Frequently Asked Questions

“Round-up” is a term used to refer to your spare change after making a credit/debit card transaction. For example, if you bought lunch for $7.61 on a credit/debit card that is registered for change round-up, the corresponding change it would take to round-up to the nearest dollar, $0.39, would be donated to the school or organization.

The change from a Changemaker’s everyday purchases will vary month to month. To produce consistency in donations to your organization, the Changemaker (donor) has the ability to set a minimum monthly donation as low as $10 per month as well as set a maximum monthly donation. Taking into account all of those who set their minimums and maximums, our data shows that the average donation per Changemaker is around $18 per month. This average amount can move up or down depending on your donor base.

The round-up in this case would be zero ($0.00).

The point-of-sale version of round-up does the round-up only on that one purchase and the recipient of the donation is determined by the vendor. Additionally, the vendor gets the credit for the donation. With the Changemaker Initiative, every purchase made on the card that has been signed up is donated to your organization, regardless of where they go, and the donor gets the associated tax write-off (if you have a registered nonprofit status).

The Changemaker’s credit / debit card statement will reflect their actual purchase amount. We round-up at the end of the month and the calculation is based on all of their purchases. The statement will reflect the organization's name, not Hello Donor.

Yes. Your Changemakers have the opportunity to do a recurring monthly donation, if they prefer to do so, instead of rounding up.

Yes. The Changemaker’s username, password, and card information is protected by your card provider and our technology partners (Stripe and Plaid). For Hello Donor and the organization, this financial and login information cannot be viewed or captured.

We provide a simple and intuitive Donor Report on the admin dashboard that shows what each Changemaker gives, and a copy of that report is provided to the school or organization monthly.

We provide year-of-year data to your school or organization from your admin dashboard, but we do not provide the tax letters to the Changemaker. The reason for this is because the money is going to the school organization and not to Hello Donor. Each school or organization handles their donation letters to donors differently.

The Stripe fee is paid by the school or organization and is in addition to Hello Donor fees. This fee is automatically deducted from your donations so no additional payment has to be made. We assist the school or organization with setting up their own Stripe account (which is very easy to do). We’ve found that percentage to be between 2.2% - 3.9%, based on the tax status of the organization.

In order for the Changemaker’s card provider to process change round-up, they have to authorize it by logging into their card account. The financial institution that supports your card is usually listed on the back of their card.

A Changemaker is the term we use for a donor. The meaning behind that is that they are both donating their change from their everyday purchases and they are making a positive change in your organization through their generosity.

The beauty of the Changemaker platform is that we encourage and provide a simple and intuitive way for each student or supporter to get multiple Changemakers, providing a multiplier effect. This includes providing each student or supporter with their own landing page and easy to use ability to reach out (via text and/or email) to their friends, family, and neighbors to ask for their support and donations for the school or organization.

This amount is different for every organization, however our data shows that on average for every 100 Changemakers you have, it will account to $10,000 to $12,000 per year. That amount takes into account for an average amount of turnover.

No. They “set it and forget it”. They do not need to open an app on their smartphone or inform the vendor. With the Changemaker Initiative, the round-up is connected to the card, regardless where they shop.

There is no upfront fee for our platform and services. We get paid a variable amount based on the number of Changemakers the school or organization has. A Hello Donor representative can discuss that directly with you. Our platform is all about net new donations and as such, you will never send us a check.

Yes. Our platform automatically sends out a thank you email to each Changemaker. The content of that thank you is controlled by you, the organization, through your admin dashboard.

Yes. Changemakers can cancel or adjust their minimums and maximum change round-up at any time.

Each credit card registered on the system is a Changemaker. There are a couple of options for this and here are a few things that might help. If a Changemaker signs up 3 cards, each card has its own secure portal and is considered an additional Changemaker for the school or organization. 

We also have another option called Change Multiplier. When a Changemaker signs up they can 2x, 3x, or 5x their change, in essence giving more. As example, if you spend $50.45 on groceries and are a 5x Changemaker, you would be donating $2.25 ($0.45 x 5) instead of just the standard $0.45.

We have a "Student / Supporter Participation Report" on the admin dashboard that clearly shares what every student or supporter has accomplished with the Changemaker Initiative.

Yes. Another great benefit of our platform is that we give the donor the option to cover the processing fee at the time of donating. This option is pre-checked so our data shows that 60% - 70% of the Changemakers cover that fee so the school or organization does not have to pay for it.

No. The Stripe merchant service fee the organization pays is based on the total donations received based on the one time round-up made at the end of the month. It is not calculated on each and every purchase. The change round-up amount is totaled at the end of each month and donated to your organization in a lump sum, minus the Hello Donor and merchant service fees.