Kindness has always been at the heart of what we do. For over twenty years, Serve the City has been turning compassion into action, connecting volunteers with people in need through simple, human gestures: serving meals, visiting the elderly, helping refugees, listening, and showing up. One act of kindness at a time.
Five years ago, in the middle of COVID, when the world felt isolated and uncertain, we launched the first version of ServeNow. It was born out of urgency, a tool to help volunteers connect with those in need when physical connection was almost impossible. Our goal was simple: to make volunteering as easy as being at your fingertips. And thanks to the early support of the UPS Foundation, we were able to bring that vision to life.
Since then, ServeNow has grown beyond what we ever imagined. What started as a local response to crisis has become a global tool for solidarity, connecting thousands of volunteers across cities and countries. And today, that tool is taking its biggest leap forward yet: ServeNow is going open source.
With the support of the Toyota Mobility Foundation, ServeNow is now freely available to developers, cities, and organisations around the world. Anyone can use it, adapt it, and build on it. Because kindness shouldn’t be kept in one place; it should move, connect, and multiply.
ServeNow has already helped countless volunteers find meaningful ways to serve. With just a few clicks, people can discover projects that fit their skills and passions, track their impact, and join a growing global community of people who care. By opening it up, we hope to invite even more people to join, not just as volunteers, but as creators and collaborators helping to shape the future of volunteering.
This moment wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing partners and supporters. The Toyota Mobility Foundation has been instrumental in strengthening the platform’s foundation, improving accessibility, adding multilingual features, and creating a browser-based version so that anyone, no matter their device or language, can take part.
Serve the City’s partnership with Toyota goes back almost two decades. Since 2005, Toyota Motor Europe has supported Serve the City Brussels through employee volunteering, logistics, and practical help, including a fully electric Proace van to deliver meals in 2023. Together, we’ve learned that technology and mobility can be powerful tools for kindness.
“With TMF’s support, our app is now more inclusive and scalable. Technology should serve humanity, and this collaboration helps us build bridges between people,”
— Jeremie Malengreaux, Associate Director of Serve the City Belgium.
“We’re proud to help Serve the City scale their impact through better logistics and digital tools. This partnership is about enabling people to live better lives – wherever they are.”
— Andy Fuchs, Toyota Mobility Foundation Europe.
And the story doesn’t stop here. As we prepare to release ServeNow 5.0, supported by the National Bank of Belgium, we’re continuing to build on that same spirit of collaboration, creativity, and compassion that has guided us from the very beginning.
We are deeply grateful to everyone who made ServeNow possible : the UPS Foundation, the National Bank of Belgium, the Toyota Mobility Foundation, and all the dedicated contributors who poured their time, creativity, and heart into this project. A special thank-you goes to Andy Fuchs, Victoria Antonova, Desiree Lawrance, Joost Segers, Monica Perez Lobo, Andrea Petersen, Nicolò Sgreva, Orion Osiris Devriendt, Jurgen Janssens, Daniel Osorio, Daniel Murraças, Rui Filipe Santos, Nicaise Gilles, Bertrand Honner, Sarah Honner, Leila Zitouni, Nicolò Cauli, and asUgo, each of whom brought unique expertise, energy, and vision to help transform an idea into a living platform for kindness.
“How far can one act of kindness go with a little help from technology?” Toyota’s question echoes . Because now, through open source, the answer isn’t ours alone. It belongs to every developer who wants to improve the app, every city that wants to mobilise volunteers, and every person who wants to do something kind for someone else.
We believe kindness grows when it’s shared, and ServeNow is one more way to share it.
Explore the code, contribute, and help build a more compassionate world: https://github.com/servethecity
Read the press release from Toyota Motor Europe: https://newsroom.toyota.eu/toyota-mobility-foundation-and-serve-the-city-unite-to-empower-volunteers-across-europe/
