Yesterday I went to Safeway on Colorado Boulevard in Denver to buy groceries.  A sign on pink paper near the register about donating to Easter Seals caught my eye.  Easter Seals is a nonprofit, community-based health agency dedicated to helping children and adults with disabilities attain greater independence. When it was my turn in the checkout line, the cashier told me my total purchase price and then asked if I would like to round up to the next dollar as a donation for Easter Seals.  For me it meant adding $0.96 to my bill.  Of course I said yes and told her I appreciated Safeway doing this. 

I mentioned I am always on the look out for examples of how companies support local nonprofits.  Turns out she was the front end manager and shared with me that initially she had thought the round up idea that another employee had proposed wouldn’t work well.  She had thought asking people to donate a dollar when they were checking out would be a more effective way to raise money from customers.  The store tried both approaches and, to her initial dismay, the round up model raised a lot more money.  So now the store uses the round up “ask.” She is very pleased how well it works and is proud of the dollars they are raising to support this good cause.

If you are a retail business, could a round up checkout promotion be a strategy to enlist your customers as partners to support one of your company’s causes?  For nonprofits, if you approach retail stores for a donation and they have already allocated their budget, perhaps you can negotiate a similar checkout promotion to raise dollars from their customers?