New Austin app gives you the chance to easily support local causes

At age 15, Scott McElroy and his older brother lost their mother to a battle with breast cancer. As they coped with her passing, their father became physically and mentally absent from their lives. With his mom gone and his dad essentially gone, the two brothers had to learn how to adjust on their own. 

 

This marked a turning point in McElroy’s life, as he quickly realized how communities of people can positively affect the lives of others.

 

Parents in their community would, without hesitation, pick them up, taking them to the mall, movies and games to hangout with friends, helping McElroy and his brother stay busy and active as teenagers. Families of friends welcomed them into their home for weeks, sometimes months, taking care of him and providing parental guidance. 

 

“People would help us for the sake of helping. Nobody had anything to gain from taking us in or having our backs, but they did it anyways, and it changed me forever,” said McElroy. “I want to replicate that feeling in others.”

 

He spent the next nine years volunteering for nonprofits throughout Texas, supporting mostly breast cancer and homeless organizations through his time and donations, while balancing high school, then college, then a demanding but high paying corporate job in Houston. 

 

Now 26, the UT grad founded and launched an app called Ehco to make it easier for likeminded Austinites to get involved with local nonprofit organizations.

 

He originally began development of the app in 2014 specifically for the Austin entertainment industry, helping musicians and artists sell merchandise and tickets with percentages going toward the nonprofit of the artist’s choice.

 

“The further we got into the space, we realized it wasn’t just the artists who were struggling to find ways to donate,” said McElroy.

 

His team of five is targeting the m-word: millennials, a demographic that nonprofits have expressed wanting assistance in reaching. McElroy added that, to some people’s disbelief, the millennial group wants to give back, but it has to be on their own terms.

 

Ehco’s initiatives to meet this need include push notifications to alert users of the real-time impact their time and donations are making, a user point system to further engage users and provide instant gratification (virtual high fives!), notes detailing the specific initiatives by the nonprofits so users know exactly where their donations are going, and the ability to donate or help promote on social media.

 

Additionally, Ehco has co-hosted events throughout town to bring in more donations for their member nonprofits. Members include Makarios, Susan G. Komen Austin, Front Steps, Austin Sunshine Camps, and Young Women’s Alliance.

 

McElroy and team use the events to support charities, but also attain user feedback to find out how attendees would like to engage with nonprofits. 

 

“We ask what do you do and what do you want to do because they usually are very different answers,” McElroy said. 

 

Echo has raised $70,000 in funding from angel investors and hopes to reach $400,000 by the end of the year, as well as onboard more nonprofits that the users want to support. The app, currently in beta, has 210 existing users and has raised $2,500 in its five weeks of being live.