'Giving' - Sum It Up with Small Change
1 September 2010 at 12:13 pm
A Melbourne academic has devised a way of giving money to charities using a 'small change' concept, but is looking to test the idea via an online survey.
The concept is called Sum It Up and aims to collect 'spare or small change' through retailers at the point of sale and subsequently distribute the funds to charities.
She says charities will be selected into the fund via a criteria that encourages transparent accounting and governance and charities can promote their cause on the Sum It Up website.
The 'small change' concept has previously been used successfully in Australia and overseas including Change for Good, a partnership between UNICEF and the international airline industry which offers travellers an easy way to help the world’s children by donating their unwanted currency to UNICEF on board their flights. To date, Change for Good has raised nearly AUD$9 million since it started on Qantas flights in 1991.
Zaleski has designed a ten-minute survey to test public opinion on the concept as well as investigate current giving trends including how people like to donate; for example face to face, online or through regular work place donations.
It also asks about the amounts and frequency of donations to Australian and overseas charities. Responses are collected anonymously.
Yes, this works. We’ve been doing it for 5 years, have an API that e-tailers can integrate, partner with major Australian charities … oh, and have raised $1 million from 378,000 people.
Yeah, right – come on: join us and make this a standard!