Health charity shop opens its doors in the Metaverse

A pioneering project between SBS researchers and Scotland’s largest health charity to pursue opening a retail space in the metaverse has now seen the virtual doors of the Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland (CHSS) shop open to the public.

Chest Heart & Stroke Scotland is believed to be among the first UK charities to set up shop in the virtual world to raise vital funds.

Researchers from Strathclyde Business School (SBS) have been working with the organisation since the summer to understand their requirements, then work on building and launching a CHSS metaverse and digital assets.

The CHSS metaverse  – the meeting of physical and virtual spaces accessed through computers and enabled by immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality – provides users with an accessible digital retail platform, space for events and socialising, and access to educational content.

With latest figures showing a 20 per cent increase in charity sector shops online income in the last quarter of 2023 and estimates that around three per cent of Scotland’s charity organisations are at risk of closure, CHSS came up with the idea of creating a retail experience within the metaverse.

Billy Farrell, Director of Income Generation with CHSS, said the charity was keen to engage with people across the globe, something which could help the charity scale up its fundraising and educational endeavours.

He said, "We're trying to make CHSS as accessible as possible for however you want to engage with it. So we have a partnership with Walking Football and the Scottish Women's Football Association so one day we may be able to have a virtual FIFA tournament.

"We've created a gym and that helps with the rehabilitation so people can go in and follow exercises made by one of our exercise coordinators."

He added, "Diversification is crucial to meeting targets of increasing our income from £10million to £15.8million over the next five years.

"This growth will help towards our goal of reaching 175,000 individuals affected by chest, heart and stroke conditions every year by 2028."

CHSS supports people with chest, heart, and stroke conditions, including Long Covid, and is Scotland’s largest volunteering organisation with more than 4,000 volunteers to deliver services and run 40 charity shops across Scotland.

Academic lead on the programme, Dr Andrew Davis, from Strathclyde’s Department of Marketing, worked alongside Dr Sharon Lemac-Vincere, Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship, and Dr Sissi Lehto, Department of Marketing, on the project.

He said, “When we started this project, we knew that many third sector organisations were having to explore new ways to diversify income-generating and user-engagement methods through innovative and digital technologies.

“It was hoped this project would bridge the digital gap by working with CHSS and helping them to develop, support, and future-proof their digital retail strategy in the context of the metaverse.

“Since we launched the project, we have completed the work on the metaverse project and have a working proof of concept. We debuted the metaverse at the Explorathon event at the Riverside Museum in September which saw us engage with around 100 members of the public.

“We were delighted to showcase the CHSS metaverse at the official launch at the Festival of Social Science in October. Now that we have a working model, we have exciting plans to use the space for retail, events, education and more.”

Dr Lemac-Vincere added, "This project has been an incredibly rewarding journey, blending Scotland’s heritage and technology into a concept I am calling Heritology - a fusion of cultural values and technological innovation designed to drive meaningful impact. By including features such as resource translation and tools to overcome communication barriers - like those faced by individuals who may have difficulty speaking or accessing traditional resources - we’ve created a platform that champions inclusivity.

"The model developed for CHSS demonstrates how charities can embrace technology to better connect, engage, and support their communities in this technological era. I’m excited to see how the sector responds to this innovative approach."

Click here to find out more about the CHSS Metaverse.

Published: 27 November 2024