Before I even explain this idea, I gotta say that I love it. SwipeGood is a start-up that leverages consumers' desire to help out others and donate to charities, while understanding the lack of time most people for acts of goodwill. To get over this hurdle, SwipeGood has harnessed the use of credit card purchases.
In their words, 'SwipeGood rounds up all of your credit card purchases to the nearest dollar and allows you to donate the difference to the charity of your choice. It's the easiest way to give to charity!'
If that wasn't self-explanatory, here's the details of how it works: As a user of SwipeGood, you start by signing up and selecting your charity of choice. You'll also need to register the credit card you'd like to use. After that, you simply use that credit card as you normally would. SwipeGood will then round up each purchase made with that card to the nearest dollar, donating the difference to your charity at the end of each month. On average, it will equal about $20 per month, SwipeGood says, though users can also set an upper limit. How do they make money, you ask? Participation in SwipeGood is free for charities. But users pay a service fee of 5 percent of each monthly donation.'
With Generation G continually on the rise since 2008/2009, this is a great execution and capitalization on an important and popular trend. I can personally say that I've sat in boardrooms and pitched ideas very similar (if not exactly similar) to a few clients over the past 2 years, but no one wanted to bite on it. I'm glad to see that another group of guys put this together as a full-time project, independent of a particular company, with hopes of capturing more consumer purchases and ultimately changing the world.
Okay, maybe changing the world is still a pipe dream for a company that's learning to walk, but if you aren't motivated by a dream and a better world...what's the point?
Good on you, SwipeGood. Signing up for this service makes a whole lot of cents. ~ p
2 comments:
Now this is a service I totally agree with!
I personally dislike getting change (I know this is credit based). However, when I visited Australia many years ago, at the cash register, they would round down to the nearest 5, instead of having pennies. I’ve often wondered why we haven’t followed suit.
If, for instance, I were to walk into a store, and they offered to donate my change (anything under a dollar) to charity (after giving them cash) I would certainly accept. I think this type of donation structure would create more donations, then asking for an extra $1 or $2 on top of your purchase (although I normally do this as well.)
This is the next best thing.
My only question is this:
Who gets to claim the donations for tax purposes?
I’m able to answer my own question.
From the front page of Swipe Good:
Are my donations tax deductable?
Yes. Any organization you give to through SwipeGood will provide you with a tax receipt at the end of the fiscal year.
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