Charitable donations in the US will top $500 billion this year, and that is big business not only for the charities themselves, but the companies that solicit and collect those donations. Folks from the boomer generation may remember collecting change for Unicef, donating coins to the Salvation Army at the mall, or maybe mailing a check to Easter seals. These analog fundraising techniques have evolved into the digital world, and now it is much easier to donate to your favorite charity as part of your everyday transactions.
One company facilitating digital giving is Charleston, SC based in/Pact, Inc., who has taken digital giving one step beyond facilitating donations. Starting with millennials and continuing with Gen Z, consumers are increasingly holding the companies they do business with to a higher standard of corporate responsibility, evidenced by their support of causes that consumers care about. Increasingly, consumers shop not only on price and product, but the social conscience of the company the are buying from. In/Pact’s goal is to deepen these relationships, not only by making it easier for companies to lend financial support to charitable causes, but also by making it easier for consumers to donate to these causes as part of their purchases.
Overview by Don Apgar, Director, Merchant Services Advisory Practice at Mercator Advisory Group
