Charity card pay roundups raised €7m in France in 2019

Payment “round ups” are known as “micro-dons” (micro donations) or “arrondis solidaires” (supportive round ups) in France. They allow customers paying by card on a participating card machine to opt to “round up” their purchase amount (e.g. €2.73 rounded up to €3), and give the extra to charity.

The average amount given is around 25 centimes, Europe 1 said, in its report on Monday December 23.

The company MicroDon, which manages the system, said that so far, 25 chains across France had installed the charity option at their 4,782 card payment points. The money goes on to benefit 260 charity associations, it said, and the shop or chain itself does not take any share of the money.

(Map: MicroDon / HuffPost.fr)

Since the launch of the system five years ago, this method of giving has raised nearly €40 million in donations, a study by OpinionWay found.

The practice is still more common in Paris and Ile-de-France, with €1.8 million of the total raised in 2019 coming from the 1,094 participating card payment points in that region. Yet, many other regions, including Corsica, reached €100,000 in donations for the first time this year.

In response to the significant increase in donations for 2019, a director at MicroDon said: “Two years ago, this kind of collection was very ‘Parisian’ and [more well known in] Ile-de-France, but since then, it has spread across France.

“The network of partner chains, between urban areas, shopping centres, and smaller points of sale in town centres have helped to re-balance the map of donations."