LevelUp Announces Causes -- A Way to Save & Do Good

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - Aug 30, 2012) - What could be better than saving money while you pay at your favorite businesses with your fancy-dancy smartphone?

How about supporting your favorite causes while you're at it?

Today, LevelUp -- the smartest way to pay with your phone -- unveils Causes, a new feature that [we hope] will help make the world a better place.

We know that parting with your hard-earned money is um... hard... but we also know that you want to support the causes you care about. So we figured, wouldn't it be awesome if you could donate to your favorite cause only when you're already saving money on LevelUp? So you're still saving some money, but also spreading the wealth around just a little bit.

Imagine that instead of saving the full $10 loyalty credit you might have unlocked at a local business, maybe you choose to take $1 of that $10 and give it to a cause you care about. Some for you, some for them. You still get to save and donate to your favorite cause all at once.

We think it's the best way to make giving easy and rewarding.

As we launch this new feature, we're excited to team with Feeding America, Jumpstart and the Massachusetts Democratic Party as our first Causes partners. And we're excited to bring more great Causes on board over the next weeks and months.

"Already, one in ten US adults have made a charitable contribution by simply texting on mobile devices. Now with nearly half of smartphone users open to some sort of mobile payment, including apps like LevelUp, the opportunity to link mobile commerce directly with charitable giving is huge, and can be done in some creative ways," said LevelUp Chief Ninja Seth Priebatsch. "That's why we developed LevelUp Causes -- to link buying, saving and giving from inside one beautiful simple experience."

How It Works for Consumers:
Simply launch the LevelUp app and head to the "Donate" section under "Settings." There you can see a list of all the Causes currently on LevelUp. Pick your favorite one and the percentage of your savings that you'd like to donate. Remember, that percentage only applies to the money you're saving (not spending) when you pay with LevelUp.

Then just pay at any business accepting LevelUp as a form of payment, like you normally do. When you save some money by paying with LevelUp, you'll see in your email receipt that an amount equal to the selected percentage of your savings has been donated to the cause you chose. You'll also see a couple words of thanks from that Cause right in the email receipt!

Fun Example Time! Say you head into the LevelUp app and choose to support JumpStart with a donation percentage of ten percent. Great! You're now set to donate that percentage of your future LevelUp savings. So, the next day you head to burrito haven Boloco for lunch because you know you've got a $5 credit at Boloco on LevelUp (woot!). You order a burrito and a drink, costing $8, and pay with LevelUp. The $5 credit gets applied -- that's the amount you're saving. But because you're supporting JumpStart at a ten-percent rate, a 50 cent donation gets sent to JumpStart. They get 50 cents and you end up still saving $4.50. Win-win-awesomesauce!

How It Works for Causes:
LevelUp is looking for great causes to join LevelUp. It's a simple, straightforward process and open to causes of all shapes and sizes. We'll link to your cause from within our app so that our highly engaged users can support you as part of their everyday routine. You get to customize your display in the app, the message you include in the email receipts, and more. It's a great way to engage with your supporters in a fun, easy and ongoing way, and it's a no-cost donation to your organization.

Causes is still a beta feature on LevelUp, but if you're interested, please shoot us a note at causes@thelevelup.com. 

For more information about LevelUp Causes, please visit TheLevelUp.com.

About LevelUp
LevelUp is a revolutionary new way to pay. Users pay with their phone, saving time and money. Businesses pay 0% payment processing fees and re-invest those savings into growing their businesses by attracting new customers and bringing them back. LevelUp is a part of SCVNGR, which is backed by Google Ventures, Balderton Capital, Continental Advisors, Highland Capital, Transmedia Capital and T-Venture, the venture arm of Deutsche-Telekom.