HelpingHand Overview

HelpingHand is a food bank e-commerce platform that enables food banks to manage orders, fulfilment, referrals, and donations.

Overview

HelpingHand provides a complete digital solution for food bank operations. When a food bank signs up, it gets its own dedicated instance with its own products, customers, and configuration. The platform serves two primary audiences: food bank administrators who manage day-to-day operations, and food recipients who browse products and place orders.

HelpingHand supports several fulfilment modes depending on how your food bank operates:

• Pickup locations — recipients place orders online and collect them at a scheduled time and place
• Drop-in kiosk — recipients walk in and place an order on the spot, without a scheduled pickup
• Registration only — recipients register for an order without selecting a specific fulfilment method
• Delivery — orders are delivered to the recipient's home

HelpingHand includes food bank-specific features including referrer networks, flexible fulfilment options, donation tracking, and a flexible points-based or currency-based pricing system.

HelpingHand is designed to reduce administrative overhead for food banks while providing a dignified, easy-to-use ordering experience for food recipients.

Key Concepts

• Admin: A food bank staff member who manages orders, products, pickup locations, customers, and referrers. Admins access the system through the admin dashboard.

• Recipient: A person who receives food from a food bank. Recipients browse products and place orders. Depending on how the food bank is configured, they may collect food at a pickup location, walk in to a drop-in kiosk, or have it delivered. They access the system through the shop, which requires registration. Depending on the food bank's settings, registration may be open to anyone or restricted to recipients who have been given an auth code by an approved referrer.

• Referrer: An organisation (such as a social service agency, church, or community group) that refers recipients to the food bank. Referrers have associated referrer contacts who generate auth codes for recipients.

• Referrer Contact: A staff member at a referrer organisation who works directly with recipients. Referrer contacts can be assigned auth codes and linked to specific recipients.

• Auth Code: An 8-digit code that a recipient receives from a referrer contact and enters during registration to gain access to the system. Auth codes are optional but recommended when working with referrers and referrer contacts.

• Pickup Location: A physical site where recipients collect their orders. Each location has a designated day of the week, time, and cutoff period for placing orders. Pickup locations are one of several fulfilment modes available — food banks can also use drop-in kiosks, registration-only, or delivery.*

• Donation Choice: A configurable option that maps a donation amount to a number of points that can be used to select products. Recipients select a donation choice which determines their points allowance.

• Points: A unit of value assigned to each product by the food bank. The number of points a product is allocated is an arbitrary number that may reflect scarcity, cost, utility, healthiness, or a combination. For example, items the food bank wants to move quickly might be set at 0 points, while less healthy items might be set at more points to discourage selection. Recipients receive a points allowance — which may be determined by their donation choice, family size, or other criteria set by the food bank — and allocate these points to products. Some food banks use currency pricing instead, or offer both.

• Recurring Order: An order that automatically repeats on a weekly, fortnightly, or monthly schedule. The system creates new orders based on the original and assigns them to the next available pickup date.

Audiences

For Food Bank Administrators

The admin dashboard provides tools to manage every aspect of food bank operations:

• Orders — View, fulfill, pick, and export orders
• Products — Manage the product catalogue, variants, bundles, and barcodes
• Customers — View and manage customer records and demographics
• Pickup Locations — Configure pickup sites, days, times, and cutoff periods (when using pickup mode)
• Referrers — Manage referrer organisations, referrer contacts, and auth codes
• Donations — Configure donation choices and points values
• Reports — Generate pickup location reports and export data
• Inventory — Track stock levels, scan barcodes, and perform stocktakes
• Training — Create training content with topics, questions, and videos
• Questions — Set up custom questions for registration and checkout
• Recurring Orders — Monitor and manage recurring order subscriptions

See the Admin Documentation for detailed guides on each feature.

For Food Recipients

The shop provides a straightforward ordering experience:

• Placing an Order — Browse products, add items to cart, and check out
• Checkout — Complete your order by selecting a fulfilment method (pickup location, drop-in, or delivery depending on your food bank's setup)
• Account — Register, log in, manage profile, and view order history
• Referral — Enter an auth code during registration to gain access (if required by your food bank)
• Recurring Orders — Set up orders that repeat automatically

See the Recipient Documentation for step-by-step guides.