Turning spare change into real change: Hertfordshire Entrepreneurs Create App That Helps Homeless in Watford

Sean Donnelly and Matt Smithson of Watford and Tring, respectively, have created the Roundups app to support charities. Roundups connects with your card to automatically round up your payments and donate spare change as you go. The platform is starting to attract national attention with major charities and several high profile investors getting involved.

New Hope, a local charity that supports people experiencing homelessness in Watford, were one of the very first charities to join the platform after Mr Donnelly volunteered at their winter shelter. In the last 3 months, New Hope provided 1,335 nights of safe accommodation to rough sleepers. Rebecca Palmer, Fundraising and Communications Manager at New Hope, said: “We are very excited to be involved with Roundups. It's essential that fundraising keeps pace with innovations in society so that charities don't get left behind. People love to give and Roundups helps people to do this in a really simple way and, vitally, helps the donor to see how their donations are making a difference."

Regarding the potential of the app, Roundups CEO, Mr Donnelly commented: “if even a fraction of the Hertfordshire population got involved and donated pennies regularly, our collective impact would be huge. It’s a big challenge but we have some great investors behind us and we believe we can mobilise communities. After all, we are only asking for spare change donations - funds that our members won’t miss.”

The entrepreneurs claim that Roundups takes around 5 minutes to set up and works with all major cards. Donors can set a weekly cap on donations and pause at any time. New Hope supporters can also opt in to receive bitesize updates about the difference their donations are making to people experiencing homelessness in Watford.

Learn more and sign up to support New Hope on Roundups at www.joinripples.org/new-hope.