
Prefer to give to the work itself? Fund the map instead — that pays for keeping listings accurate, which is a different job.
Funding the map
This is money for the service itself, not for an individual. Alice has no office, no advertising budget and no paid fundraisers — these are the actual line items.
Keeps a city current for a month
Covers the calls and checks that confirm opening hours and capacity across one city’s listings.
Onboards a new service
Verification, listing setup and provider training for one new shelter, kitchen or clinic.
Adds a regional town
Research and seed the map for a town that currently has no coverage at all.
Runs the whole map for a month
Hosting, mapping licences and database costs for every city Alice covers, for a month.
Why bank transfer, not card?
Card processors take roughly 1.75% plus 30¢ per donation. On a $30 gift that’s about a dollar — which happens to be most of what it costs us to verify a listing. Australia’s New Payments Platform moves money in seconds for effectively nothing, so we use that instead and the full amount arrives.
Make a donation
Choose an amount, then transfer using the details below from your banking app.
Payment details not yet configured.
Set NEXT_PUBLIC_DONATION_PAYID (or BSB and account number) in your environment to activate this panel. See web/README.md.
Alice never asks for card numbers, passwords or ID on this site.
How to give
Four ways to contribute money.
All of them land the full amount. We deliberately don’t take card payments, because the processing fees come out of the same pool that pays for verifying listings.
PayID
The fastest option. Open your banking app, pay to our PayID, done. Money arrives almost immediately and costs nothing to send or receive.
Bank transfer
Standard BSB and account number, for banks that don’t support PayID or if you prefer it. Same zero fees.
Monthly giving
Set up a recurring transfer in your banking app using the same details. Predictable income is what lets us commit to keeping a city current rather than doing it ad hoc.
Workplace giving
Many employers can deduct a regular amount pre-tax and some match it dollar for dollar. Ask your payroll team, and send us the details so we can complete their paperwork.
What happens after you give
- Your bank confirms it immediately — payments over the New Payments Platform settle in seconds, so your own transaction record is the receipt.
- Put your email in the reference if you’d like us to write back and tell you what it funded.
- Nothing recurring starts by itself. A one-off transfer is one-off. Monthly giving only happens if you set up a schedule in your own banking app, and you can stop it there without asking us.
Beyond money
Some of the most valuable help isn’t financial.
Alice runs on accurate information. An hour on the phone confirming that a shelter still opens at 4pm is worth more to the person walking there than the cash equivalent of that hour.
Verify listings
1–2 hours a month
The single most useful thing anyone does for Alice. You get a short list of services and ring each one to confirm opening hours and whether anything has changed. It’s the work that keeps the map honest, and it’s entirely doable from home.
Local knowledge
A few minutes
If you know a kitchen, laundry or clinic that isn’t on the map — or one that has closed or moved — tell us. Outreach workers, nurses and community members catch changes long before we do.
Professional skills
Project-based
We can use design, accessibility testing, translation, legal advice on privacy and incorporation, and bookkeeping. Pro bono hours from people who know their field go further than the equivalent in cash.
Tell services about us
One conversation
A listing is only as good as the provider keeping it current. If you work in or alongside the sector, pointing a service at the sign-up page grows the map faster than anything we can do from the outside.
Corporate partnership
Ongoing
Sponsoring a city funds verification, onboarding and support for a whole region. We’ll report back on exactly what your contribution covered — services added, listings verified, people reached.
In-kind services
Varies
Hosting and infrastructure credits, mapping or data licences, phone and SMS credit. If your company has spare capacity in something we already pay for, that’s a direct saving.
Want to help with something above?
Email hello@project-alice.com.au and say which one. For verification calls, tell us roughly how much time you have and which city you know best — that’s all we need to get you started.
If you run a service, list it on the map instead. It’s free and takes about five minutes.
A note on tax
Please don’t assume a donation to Alice is tax deductible. Deductibility in Australia requires deductible gift recipient endorsement, and you should confirm our current status with us before claiming anything. We’d rather say this plainly than have you find out at tax time.