Small Loans Among Families

Small Loans Among Families

The project aims to create a website to facilitate the tracking and traceability of baby gear loans between families. By extension, it encourages the lending of baby gear—items that are often expensive and underutilized—among individuals.

Summary

Peer-to-peer lending is booming, and it’s a boon for our planet and our wallets. The world of baby care lends itself particularly well to this phenomenon and would benefit from a dedicated platform for several reasons. First, it’s a market where parents in vulnerable situations are easily persuaded to buy items that later turn out to be unnecessary. The ability to “test” an item’s usefulness could convince them to forgo the purchase.

Furthermore, baby care items have a very limited lifespan: the baby bathtub can no longer be used after 8–9 months, the walker no longer interests the child once they start walking, and so on. Once put away, these items go unused for a long time. Finally, storing such items—which are often bulky—is a real burden and an organizational challenge for parents. Families lending and borrowing would therefore have a practical and financial incentive to join the family-to-family lending program.

Full Description

A stroller, a baby bouncer, a nursing pillow, a co-sleeper, a baby bathtub, a baby carrier... All these items that families accumulate often spend long months—or even years—gathering dust in the basement between children. Purchased at great expense, they are used for a few months at most before being stored away, waiting for the next child. 

Sometimes, these items are lent to friends—or even friends of friends—always with a bit of apprehension about having to ask for them back when the time comes: “By any chance, do you have my co-sleeper at your place? I can’t remember who I lent it to!”

Given the chronic fatigue and mental load that parents already experience, it’s no surprise that they are sometimes reluctant to lend out these items.

Our project relieves parents of the need to remember “what we lent to whom.”

The website is inspired by Keepinuse and a traditional library interface. Two tabs—“I’m looking for” and “I’m lending”—allow users to find an item or offer an item for loan. Of course, the main goal is to facilitate long-term loans (at least 6 months).

A “My Loans” tab will display two sections: what I’ve borrowed and when I need to return it; and what I’ve lent and to whom. 

An internal messaging system on the site allows you to write to the owner of the item and coordinate with them. Once the loan is approved, it appears in the “Loans” section.

The project pursues three goals for families in Lausanne: the first is social, by strengthening solidarity among families; the second is environmental, by helping to limit the purchase of new baby care items; and the third is organizational: through a dynamic interface for items borrowed and lent, and by reducing clutter.

Request

• Website development: 1,500 CHF (source)

• Visual identity and flyer: 500 CHF (source)

• Communication in physical locations in Lausanne and online: 800 CHF

• Total project budget: 2,800 CHF

• The project leaders have experience in online content management and communications

• Proposed partners: specialty children’s stores and secondhand shops, toy libraries, parent-child centers

• Two evaluation indicators: number of registered users and number of items loaned per month.

Planning

• Jan–March 2023: Quotes and drafts for website development (1) and visual identity (2)

• April 2023: Contracts and launch of website development and visual identity

• May–August 2023: Communication plan (with the support of a marketing student)

• Sept–Oct 2023: Communication campaign