Random Acts of Kindness? There Should be an App for That

Recently, a friend of mine was recounting the story of how a mutual acquaintance of ours had committed a random act of kindness. Specifically, the person had given money to a homeless person on University Ave. in Palo Alto. The story was memorable for both the size of the dollar amount, and the response of the recipient: "That's the second time this week someone did that for me."

My friend remarked that the two occurrences may not have been a coincidence given that his circle of friends was increasingly focused on sharing stories like this with one another in the hopes of inspiring each other to do the same.

It reminded me of a recent scenario where having just read a news story summarizing examples of people paying it forward, I determined the next time my daughters and I visited their favorite toy store, we would pay the bill for the next person in line. Not only could it potentially put a smile on someone's face and hopefully trigger a chain reaction of others doing the same, but I thought it would be a great way to teach the kids about the importance of giving.

That weekend, as we approached the register of the store, I was struck by a series of unanticipated questions: Would I be able to remain anonymous after explaining how this was going to work to the cashier? How much would I have to give to cover the next person's charge? If I didn't give enough, and they still had to pay, would it have the intended impact? If I gave too much and there was a surplus, how would it be allocated? Was it fair to put all of this responsibility on the person working behind the register?

It turned out this random act of kindness business was a bit more challenging than I had anticipated.

As I shared this experience with my friend, and we debated the pros and cons of simply giving money to people in the spur of the moment without the specific context of knowing how it would be used, a thought occurred to me: What if there was an app that could generate suggestions for random acts of kindness? It would work somewhat akin to The Sentence feature available in the Beats music app. Whereas the Beats app suggests music to listen to in that moment, e.g. "I'm at my computer & feel like going back in time to sounds of the '70s," this app would make suggestions for how you could give back depending on your circumstances.

Stuck in a fast food drive-thru line? Pay for the person behind you. Finishing up a meal in a restaurant with a server who could use some help? Honor the name of someone you care about with a life-altering tip. See a barefoot homeless person on the street in freezing temperatures? Offer them a pair of shoes.

While there are a number of sites on the web collecting and sharing stories like this, I couldn't find an app that makes suggestions in real-time depending on one's specific circumstances. After sharing the idea, it became clear through the number of likes and comments that there is definitely interest.

So what do you say? Any interest in creating a random act of kindness generator for people who are looking for ideas? The suggestions could come algorithmically or through direct responses from other members of the community. For additional inspiration and discovery, it could also offer a running feed of acts of kindness submitted by its users (with an option to share anonymously).

Feel free to use the comments section below to brainstorm and potentially help identify people who would like to be involved with the app's development. If it generates enough momentum, we could even create a Kickstarter page for people who would like to contribute to the effort of building it. For the right team and concept, count me in as a contributor. Perhaps that can be the first act of kindness inspired by an app that will hopefully generate many more.

Top photo: Feng Yu/Shutterstock