Donate the Change launches with contactless accessories that let people give with every purchase
Melanie May | 14 December 2017 | News
Charitable giving initiative Donate the Change has launched in beta with a range of contactless payment accessories that let people donate their spare change to a charity every time they shop.
Contactless keyrings and bracelets are on offer in a range of colours and can be ordered and activated on the Donate the Change site. Donate the Change currently has 12 charity partners including Harrison’s Fund, St Mungo’s, SANE, Willow and British Heart Foundation.
Charities interested in participating can fill in a form online for more details.
People choose the charity they want to support, then an accessory, and set up their account online. Donate the Change is currently giving the first 5000 accessories away to celebrate the launch with the usual price starting at £20. Once the accessory has arrived in the post, users need to follow a few steps to activate and load the accessory with money by linking it to a Mastercard or Visa debit card registered to a UK address.
We've shrunk your bank card and put it in our range of contactless payment accessories. Now you can can pay for stuff with a tap of the wrist & donate your change to charity at the same time. Find out more; https://t.co/1kXwoZLvMg #donatethechange #UKCharityWeek #charitytuesday pic.twitter.com/tJNTrUWCK9
— Donate The Change (@donate_change) December 5, 2017
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The accessories have a mini contactless prepay card inside, and once loaded with cash can be used to pay for items in the same way as a contactless bankcard. Each time the wearer uses their accessory to pay for something, such as a coffee, or railcard, their donation payment is also triggered. Users set donation limits and can also set a cap to ensure they don’t give more than a certain amount each month.
Users have the option of adding a specific amount to each purchase to be donated, or a percentage, or to round up to the nearest pound, so if a bill comes to £3.29, then 71p is donated for example. Accounts can be managed through the Donate the Change website or through its mobile app, available from Google Play and the App Store.
Supporters are rewarded by Donate the Change for using the service with free rewards, offers and treats. Every time they pay for something with their accessory, they earn Taps. The more they use their accessory, the more Taps they earn and the better the rewards.
The service also allows charities to engage on a personal level with donors through a web-portal and mobile app, and supporters can specify if and how they would like to receive communications from their chosen charity at sign up. The current service allows users to donate to one charity only per accessory, but future plans include letting people swap charities or donate to more than one.
@CharitySANE @donate_change all ready to make my virgin outing to the shops with my wristband!!!🤗🤗🤗 pic.twitter.com/AGN2QHNOWN
— hibiscusjuice (@Hibiscusjuice) December 1, 2017
It’s here !! 😊❄️❄️❄️ pic.twitter.com/I2nEFQUej6
— Mema • مريم (@memememema) December 9, 2017
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.