Mobile payment app LevelUp helps its users save money through incentives, loyalty programs and special offers. Now, the app has introduced a way for users to share a bit of their savings with their favorite causes.
LevelUp launched Causes on Thursday, becoming the first mobile payment ecosystem to integrate charitable giving. The Causes feature is a simple way to give a portion of your LevelUp rewards to a non-profit of your choice.
"We think there's a really neat opportunity to redesign payments for the first time in 60 years," Seth Priebatsch, founder of LevelUp, told Mashable. "The ability to bake in supporting your favorite causes and philanthropic groups into transactions, gives people the opporunity to really do good without having to think to much about it."
Three causes are joining LevelUp for the feature's launch: JumpStart, Feeding America and the Massachusetts Democratic Committee. Priebatsch is hoping many more will be included soon.
To use Causes, head into the app's settings, and select a cause and a percent you'd like to donate from each reward. After you donate each time, you'll receive an email receipt, which you can use for your tax returns, assuming you've selected a registered 501(c)3.
Levelup is currently the second largest mobile payment ecosystem, used by 3,500 merchants.
Does this new model for charitable giving through a mobile payments app sound like a sustainable model? Let us know if you would select to donate to Causes while using LevelUp.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, Uros78
Social Good Summit Information
The Social Good Summit is where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions. Held during UN Week, the Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.
Date: Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, through Monday, Sept. 24, 2012
Time: 1:00-5:00 p.m. and 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. each day
Location: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., New York, NY
Tickets: $50 per day or $130 for three-day pass.
Press: Press credentials will be given to press and bloggers from around the world for all Social Good Summit sessions and the Digital Media Lounge (DML). The DML is a fully wired work space at 92Y to report out of, network with fellow members of the media, and self-organize interviews and exclusive content from Social Good Summit sessions. The DML will be open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sept. 22-24. To apply, please fill in the form here.