Now shoppers who typically say “just keep the change” can donate that extra money to charities at the point of sale (POS), through a collaboration with The Retail Orphan Initiative (RetailROI) and IBM.
RetailROI is a charitable foundation that operates under the umbrella of the Giving Back Fund, established to help the 400 million orphaned and vulnerable children worldwide.
During a national campaign kicked off by RetailROI and IBM, shoppers can choose to donate change from their transactions to RetailROI’s Round-up for Orphans campaign or other charities supported by their local retail establishments. Using an Auto Round-Up feature powered by IBM’s SurePOS ACE retail software, shoppers can “round up” transaction totals to the next whole dollar automatically during checkout. IBM ACE software with Auto RoundUp currently is installed at more than 90,000 checkout lanes worldwide. The donations are tracked through the POS system and the retailer creates one check on behalf of all customer donors. Many retailers also choose to some or all of the donations provided.
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RetailROI has designed its efforts in order to respond to some sobering statistics, including the fact that a child dies every 5.2 seconds; and every 14 seconds an orphaned child ages out of a government protective system. A recent study from IHL Group, Why Charity in Retail is Good Business, indicated that 65% of consumers are influenced to shop at stores that support community charity initiatives. Yet, only 28% of shoppers know if their community stores are actively involved in charitable giving.
“RetailROI applauds IBM’s commitment and leadership with this POS platform feature,” said RetailROI Donor Trustee Vicki Cantrell, who serves as the COO and CIO at women’s apparel retailer Tory Burch. “Working together, retailers and customers can make a huge difference by helping either vulnerable children through contributions to the orphan program, or by contributing spare change to other worthy causes.”
