How Massimiliano makes donating easy

Massimiliano Costa is the head of ShareTheMeal, an initiative that developed the donation app of the same name and which partners with the United Nations World Food Programme to bridge the gap between children in need and those who can help.

The money donated directly through the ShareTheMeal app is used to support the UNWFP’s operations in different regions across the world.

“We work like a crowd-funding app, where the users choose which project they want to support and then we send the money to the UNWFP,” explains Costa. “In turn, they make sure that the money is distributed to the right places.”

Since its launch in 2015, ShareTheMeal has facilitated the sharing of millions of meals worldwide – and it’s also become a platform of really unique stories.

Like that of Los Angeles–based couple Poonam Kaushal and Nishkaam Mehta who decided to donate their wedding fund to ShareTheMeal and launched the Million Meals for Love campaign. The result? Almost 1.8 million meals for needy children were delivered with the help of 10,000 supporters.

To ensure the continued effectiveness of the initiative, Costa collaborates closely with the team behind ShareTheMeal, which embodies the culture of a startup, as well as with the UNWFP, where some 19,000 people work and which has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. Costa is, in effect, the link between the two.

“We’ve managed to combine the best of both worlds,” he explains, “Of course, our donation app benefits from the trust that people have in the UN. But in return, we can also be the laboratory for new creative ways of working and products.”

To make this work, Costa commutes between Rome, the headquarters of the UNWFP, and Berlin, where ShareTheMeal is based. A typical representative of Berlin’s startup culture, Costa is internationally active, a networker and a creative at heart.

“I believe that we can bring something to a large institution like the UN in Rome. On the other hand, we benefit from the Berlin startup environment, which supports us time and again, and sometimes provides us with tools free of charge,” Costa says.

Costa’s role in building bridges and bringing people together for a common good is one that personally gives him plenty in return. “I’ve discovered a passion for working on a project with social commitment,” he says. “It’s that passion that makes me fight for the good cause every day.”

With a small donation to ShareTheMeal, you can join that fight to tackle global hunger and help those most in need.

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