Careers education charity Founder4Schools releases its own debit card allowing supporters to round-up spending into donations

Founders4Schools, a careers education charity working with business leaders to improve the employment prospects of young people, is enabling supporters to make charitable donations via the charity’s own debit card through its partnership with Currensea.

Currensea offers a money saving card linked to existing bank accounts and through the partnership customers can donate to Founders4Schools when spending both at home and abroad. Donations can be made by rounding up spending to the nearest 5p in the UK or from savings made on overseas transactions via this new branded card which allows card users to save at least 85% on every transaction abroad by removing the normal fees leveraged by banks and other card providers.

Using the new Founders4Schools card, users can now opt to donate all or part of the savings they make when spending abroad. For example, a user spending $1500 while visiting the USA can choose to contribute 50% of their savings – over £20 – while still saving money by avoiding high foreign exchange fees.

All of the donations made using the new Founders4Schools card will support the charity in ensuring it remains a free service to all schools in the UK and unlock equal opportunities to quality careers education for all young people.

Founders4Schools connects young people with a diverse network of role models, educating them on the huge range of career pathways available, raising their aspirations, instilling self-belief, and offering unique career insight. The programme also promotes social mobility, reduces gender bias and closes the UK skills gap.

The average charitable donation per card is £30, providing a vital new revenue stream for Founders4Schools.

Alison Rowan McEwan, Executive Director of Founders4Schools, comments:

“Founders4Schools is delighted to be the first education charity to work with Currensea to develop this innovative way to support the meaningful work we do to help prepare young people for the world of work.  The donations will help us to offer educators free access to a large and diverse network of business volunteers who give young people real-world insight into their jobs and industries to help prepare them for their future careers.”

James Lynn, Co-Founder of Currensea, comments:

“Our partnership with Founders4Schools offers a unique option for people looking for more control over their money and an opportunity to support young people in their community. The lack of social mobility across the UK remains a major issue and the mentorship programmes offered by Founders4Schools is key to tackling this problem.

“Powered by is an innovative offering for charities such as Founders4Schools to engage with their existing donor base – whilst also providing an opportunity to directly reach new supporters and boost donations. Users can now support Founders4Schools when using the Currensea card at home and abroad and for every £1 raised using the card, Founders4Schools will connect a young person with an inspirational business figure and provide invaluable career guidance.”

The Currensea card uses secure technology called open banking – a secure data-sharing approach between financial institutions – to connect directly to someone’s bank account with their approval, allowing travellers to make overseas transactions directly from funds in their current account, whilst avoiding high bank fees, and UK users to use the round-up function.

Founders4Schools is the latest charity to partner with Currensea as part of its unique ‘powered by’ programme, launched in 2021, which allows charities to issue branded cards to their supporters so they can roundup UK spending or convert savings made on overseas spending into charity donations. Other partnerships include healthcare provider Royal Trinity Hospice, St Martin-in-the-Fields Trust, which works with many of London’s most vulnerable communities, and Rafiki Thabo Foundation, a charity which boosts access to education across Africa.

Currensea’s card allows users to access the best foreign exchange (FX) rates at only 0% to 0.5% above the FX base rate with high street banks typically charging 3-5% per transaction abroad. 

More information about the partnership can be found here:  https://www.currensea.com/partner/founders4schools