With customers expecting brands to have meaning, making giving easy can turn everyday transactions into impact. For a national retail bank with a big merchant network, we developed round-up and custom-amount donation capabilities right into the checkout experience, alongside automated reporting.
The outcome: an increase in charitable donations that’s easy to measure, increased customer engagement, and no extra staff time.
The Challenge: Limited Choice of Giving, High Overhead
The bank desired to allow customers to give simply during routine purchases, rounding up payments or giving small amounts at checkout. However, its merchants were challenged:
- Checkout friction: Donation steps might slow transactions.
- Manual tracking: Donations needed to be reconciled and reported manually.
- Limited visibility: Neither the merchants nor the bank had visibility into contribution flow in real-time.
- Compliance concerns: Handling charitable funds added regulatory complexity.
The outcome? Low participation, patchy tracking, and lost opportunities to engage customers in causes they supported.
The Solution: Seamless Giving + Automated Oversight
We designed a turnkey donation module that integrated seamlessly into the bank’s POS and digital checkout platforms, no new software or personnel needed.
- Round-Up and Custom Donations at Checkout
Customers were able to round up to the nearest dollar or donate a small custom amount. The experience was one tap, lightning-fast, optional, and frictionless.
- Built-In Compliance and Settlement
All micro-donations were automatically sent to the bank’s selected charitable fund, ensuring precision and complete regulatory compliance. The system provided digital receipts and recorded every transaction for transparency.
- Real-Time Reporting Dashboard
Merchants and bank managers got an immediate glance at donation amounts, trends, and participation rates per locations, all in their current reporting platform. No reconciliation by hand. No increased workload.
Business Impact: More Giving, Less Effort
Results were instant and quantifiable network-wide.
The following table summarizes the measurable business impact of introducing round-up and custom donation flows across the bank’s nationwide merchant network. These automation-driven features improved donation rates and efficiency without increasing operational workload.
| Metric | Before | After | Improvement |
| Donation Volume (monthly) | Baseline | +72% | Significant uplift |
| Average Donation per Transaction | $0.35 | $0.92 | +163% |
| Merchant Opt-In Rate | N/A | 85% | Rapid adoption |
| Reconciliation Time | 30–60 mins/day | <5 mins/day | ~90% reduction |
These results demonstrate the effectiveness of embedding charitable options within digital banking experiences, driving higher participation, operational efficiency, and measurable social impact.
Increased giving: The “round-up” and “custom amount” giving options together turned loose change into millions in new charitable giving.
Zero added workload: Donations, compliance, and reporting all operated automatically on the current POS system.
Enhanced customer sentiment: Merchants indicated favorable feedback, with customers enjoying the convenience of being able to give instantly and openly.
Why It Matters for Merchants and Banks
For the bank, this effort was not just a feature, it was a brand differentiator. The new donation streams further enhanced the bank’s reputation as a socially responsible leader while opening up new customer engagement opportunities.
For merchants, it added value without disruption:
- No new employee training or procedures.
- Clear donation summaries for all transactions.
- Good customer experience that fostered loyalty and trust.
And for charities, it provided a constant, traceable flow of micro-donations – demonstrating how technology can make giving scalable, secure, and frictionless.
Key Takeaways
- Frictionless giving drives participation. When giving is a one-tap affair, opt-in rates explode.
- Automation eliminates overhead. Real-time reconciliation and reporting liberate staff time.
- CSR equals ROI. Mission-based design deepens customer loyalty and increases transaction level.
- Architecture that scales. New merchants can turn on the feature after deployment, no engineering needed.
Conclusion
Through donation flows woven into the checkout process, the bank transformed every day’s purchases into moments of impact. Donations surged, customer satisfaction improved, and operational expenses remained flat.
This project demonstrated that when purpose and automation collide, everyone wins – customers, merchants, charities, and the brand itself.