New social enterprise unlocks £7bn in unused loyalty rewards for charity

• 94% of UK consumers have loyalty cards but only 49% always redeem their points
• Younger people less likely to redeem, with only 43% of 18-24 year olds claiming to always redeem, but 56% of 55+ year olds
• The result is £7bn in unused points, miles and cashback in the UK each year, sitting around doing nothing
• 53% of loyalty card users have lost their rewards because they didn’t use them
• 52% felt annoyed and 17% felt outraged as a result
• 66% would give their unused rewards to charity

New social enterprise, For Good Causes, launches today (28.2.2018) enabling people to convert their unused loyalty rewards into cash for their favourite charities. For Good Causes aims to work with as many of the UK’s 200+ loyalty programmes as possible starting with Quidco, the UK’s largest cashback service. For Good Causes seeks to raise £100m in the next five years through developing new ways for people to give to the charities that they love.

Quidco’s 7 million members now have the option to donate their earned cashback to a charity of their choice through For Good Causes. Since starting in 2005, Quidco members have earned over £400 million in cashback, with the average Quidco member earning £305 a year.

For Good Causes also launches its digital charity gift card. This new ‘gift of giving’ is the first time that a gift card can be given to the charity of the recipient’s choice. It’s available from launch partner Giftcloud and the For Good Causes website - www.forgoodcauses.org

Through distribution partner, Charities Trust, consumers already have over 13,000 charities to choose from for their donations and For Good Causes aims to enable donations to any UK registered charity in the near future. For Good Causes welcomes charity partners to work closely with them to maximise the funding opportunities and currently have 15 partners including Walking with the Wounded, Alzheimer’s Research UK & Prostate Cancer Research UK. Charities are urged to get in touch and take part.

Founder and CEO, Crispin Rogers, explains the idea behind For Good Causes, “There is so much cash sitting unspent in the form of cashback, points or miles in over 300 million loyalty memberships. That’s a lot of people who could opt to donate their unused rewards to their chosen charity without even having to dip into their pockets.

“We’re working with the loyalty and charity sectors to create a brand new currency for giving. People love the idea. 66% of people we spoke to said they would give their unused loyalty rewards to charity, with millennials being the most likely to do so (77%). 54% would also buy a charity gift card for donation to their favourite charity. It’s incredible to think that in a £6.5bn gift card industry, this is the first time that people can do this.”

Says Quidco’s Managing Director, Andy Oldham, “We’re thrilled to be launch partners with For Good Causes. It’s a unique initiative in the UK and gives our members the choice to do some good with their rewards and help a charity close to their hearts. It adds a progressive social change value to our offer, which we know is increasingly important to consumers. We’ve already transformed the way people can shop and we can now be part of the movement to transform the way they can donate to charity. It’s a win win all round.”

For Good Causes is in discussion with other loyalty programmes, including supermarkets, airlines and hotel operators. “Whilst some loyalty programmes offer customers two to three charities chosen by the retailer to redeem their rewards, take up is often limited - because customers want to choose the charity themselves. Although in the UK we are one of the most generous nations on earth when it comes to giving to charity, the things we want to donate toward are very personal to us, depending on what has happened to us, our family or loved ones or what has simply touched our souls. And that’s good for business too - 44% of consumers we surveyed said they would think more positively of a brand offering this option and a quarter said they would buy more from participating retailers. So it makes really good business sense for retailers as well,” adds Rogers.

Commenting on the launch, Andrew Cook from Walking with the Wounded, “We're delighted to partner with For Good Causes to unlock a new way to raise funds to support veterans who are struggling to lead independent lives and integrate back into society post military service. We welcome this excellent innovation and would urge anyone with a reward card to take a moment to think about the positive difference they could make to those who have given so much on our behalf just by turning their unused rewards into cash.”

Ends.

For further information and/or interviews with Crispin, Andy or Andrew, contact: Sue Laybourne 07717 327 302 (sue.laybourne@forgoodcauses.org)

Background

The principle behind For Good Causes was conceived by Crispin Rogers, a loyalty industry veteran with over 20 years’ experience leading global loyalty schemes for Shell and Visa Europe. He had the idea four years ago after thinking there must be a way for charities to benefit from the multi-million pound loyalty industry, helping create a more positive brand opinion amongst consumers.

He teamed up with co-founder Steve Wilks, who has extensive operations experience from Accenture and Experian and whom Rogers met at Visa, formed the company and together created a formidable leadership team, including marketing, tech and finance industry veterans. The team has spent the last 12 months preparing For Good Causes’ launch.

A For Profit With Purpose Social Enterprise, For Good Causes raised £292,220 in a crowdfunding campaign in 2017, exceeding its £250,000 target.

The UK’s Loyalty & Gift Card Market

• £7bn unused consumer points, miles & cashback in the UK* (Source: Loyalive Oct 2015/Asda Money Jan 2016)
• >200 loyalty schemes
• >300m loyalty cards in circulation
• 79% have bought a gift card, 80% have received one

Appetite for For Good Causes

• 75% love/like the idea of donating their rewards to a charity of their choice; 66% said ‘I’m in’ and 77% of millennials would participate
• 44% would think more positively of a brand offering this option
• 25% said they would buy more from participating retailers
• 60% love/like the idea of a charity gift card, 81% of millennials
• 54% said they would buy one for friends/family
• 133 different charities were named by 338 people when people were asked their favourite charity (showing the diversity in opinion) (Source: FGC Research, 2017 & 2018)

Partner Charities already signed up with For Good Causes

Walking with the Wounded, Prostate Cancer UK, Evelina Children’s Hospital, The London Legal Support Trust, Cardiac Risk in the Young, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Mayor’s Fund for London, Smartworks Reading, Village Water, Befriended, Oxfordshire Animal Sanctuary, The Haven, Team Margot, Women without Roofs, The Hunger Project

Charity Financials:

• Growth of the charity sector has been slowing for the past five years, however, growth did increase this year for the first time since 2013-14 – but only by 0.1%
• Reported government funding falls by £35 million since 2014-15
• Small charities are on a knife edge, struggling to stay afloat into the next financial year
• There are 167,000 registered charities in England and Wales
• Most charitable organisations are small, locally-based operations. Those with less than £250,000 annual income make up 81% of the charitable population, but generate just 6.2% of the total revenue. (Source: Charity Income Spotlight Report 2018)

Sources in Release :

• 94% of UK consumers have a loyalty card (Source: FGC 2018)
• 53% of loyalty card users have lost their rewards because they didn’t use them. (Source: FGC 2018)
• 52% felt annoyed & 17% felt outraged as a result (Source: FGC 2018)
• £6.5bn gift card industry (Source: UK Gift Card & Voucher Association 2017)