Round-up option for non-profit donation

[FHAHabitat]

I know there are other threads regarding rounding up for donations.

Let me clarify, in this thread, the importance of such a tool within the POS for non-profit organizations and other businesses. My team does the math for customers and adds the .23 cents (tax-exempt) to the $5.77 purchase. Our goal is to have Square provide an option for ALL square users to have a tax-exempt round-up key/button.

We have 16 local businesses that want to donate proceeds to our non-profit organization through the round-up program. They don't have the reliability in all their employees to do the "quick math" and get it right. They also do not want the added need to keep a calculator near the register, as it adds to the customer time in line. The conversation should be simple: "Your total is $23.57, would you like to roundup to the next dollar, for $24, to donate to Habitat's Homeless Veteran Community Build?" If they say yes, the cashier simply clicks the "round-up" key/button, and the report shows that "item" in their reports. The cashier does not need to pull out a claculator and do the math, and the customer sees on their receipt "Habitat Round-up" (or something like that). That company then sends a donation check to our business at the end of the month/quarter, however they want. For-profit businesses WANT this option, so they can reap the benefit of donating that money on the customers behalf, and publicize that. Customers want to give back, with as little added time as possible. Quick and painless is their preference.

This is what everyone is looking for. I have recently researched this, MANY other POS systems have this already, at the same, or less cost. Businesses using other POS systems are donating "round-up" to us already. We've been happy with Square POS; but, ya'll are behind, and missing opportunities to keep/gain POS users. When does Square plan to roll out this kind of option. I've been asking for it since March2016, and being told, "we're working on it, should be soon".

[SolMercantile]

It’s about to be 2022 and this thread is older than my kids. Please add a roundup function in time for the holidays so we can help local non-profits in an easy and transparent way.

[RutabagaPhilly]

We would love to give our customers the option to donate to our Scholarship Fund via a question at the end of the transaction, very similar to how tipping works. It's better than asking all cashiers to ask every customer directly if they'd like to donate, and could give the customer the option to maybe round up to the nearest dollar or donate larger amounts very simply.

Seems like this feature has been requested for 5+ years, but I can't find if it's been created. And if not, why not?

[Kassi_]

Welcome to the Community, @RutabagaPhilly - 

Appreciate the post regarding the ability to round up for donations. 

This has been a big ask for our sellers and I know it has been escalated to our Product Team. 

I have moved your post to the original post, so your voice is added to the feature request. 

[tbeshr]

We spend a considerable amount in processing fees to Square. Please add this feature as it is being requested in both Canada and in the US by many of your non profit customers.

It can't be that difficult!

Please add this feature before we start shopping vendors.

Thanks

[BernadetteA]

Thank you for adding your voice to this request, @tbeshr 

We do not have any updates to provide, but appreciate you taking the time to post and share your feedback. 

[SVDPTacoma]

We have been using Square in our thrift stores since 2017. I have been waiting to see this feature added since then. We are a non-profit who provide immediate financial help to our neighbors in need and our store customers would appreciate the round up feature. If there could be the round up option to donate change it would save our cashier and customers a lot of time. I also like the idea of having it set up similar to tips so the customer can pick a percentage to donate. Every store that I go to has this option. PetSmart, Fred Meyer, even Walmart. PLEASE add this feature for all of the Square users here.

[Prestigiouspier]

Have y’all found a work around ? Obviously we can input the custom amount at the end but the register will still add tax to it. Has anyone figured a way to work around this until this feature is available??

[COH_Director]

If you add manually at the register, create an "item" that is "rou-up donation" and set that item to not charge tax.

Using the tips function, with a sign, is what we opted for.  See my earlier post for a more thorough explanation.

[Sugarloafer]

We do like the above - we have a roundup button and ask people if they want to round up.   However, we only got $200 last year from that on 200k in sales on 10k transactions.   Based on a study i read where 67% of people round up, we would expect $3600 in round up.   However, we also have the tips turned on and a sign saying "tips equal donations" on the pad.   And we got $3900 in donations last year which is pretty good.   BTW we are a non profit operated visitor center at a State Park.  

[Prestigiouspier]

We won’t get the round up feature until square figures out how to make money off the donations. Or creates a special processing fee for transactions that includes “round ups”. For how long we’ve been asking for it, legality is probably what’s holding it up, not sure the legalities on making money off donations, but companies don’t just do things out of the kindness of their hearts, they have to have a monetary incentive. 

[JoeHabitat]

I agree 100%!  I have been asking for this feature for 5 years.  It seems that it would be an easy addition.  

Joe Tucciarone

Habitat for Humanity in the Roanoke Valley

[lakelandbbq]

Any progress? I am asking for this too!!

[Arie]

Thanks for writing in, and letting us know this is something you'd like to see @lakelandbbq. While we don't have an update to share here at the moment, I'll highlight this feature request with our product team. 

[austin7777]

bump.  This would also help with the national coin shortage. 

[RSTCRuminations]

My business is looking for this solution as well. Please count us as one of the, vast, numbers who request the round up for donation feature be implemented.

[MayaP]

Hi @RSTCRuminations,

Welcome to The Seller Community!

Thank you for flagging this to us again! I know this has been ask, and our Product Team is looking at ways to get this implemented.

But at the moment this is still a feature request. To get more insight into the feature request process checkout this post from one of our Seller Community Moderators.

Thanks again for letting us know how valuable this feature is to your business. 

[COH_Director]

I am not sure why the team is looking at "how" to implement it... There is a "tips" function.  All you need to do is give us the option to make tips donations, change the words and amounts taken, and bada-bing bada-boom done...  Right?  What exactly is the hold-up?

[LoCAFarm]

We would also like to see this feature. 

[HFHVIN]

We provide Square with a significant contribution to Square’s annual income. It seems that we are not alone in asking for a roundup feature. THIS IS OUR THIRD REQUEST FOR A ROUNDUP FEATURE OVER A TWO YEAR PERIOD. 

PLEASE INSTITUTE THIS FEATURE!!

[sayra]

Hello, @FHAHabitat - Welcome to the Seller Community! 

We appreciate your feedback and detailed post. Understanding how a feature can benefit your business is important to us. Square has created a board called "Ideate" with this in mind. 

Here you can submit your feature request for greater visibility to our product team, I would also suggest tagging the seller's above that have chimed in to create a greater case on the need of this feature. 

In the meantime, we are asking around on our end for more information regarding this feature and its existence on the road map. If we hear back with more details we will make sure to reach out. 

Thank you. 

[Lynn_TRU]

So, if anyone from Square is still listening... this missing feature may be costing you business.

Our charity has been on Square for 3 months now. I've been able to train our ~25 once-a-week volunteer cashiers to do the math & add an item to the cart. However, we often have cart-level discounts like "20% for seniors" day, and drilling down to remove the discount from the round-up in the cart is so much of a pain that our cashiers simply skip asking for a round-up, particularly if there's a line at checkout, which is often. Square is missing revenue from fees on the round up amounts that we're not collecting.

A couple weeks ago one of our customers asked me how our Square experience has been going, as he was exploring POS options for his own operation. This issue was one of the several negatives I cited. I did give Square an overall "pretty good" rating, but he was happy to get a list of our pain points, so he could research if other POS offerings handled them better. Square is missing revenue from potential customers who go elsewhere after hearing that highly requested features - even over many years - don't get addressed by the development team.

<daydream>I wish the Square software were open source. Square could benefit from users who need a feature so much they code it themselves and share back into the code base for everyone, with Square still earning revenue from the services provided: credit card processing, loyalty tracking, etc.</daydream>