Barcelona based on-demand convenience and hot food delivery company Glovo has announced it is offering its services to NGOs, charities and social enterprises.

The new venture, Glovo Access, was established in March during the pandemic. It has so far made more than 155,000 deliveries of essential supplies to people in need on behalf of more than 30 NGOs. These supplies include food, pharmaceuticals, electronic devices and sanitary products.

At the same time Glovo Access has raised more than €550,000 for these projects from big businesses including PepsiCo, Zurich, DKV and German hypermarket chain Kaufland. Through the Glove in-app donations campaign it has raised a further €45,000.

Thanks to the success of Glovo Access, the company is launching it in all 19 countries and 650 cities in which the company operates.

Glovo Access has its own website and is a portal through which NGOs and social enterprises can access the company’s network to connect products for delivery with those in need with them. It will also offer its expertise and networks to help those organisations fundraise.

Sébastien Pellion, Head of Social Impact at Glovo, said: “We’re really excited about the potential of Glovo Access and the opening up of our platform to NGOs across the world. We noticed during the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, especially here in Spain, which was one of the countries hardest-hit, that local organisations such as food banks, social centres and other charities were struggling to maintain their operations due to the lockdown. Given our license to operate as an “essential service”, we saw an opportunity to help these charities maintain their activities, which are crucially important to the most vulnerable members of our society.”

Oscar Pierre, CEO and co-founder of Glovo, said: “COVID-19 has been a wake-up call for us all and the question we asked ourselves was: how can we help? Our technology and our platform allowed us to step in and make sure the NGOs and charities in Spain could continue to operate, despite being largely made up of volunteers, and that they could keep delivering essential goods to those that need it the most.

“We’ve done a lot in a relatively short space of time but there’s still so much more we can do. There’s still so much uncertainty in the world today and Glovo, with its global presence, is perfectly placed to continue to support NGOs worldwide, not just during a pandemic.”