AC Grad ChangeIt uses small change to make a big difference

ChangeIt is a Waterloo company that has come up with a new way to give, through purchases made using a credit or debit card. “Fewer people are carrying cash or coin with them. We are now even paying for coffee with a credit or debit card,” he says. “So what happens to all those spare change donations that were a lifeline for a lot of charities?”

That is the problem ChangeIt set out to tackle.

Card customers of participating financial institutions go to the ChangeIt website, register their card, and sign on to having purchases “rounded up” to the next dollar or two dollars. They also fill out which of the 86,000 Canada Revenue Agency registered charities they would like their change to go to. At the end of the month, “rounded up” numbers are added together and donated to the charities of their choice. You see the donation as a single charge that comes off your card once a month.

To learn more, click here.

AC Grad ChangeIt inks major deal with BMO

ChangeIt Logo NewWe are incredibly proud of AC Graduate ChangeIt, who today announced a strategic partnership with BMO Bank of Montreal to deliver a first of its kind charitable giving program to Canadians. Using ChangeIt’s innovative, secure technology, Canadians will be able to easily make a donation to their favourite charity using their credit card.

The official partnership announcement, which took place at Sick Kids Hospital today in Toronto, featured Robin Cardozo, COO of SickKids Foundation, Mike Kitchen, CEO, ChangeIt, Nick Mastromarco, Managing Director, Acquisition, Loyalty & Partnerships, BMO Bank of Montreal, Jay Hooper, Vice President of Development, WWF-Canada, and Sharon Wood, President and CEO, Kids Help Phone. IMG_20141113_102320

Read the full press release here.

Accelerator Program Graduate ChangeIt® partners with MSCU to turn change into charitable revenue

Source: CBC News Online

A Waterloo tech company that allows users to donate to charity by rounding up purchases has formed its first partnership with a financial institution in Waterloo Region.

ChangeIt users are able to round up their debit and credit purchases to the next dollar, and donate the remainder to charities of their choice. The rounding doesn’t show up at the cash register but is calculated by ChangeIt software and the difference is taken out of the user’s bank account at the end of the month.

The firm has now extended its services to the Mennonite Savings and Credit Union, which is based in Kitchener with about 19,000 members and eight branches in southern Ontario.

“Basically members can say I would like to activate ChangeIt on my payment card, so that when I make a purchase, I choose to have that purchase rounded up in the background,” said ChangeIt chief operating officer Jim Stirtzinger.

Read the full article here.