ZipLine Partners with Give the Change on Micro-Donations Platform
Coconut Creek, Florida (PRWEB) November 13, 2014 -- ZipLine, a leading provider of mobile and card-based decoupled debit (ACH) payment solutions, today announced that its technology will serve as the settlement platform behind the Give the Change card, a debit card designed to generate recurring, incremental revenue for consumer designated causes.
Created by San Diego-based startup Give the Change, the concept taps into the power of small numbers. Each time the debit card is used for payment, the transaction is automatically rounded up to the nearest dollar and the extra change goes directly to the consumer’s charity of choice.
“We want to change the way people give,” said Give the Change CEO Steve Statler. “The average person may not be able to afford a one-time $100 donation to their favorite charity, but they can support a few cents here and there. At the end of the year, those small donations add up.”
A Give the Change card is branded to a consumer designated charity in an open-loop debit transaction, meaning the card can be used anywhere PIN debit is accepted. The way it works is simple: A consumer makes a purchase for, say, $26.80 and the charge is rounded up to $27 even. The merchant is paid the original $26.80 with the remainder ($.20) sent directly to the charity.
ZipLine provides the backend platform that processes the merchant transaction using an industry standard debit transaction. The card behaves like a standard bank issued PIN debit card at retail stores which debits from the consumer’s bank account via ACH. ZipLine’s technology also calculates the round-up of the transaction and processes the settlement to the charity on a weekly basis.
The ZipLine value to the consumer comes in the form of its web-based reporting services. “We are communicating the details of the donation to the individual via e-mail and our member portal,” said Danilo Portal, CIO at ZipLine. “Consumers are able to log-in and see all of their transactions and donations, which in most cases are tax deductible. This can be used at the end of the year for tax purposes.”
“We chose ZipLine as our partner because they have a well-integrated turnkey system that doesn’t just do ACH, but provides everything, including customer support,” Statler said.
Give the Change is an important shift in the way people contribute to their favorite cause. According to research conducted by Statler and his team, the people more apt to give are the ones who don’t always have the extra funds. “It’s the truck driver or single mom scraping to make ends meet who are the most willing to support good causes,” he said.
The Give the Change card provides people with a channel to give to their favorite charity without breaking their budget. “It’s the next-generation of giving,” Portal said.
There are currently multiple charities benefiting from this innovative program, including the Three Wise Men which supports our nation’s veterans and The Q Fund, providing free education to orphaned and vulnerable children in sub-Sahara Africa. With over 1 million non-profit organizations in the U.S., there is an enormous potential for the micro-donation market. Give the Change is becoming the decoupled debit card of choice because 100% of the donation goes directly to the charity.
Said Statler: “This is an opportunity to expand and democratize philanthropy while bringing happiness and meaning to more people.”
About ZipLine
ZipLine, formerly National Payment Card Association (NPCA), pioneered decoupled debit and developed and manages some of the most successful decoupled debit programs in the United States. The company’s mission is to provide low-cost, merchant friendly, data rich, secure payment solutions and services that deliver compelling value to merchants and consumers. For further information about ZipLine, visit the company’s website at: http://www.ZipLine.biz
About Give the Change
Launched in May 2014, Give the Change is on a mission to expand how people give, allowing more people to give more money to more non-profits through the power of small numbers. The company provides PIN debit cards that can be branded to a non-profit making donors card-carrying members. The security and reliability of each transaction is maintained through a strong network of partners in the decoupled debit card market. For more information: Visit http://www.givethechangecard.com
Stephanie Neil, ZipLine, http://www.zipline.biz/, +1 781-378-1652, [email protected]
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