Public Fundraising Kiosks With Centralized Multi-Campaign Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing public kiosks are limited in functionality, poorly suited for communal centers, and lack the ability to support multiple charitable initiatives across different locations, failing to facilitate rapid mobilization and integration of fundraising efforts among affiliated organizations.
Innovation Solution
A centralized software system manages a database of charitable initiatives, enabling multiple kiosks to display and process payments for various causes, using identifiers and scanners to facilitate anonymous contributions, and track transactions for commissions and reporting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a standard kiosk is configured for a specific charitable initiative, then the kiosk can process payments for that initiative, but the fundraising campaign duration is too long by the time the kiosk is instrumented
Solution Approach 1:
The kiosk system dynamically updates its displayed charitable initiatives through remote server communication, allowing the same physical kiosk to serve multiple time-sensitive campaigns sequentially without physical reconfiguration. The system can quickly load new initiative data from the server, enabling rapid response to short-duration fundraising campaigns.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of physically reconfiguring the kiosk for each new initiative, the system creates virtual copies of initiative information that are downloaded and displayed on the kiosk screen. This allows multiple initiatives to be served by the same kiosk hardware through software-based replication of campaign data.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a kiosk is dedicated to a single function or charity, then the kiosk can be simple and focused, but it cannot support multiple charitable initiatives across different locations
Solution Approach 1:
The kiosk is designed as a universal platform that can display and process payments for multiple different charitable initiatives through a single interface. The system maintains a database of various initiatives and selectively displays relevant ones based on configuration, allowing one kiosk to serve multiple charities without requiring separate dedicated kiosks for each.
Solution Approach 2:
A remote server acts as an intermediary between the kiosk and the charitable organizations, managing the database of initiatives and providing updated information to the kiosk. This intermediary handles the complexity of maintaining multiple initiatives, allowing the kiosk itself to remain relatively simple while still supporting diverse charitable causes.
3Productivity
If each kiosk is self-contained with limited functionality, then the kiosk can be independently serviced, but it cannot integrate with other locations or support communal fundraising efforts
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple distributed kiosks are merged into a coordinated network through centralized management. The system combines the functionality of individual self-contained kiosks with centralized control, allowing them to collectively support multiple charitable initiatives across different locations while maintaining their operational independence.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention is a system and a method enabled by the system. The novel system discloses at least one computer terminal. Ideally the system would have many such computer terminals, or kiosks, with at least one placed in a community center, a house of worship or some other location where a community gathers for social or religious events. Each such computer terminal is loaded periodically with a database managed by a first software application. The first software application, or a first instance of such software application, is deployed centrally and actively manages the database, performing such tasks as assembling the database with a plurality of objects received from publishers running a second software application or second instances of the software application. The manager then evaluates the quality and compliance of each object receives and forwards those approved to computer terminals located at various hosts. These computer terminals are utilized to gamer attention of individual attendees of communal centers that are hosting the disclosed terminals. The attendees utilize the terminals, also known as kiosks, to access the collections promulgated by publishers to make financial contributions to these publishers. The manager is then able to apply commissions against the publisher to cover its fees and expenses and to pay commissions on each attendee-initiated transaction to the host where a transaction was initiated.