Scottish fintech Sustainably launches a new way giving
Sustainably is launching today at the Fundraising Convention in London.
The company offers a new way of giving to charities they care about without having to think about it, just by living their lives.
Sustainably is rounding up its users' cashless transactions. The spare change is donating to the causes they care about, aligned to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals. In an increasingly cashless society, it will unlock a new income stream for charities and enable supporters to see the difference they're making instantly.
Inspired by Tom's Shoes, Pokemon Go and Acorns Investing, Sustainably won the WeWork Creator Awards and is a top 10 Virgin Startup, with both global brands set to help Sustainably's growth.
Speaking of Sustainably, Richard Branson said: "Sustainably is so simple, but effective, which most of the good ideas are. I loved the simple idea of rounding up everyday transactions and giving your spare change to chosen good causes. Sustainably is a great example of why I wanted to start Virgin StartUp in the first place - I knew there were entrepreneurs with good ideas who just needed a little support who could go on to achieve incredible things and have a positive impact on the world.”
Sustainably launches connected to 10 local and national charities, including British Heart Foundation, and will be adding new charities daily when it officially launches on 1 July.
Speaking of Sustainably, Simon Gillespie, CEO of British Heart Foundation said: "At the BHF, we’re continuously innovating to ensure our supporters have opportunities to donate to us in ways that fit in with their busy everyday lives. Innovation and the use of technology has been core to many of the breakthroughs we’ve made to improve treatments for heart and circulatory diseases, and we need to take this same cutting-edge approach to raising funds and building relationships with our supporters.
“Our partnership with Sustainably is a fantastic example of this approach in action. It will make supporting our research possible in the swipe of a finger as part of millions of transactions – something that’s completely new. While the individual amounts might not seem like much, many small donations could add up to big breakthroughs in finding new treatments for conditions including heart disease, stroke and vascular dementia. We’re excited to see what this new way of fundraising has in store.”
Loral Quinn, co-founder and CEO of Sustainably explains: "We're excited to launch our technology that makes doing good something you can do easily, everyday."
Sustainably links to people's bank card rounding up on their behalf. It's also very easy easy to see impact of donations thanks to a new form of impact messaging between charities and supporters to help inspire engagement and trust, by providing an instant impact update.
The team at Sustainably is 8 staff strong with plan to grow in the next year as they target business donations.
The charity donations market is estimated at more than £12 billion in the UK per year.
Founded by mother and daughter team, Loral and Eishel Quinn, Loral, CEO, was head of digital marketing and strategy for Aberdeen Asset Management, where she set up the global digital team and helped scale the business from 6 to 30 countries in 10 years. Eishel, Chief Product Officer, has a background in ethical retail, working with Neal's Yard Remedies. Eishel was recently named one of Digital Leaders top 10 Young Digital Leaders.