Contactless payments and personalised experiences: this is how Cents aims to make donating simpler and more aligned with donors' values.
Residents of advanced economies donate on average 0.7 per cent of their annual income, roughly half the figure recorded in low-income countries, where the percentage rises to 1.45 per cent. This is revealed by the World Giving Report published by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). Beyond the reflections these figures may prompt, a question arises naturally: are there barriers that limit people's ability to financially support the causes they believe in? According to the three young founders of Cents, a startup established in 2021 in Perugia and part of the LifeGate Way ecosystem, the answer is yes. Starting with the difficulties linked to integrating online and offline donation systems: an obstacle that can only be overcome by embracing digital transformation, argue founders Riccardo Valobra, Alessio Mazzalupi and Claudio Cardinale.
Cents, the first donation platform in Europe to be based on an impact-as-a-service model, was created with the aim of helping organisations reduce inefficiencies in face-to-face fundraising, integrate digital fundraising tools, optimise database administration and monitor campaign performance, including through artificial intelligence.
Tradition and innovation come together through "Tap to donate", an app that facilitates the management of offline donations, allowing people to give with a simple tap and making the work of volunteers and dialoguers easier. Contactless payments and data digitalisation make the process more transparent as well as more efficient, enabling associations to manage campaigns and regularisations via dashboards.
Artificial intelligence becomes a tool that, in addition to ensuring intelligent payment processing and the automation of compliance procedures, is capable of revolutionising the donation experience so that it is truly centred on the donor. Thanks to a dedicated recommendation system (known as the "Cause recommendation system") and a machine learning model, donors are encouraged to support causes and projects consistent with their own values, interests and financial means.
For-profit companies also enter the picture: Cents provides them with the technological infrastructure to integrate donation systems into their own digital platforms, points of sale or customer-facing campaigns, handling transaction management, data and administrative requirements. The funds collected are then directed towards the non-profit organisations listed on the platform, including Fondazione Telethon, Oxfam and Save the Children.
