Abstract

This study exploits and describes how to manage donations and send them to the affected people when natural disaster occurs. Throughout my experience in working with some organizations for collecting donations, I found out that there are many problems that harden the goods. Since affected people need the help and the goods immediately, it will take time to reach and be delivered to the people who need them. The process takes a long period of time due to the following reasons: first, the donor ships unsolicited donations and that will consequently waist time and money because no one need them. Second, there is a time gap between receiving and sorting the donations. Third, donations’ spaces need to be large and flexible. Fourth, the volunteers who work in good management put massive effort in sorting donations. Fifth, more volunteers are always needed. Finally, recipients still have to sort through donated goods to make them useful.

In this research project, I came up with a solution that will help in these temporary donation places. I created a system that contains of 3 parts which will work together. The first part is a website that is designed as a source for the donors to know about if a disaster takes place and what donations are needed in each specific situation. The second part is the “GoMa” stand which will be located in temporary donation places, so after you receive and know all the information about what people exactly need, you can take the donations to these places and find the stand to help minimizing time, place, and effort. The last part of the system is the labeling that will help the donors to consistently sort across multiple events and locations. Also, it will help the senders to streamline their logistics process, and to help the recipients understand what items they have gotten and how to deploy them.

Library of Congress Subject Headings

Disaster relief--Management; Gifts--Management

Publication Date

8-11-2017

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Industrial Design (MFA)

Department, Program, or Center

School of Design (CIAS)

Advisor

Alex Lobos

Advisor/Committee Member

Mindy Magyar

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

Plan Codes

IDDE-MFA

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