2. THE INSIGHT
Everyone wants to help, as long as it doesn't cost too much time, effort or money.
The biggest deterrents to contributions are the effort involved in donating through the
usual channels, and the perception that only large sums of money can make a difference.
What most of us fail to realize, is that a million people donating a rupee each is better than
five rich people donating a lakh each.
3. THE OPPORTUNITY
More and more people in India (and across the world) are spending money online.
To travel, shop, play and even find life-partners. In India alone, E-Commerce sales are
projected to hit 4.1 billion dollars in 2010*. And most of these transactions are fractions.
*Source: eMarketer, January 2008
4. THE IDEA
Give users the choice to round off their bill amount during online transactions, and donate
the surplus to a cause of their choice.
5. THE IDEA
Instead of creating campaigns that ask users to go out of their way to donate, we'll tie up
with online payment services like PayPal or banks’ online transaction portals. So whenever
a user books a ticket online, or buys a barn for his virtual farm, or registers on shaadi.com
to find his soulmate, he can choose to donate at the click of a button. And since he's
already spending money, he won't mind spending a little more for a good cause.
6. THE EXECUTION
Whenever a user purchases something online, he's directed to a secure payment gateway
to complete the transaction. A popup on these gateways will ask the user if he'd like to
round off his bill amount - so if a flight ticket costs Rs.4812, the user can round it off to
Rs.4820. He can also choose to round it off to Rs.4850 or Rs.4900. All he has to do is
select his new amount, and continue with the billing process.
11. THE WEBSITE
www.rounditoff.org
Where the user can find out more about the causes he can donate to. He can also track
the fractions he’s donated, and see how much he’s donated in total.
Rounditoff.org will be a convergence of all information available on the various crises -
including Wikipedia articles, YouTube videos and Tweets. Plus tell him how much money
has been collected so far, and details of the relief organizations it’ll go to.
12.
13. THE SOCIAL CONNECT
The user can choose to connect Round it Off to his social networks, from the payment
gateway popups while donating, or from the website.
14. THE SOCIAL CONNECT
Once his social network is connected, every time he donates a fraction, updates like these
will be posted to his profile, for all his friends to see.
He’ll also get a permanent badge on his profile, that
shows the total amount he’s donated to charities so
far, what those charities are, and links to rounditoff.org.
15. THE IMPACT
‘Round it Off for Haiti’ has the potential to become a global movement. All that's required is
the participation of online payment gateways like PayPal or Google Checkout, along with
international banks. With just PayPal alone processing close to $71 billion dollars worth of
online transactions in 2009*, the possibilities are enormous.
*Source: PayPal-Media.com
16. THE IMPACT
In January, Zynga raised $1.5 million for Haiti in just 5 days, by simply launching special
edition virtual goods for games like FarmVille and Zynga Poker*. Demonstrating the
internet’s power to build up tiny fractions into critical mass quickly, without any major
investments or new infrastructure. Which is why we believe ‘Round it Off’ is the right idea
for the right medium. A simple idea that can empower the world’s online community to
come together with their trivial fractions to make a huge difference.
*Source: http://blog.zynga.com/press-releases/
17. THEAMBITION
Our vision for ‘Round it Off’ is a platform where any worthy cause can find sympathetic
supporters. It works equally well for long-term causes (Round it Off for our Planet, to
combat climate change), and emergency situations where help is needed immediately
(Round it Off for Haiti).
Besides online transactions, this idea can also be extended to include credit & debit
card transactions on the ground.
