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Make giving tangible

Choose something that matters and help put it in the hands of someone who needs it.

WHAT IS VIRTUAL GIVING MACHINE?

Instead of making a general donation, you choose something specific that someone genuinely needs. A meal. School supplies. Healthcare. Technology. An opportunity that could change a life. You choose what speaks to you and we will help turn that generosity into something real.

October Goal

Help fund 200 packs of diapers

Help caregivers keep young children comfortable with everyday essentials.

Help fund 200 packs of diapers

0/200

packs funded

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raised
$0
people supporting
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$15

DONATE

There’s no single right way to help, so start with what speaks to you.

Each item represents something that's genuinely needed by an individual, family, or entire community in Uganda. Some of these needs are small and others can change the direction of someone's life. All of them matter and make a big difference.

Choose the ones that mean something to you. It could be a meal, school tuition, healthcare, technology, or the tools someone needs to earn a living.

Pick something real and we'll help get it to where it can do some good.

Safe Drinking Water

Safe Drinking Water

$40

Help provide access to safe, clean drinking water for individuals and families in Uganda. Your contribution can support reliable water sources, storage, filtration, and other essentials that make c...
1 IN BAG
Groceries

Groceries

$60

A box of groceries can take a real weight off a family that is trying to stretch every meal. This donation helps provide everyday staples and fresh foods that can be used to prepare nutritious meal...
1 IN BAG
Community Health Day

Community Health Day

$50

Good healthcare is not always easy to reach. This donation helps bring basic health services, screenings, education, and care closer to families through a community-focused health day.
1 IN BAG
Wheelchair

Wheelchair

$200

Help provide a wheelchair to someone with limited mobility, giving them greater independence and easier access to school, work, family, and community activities. A wheelchair can make a meaningful ...
1 IN BAG
Sanitary Pads

Sanitary Pads

$20

Help provide girls with essential menstrual hygiene supplies so they can manage their periods with greater comfort, dignity, and confidence. Access to sanitary pads can also help students stay focu...
1 IN BAG
Hygiene Kit

Hygiene Kit

$10

Simple necessities matter. A hygiene kit helps provide everyday personal-care items that support cleanliness, dignity, comfort, and health for someone who may not otherwise have reliable access to ...
1 IN BAG
Tuition and Meals

Tuition and Meals

$30

Give a student something incredibly valuable: a tuition with fewer financial interruptions. This donation helps cover tuition and meals, providing consistency for both education and everyday nutrit...
School Shoes

School Shoes

$25

Provide a child with a durable pair of shoes for school and daily life. Proper footwear helps protect their feet while giving them something comfortable and dependable to wear as they learn, play, ...
1 IN BAG
Clothing

Clothing

$20

Help provide practical, everyday clothing for children and families in Uganda. Your contribution can support access to clean, comfortable clothing that meets basic daily needs while helping people ...
1 IN BAG
Home Solar System

Home Solar System

$150

A home solar system can make a huge difference for a family that does not have reliable access to electricity. It can provide light after dark, help children study in the evening, charge electronic...
1 IN BAG
Agriculture Supplies

Agriculture Supplies

$60

Farming is not just work, it is how they eat and how they earn an income. This donation helps provide practical supplies like seeds, tools, watering equipment, and other essentials that make it eas...
1 IN BAG
Animal for Local Family

Animal for Local Family

$5

This is a practical gift designed to keep producing value after the donation is made. A pig can become part of a family's small livestock operation, providing an opportunity for food, breeding, or ...
Solar Cooktop

Solar Cooktop

$30

A solar cooktop gives a family another way to prepare meals without relying as heavily on charcoal, firewood, or unreliable electricity. It uses the sun to help with everyday cooking, which can low...
1 IN BAG
School Supplies

School Supplies

$15

Pencils, notebooks, ream of paper, and basic classroom supplies should be ordinary things, but for some students they are a real barrier. This gift helps make sure a child can walk into class prepa...
1 IN BAG
School Uniform Set

School Uniform Set

$50

A school uniform is both practical and personal. It helps a student arrive dressed appropriately for class, feel like they belong with their classmates, and participate in school with confidence. I...
1 IN BAG
School Backpack

School Backpack

$15

Give a student a dependable place to carry everything they need for the day. A good backpack protects books and supplies, makes the trip to school easier, and is something a student can use every s...
1 IN BAG
Bicycle

Bicycle

$65

A bicycle can mean more than transportation. It can shorten a long walk to school, make getting to work possible, and give someone back hours of their day that would otherwise be spent traveling on...
1 IN BAG
Solar System for School

Solar System for School

$100

Reliable electricity can completely change what is possible inside a school. A solar system can help power lighting, computers, charging, educational technology, and other resources without dependi...
1 IN BAG
Business Startup Funding

Business Startup Funding

$50

A good idea often needs a little room to get started. This gift helps an aspiring entrepreneur purchase basic supplies, equipment, or inventory needed to turn a small business idea into real income.
1 IN BAG
6-Week Self-Reliance Course

6-Week Self-Reliance Course

$20

Sometimes the most valuable help is learning how to create your own next opportunity. This four-week course helps participants build practical skills, confidence, and a plan for becoming more finan...
1 IN BAG
3-Credit University Course

3-Credit University Course

$15

One class can be the difference between moving forward and having to wait another semester. This gift helps cover the cost of a three-credit university course for a student working toward a degree ...
1 IN BAG
Computers for Library

Computers for Library

$300

A library computer opens a door to far more than the internet. Students can research assignments, develop digital skills, access educational resources, and learn how to use technology that is incre...
1 IN BAG
Modest Computer Purchase

Modest Computer Purchase

$150

Technology can be expensive, but several smaller gifts can make one important purchase possible. This contribution covers part of the cost of a computer that can be used for education, training, wo...
1 IN BAG
Book for the Library

Book for the Library

$8

Put another book within reach of a student who wants to learn. This donation helps expand a local library with useful, engaging books students can return to again and again.
1 IN BAG
Outsourced Employee

Outsourced Employee

$X/HR

This gift supports paid employment for someone handling the behind-the-scenes work that keeps an organization moving. Data entry, records, organization, and administrative support may not be flashy...
Sports Equipment

Sports Equipment

$25

A ball, a set of equipment, and a place to play can bring a lot of kids together. This donation helps provide sports gear that gives students a chance to move, compete, practice teamwork, and simpl...
1 IN BAG
Musical Instrument

Musical Instrument

$25

Music gives students another way to learn, create, perform, and discover what they are capable of. This donation helps place an instrument into the hands of a student who may never have had the opp...
1 IN BAG
Toys & Games

Toys & Games

$50

Kids need time to play, laugh, learn, and just be themselves. Toys and games give children and babies something fun to look forward to while also helping with creativity, coordination, and social d...
1 IN BAG

Where your giving goes

A closer look at the people, purchases and delivery behind your gift.

Illustrative image: A local shopkeeper handing notebooks and school essentials to an adult purchaser across a shop counter.
  1. Choose and give Choose something that's meaningful. Your selection gives the contribution a clear purpose.

    Giving starts with a choice: search for an item that matters to you and meets the need for someone else. When your payment is confirmed, Shopify records the contribution and the item you selected. That is the starting point for connecting your giving to the work it will support. The tracking process we have build carries that purpose forward into purchasing and delivering the donation.

  2. Confirm the need Work with local people to understand who needs support, what is needed and how much.

    Listening is an important step in our process. We seek out local partners and community representatives to understand the needs, confirm quantities and identify an appropriate recipient or group. We aim to respond to what people need, rather than assume what would help.

    Needs are reviewed before a project is offered for giving, then checked again before purchasing. The record explains why the need was selected, what was agreed and who reviewed it. If the need changes, it is documented before money is committed to a different item.

    Checks before purchasing

    The intended record: the need and quantity, local partner, selection reason, reviewer and any changes to the original plan. Private recipient details would stay out of public updates.

  3. Purchase locally Buy close to the people receiving the items, and connect each purchase to a clear record.

    Our approach is to buy items in Uganda where they are needed. Local purchasing makes it easier to source suitable products, work with nearby suppliers, and avoid unnecessary international shipping. Overseas purchasing would be an exception, rather than the standard approach.

    The system we are building would connect each purchase to its giving purpose and record the supplier, items, quantities, currency, actual amount paid and receipt. Purchase costs should be distinguishable from payment fees, transport and other costs. If prices, availability or the plan change, the record should explain the difference rather than hide it.

    What we record

    Supplier and purchase date · Items and quantities · Currency and actual amount paid · Receipt · Giving purpose or batch · Any substitution or cost change.

  4. Deliver and confirm Get the items to the intended people and confirm what actually arrived.

    A purchase is only part of the journey. The planned delivery process would connect the purchased items to the intended recipient, group or local partner, then record the delivery date, items and quantities received, and confirmation of the handoff.

    If only part of a batch arrives, or delivery is delayed, the status should show that accurately. Photos may help explain the work when they are appropriate and shared with consent, but a photograph alone should not replace a delivery record. Recipient dignity and privacy should guide what is shared publicly.

    Delivery needs its own record

    The intended record: delivery date, items and quantities received, confirmation of receipt and any missing items or remaining deliveries. Public photos would be selected separately from private records.

  5. Report back Explain the progress, the spending and any changes, so the whole journey is easier to follow.

    Donors should be able to understand what happened after they gave. The reporting process we are building would bring together the approved purchasing and delivery records into clear updates: what was bought, what was delivered, what was spent and what is still in progress.

    Updates should also explain delays, substitutions, cost changes and any money remaining for the stated purpose. Money raised, money spent and items delivered are different facts and should be shown separately. The goal is a truthful picture of the work, including the parts that are unfinished, with private donor and recipient information kept out of public reports.

    Clear progress, even when plans change

    The intended update: current status, approved spending and delivery totals, remaining work or funds, changes to the plan and the date of the latest update.

Donation Stories

The people and stories behind the items you give.

  • Kato
    Jinja, Eastern Region, Uganda

    Kato

    A pair of school shoes

  • Beatriz Fernanda de Almeida Cavalcanti Costa
    Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

    Beatriz Fernanda de Almeida Cavalcanti Costa

    An acoustic guitar

  • Ana Lucía Rojas
    Mérida, Mérida, Venezuela

    Ana Lucía Rojas

    A selection of books

  • João Pedro Silva
    Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    João Pedro Silva

    A soccer ball

  • Grace Nabirye Namakula Nakayiza
    Kampala, Central Region, Uganda

    Grace Nabirye Namakula Nakayiza

    Fresh groceries and pantry essentials

  • Amina
    Jinja, Eastern Region, Uganda

    Amina

    A school backpack

  • María Alejandra González de la Cruz Mendoza
    Mérida, Mérida, Venezuela

    María Alejandra González de la Cruz Mendoza

    A hygiene kit with soap, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and a washcloth

  • Paulo Henrique Souza
    Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Paulo Henrique Souza

    Seeds, seedlings, gloves, and gardening hand tools

  • Sarah Namusoke
    Kampala, Central Region, Uganda

    Sarah Namusoke

    A laptop computer

  • Leo
    Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil

    Leo

    A teddy bear and a wooden puzzle

THANK YOU TO OUR DONORS!

The Flexmethod® US Life Desert Rose Capital Management

OUR STORY

Virtual Giving Machine was inspired by the original Giving Machines and the simple idea of choosing something specific to give. But when founder Kirk Stafford and members of our team spent time in Uganda, that idea took on an entirely different meaning.

Being there, working alongside local communities, and seeing the needs firsthand changed the way we thought about giving. We saw that sometimes making a meaningful difference isn't complicated. It can be helping with school, providing access to medical care, putting the right tools in someone's hands, or meeting a practical need that has been standing in the way.

We came home wanting to make that kind of giving possible for more people.

CONTACT US

Have a question, want to learn more, or aren't quite sure where to start? We'd be happy to hear from you.

Whether it's about something you'd like to give, an order you've placed, or Virtual Giving Machine itself, send us a message and we'll get back to you.