A new app is looking to make donations to a cause or charity easy by allowing Canadians to donate spare change directly from their smartphones.
Canadian fintech app, Mylo Financial Technologies Inc., which rounds up users’ purchases and invests their spare change, recently launched Round Up to Give. The mobile fundraising platform uses Mylo’s fintech app technology, in partnership with CanadaHelps’ online donation platform, to make the easy donation process possible.
While Canadians are making fewer charitable donations overall, online donations increased 22.5 per cent per year between 2006 and 2015, according to a 2017 Charitable Giving Report.
It’s a trend that is especially visible among young adults, says Marina Glogovac, president and CEO of CanadaHelps.
“In today’s digital world, Round Up to Give offers Canadians and in particular young adults a smart, convenient way to contribute to their favourite causes,” she said in a May 7 press release.
Philip Barrar, CEO and Founder of Mylo, acknowledged the decrease in the number of charitable donations being made in Canada, and said the automation behind the new app is going to attract a lot of people to the platform.
QUICK FACTS:
- The average donation for the 32.74 per cent of Families in Canada who claimed a charitable deduction on their 2015 tax return is just over $1,800, according to CanadaHelps.org
- Manitoba has the highest percentage of families and individuals that claim donations on their tax returns, while Alberta has the highest average donation amount.
- Thirty-three per cent of Canadian families and individuals that filed their taxes claimed charitable donations, a 3 per cent decrease than in 2010.
“Fewer Canadians are making annual charitable donations, and millennials feel their paycheque is a barrier to giving. We want to help them make change with spare change. With Round Up to Give, more Canadians will be able to afford to make donations on a recurring basis in an easy and automated way,” he explained.
With the app, users can support any of the 86,000 registered Canadian charities be creating a donation goal through the Mylo app. Every time a user makes a purchase with a linked debit or credit card, Mylo will round up the transaction to the nearest dollar. The spare change is then donated to the pre-selected charity. CanadaHelps, a popular platform for donating and fundraising for charities online, processes the donations.
“CanadaHelps is always looking for new ways to connect Canadian donors and charities and inspire online giving, so we’re thrilled to power donations through Mylo’s innovative mobile app,” said Glogovac.
Some of the charities featured by Mylo include:
- Eva’s Initiatives for Homeless Youth, ON
- Centraide of Greater Montreal, QC
- Montreal Heart Institute Foundation, QC
- The Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology (SCWIST), BC