Grab has announced an expanded partnership with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) today to raise additional funds for supporting vulnerable communities, including those affected by disasters.
The new collaboration will enable Grab users to convert their points into donations to the IFRC and support the disaster-prone Southeast Asian region. It follows an earlier partnership in 2016, which saw both organisations engaged in an one-year partnership to promote road safety, provide emergency assistance and equip Grab’s fleet of drivers with life-saving skills and road safety knowledge across the region.
The partnership upskilled Grab drivers with first aid and road safety techniques and drew on the ride-sharing company's driver fleets and call centres as a first-responder network during disaster and emergency situations
For its latest collaboration, Grab users in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam can visit their GrabRewards catalogue from 6 February onwards, and convert their points into donations, with just a tap on their everyday app. Customers in Singapore can donate starting at SGD$5 in exchange for 2,200 GrabRewards points.
“Grab’s history as a homegrown tech company and its extensive reach across Southeast Asia make it a natural partner for the IFRC. This is the first time we’ve partnered with a smartphone app to raise funds. We have in common a commitment to expand people-to-people connections and solidarity and contribute to build resilient communities, cities and countries,” said Pierre Kremer, IFRC head of partnerships for Asia Pacific.
“This is the commitment of the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and hundreds of thousands of volunteers working within communities in need. We are excited to work with Grab to explore new ways to tackle suffering and demonstrate the power of humanity in Southeast Asia.”
The IFRC will redistribute each country’s donation to the local Red Cross or Red Crescent Society, for use on that country’s most pressing humanitarian challenges. Programmes include disaster risk reduction, improving safe water supplies, responding to volcanic eruptions, floods, cyclones or typhoons or epidemics, encouraging voluntary blood donations, and enhancing the protection of marginalised or vulnerable groups such as children or migrants.