Looking for a new way to give back this holiday season?
, a nonprofit startup based out of Venice, has taken the change-saving model popularized by Acorns and applied it to donating.
For every purchase made, Changebowl rounds to the nearest dollar and pools the excess change into a savings account. The account is then linked to a charity of your choosing, giving you a hassle free way to donate to the causes you care about most.
Started by Paul Marsolan and Crista Moldonado, the four person team takes no salary and considers the company a “passion project.”
Both Marsolan and Moldonado had first-hand experiences with the financial burdens of medical expenses, and wanted to create a tech-savvy way for people to be philanthropic.
“Crista had some medical issues and basically had to learn how to walk again and fortunately her family had the financial means to put her through physical therapy,” Marsolan said. “My first son [Ronan] was born with a rare genetic condition called CHARGE syndrome. We went to 45 different doctors appointments in the first month, he had open heart surgery, he’s deaf and blind, he doesn’t have balance, but we were also fortunate to have the financial means to give Ronan physical therapy three times a week and he’s doing really well right now.”Marsolan is the CTO and cofounder of InAuth Inc., a company that provides mobile security for banks and credit card processors around the world. He was able to transfer his experiences in order to create a safe and secure platform for Changebowl.
Teen Cancer America is the site’s flagship charity and they have also partnered with British rock legends The Who to spread the word during their next American tour.
Changebowl also works closely with The Samfund, a charitable organization for young adults battling cancer that need help paying for treatments. One of the company’s four employees received aid from The Samfund when he was juggling student debt due to the cost of his cancer treatments after college.
“Things like this are really making a difference, but for you and I, it is just change. A lot of people, especially millennials or kids out of college, don’t have a lot of money, but they still want to do good. And they feel like writing a $10 or $20 check is not going to mean much but these things can add up to something very powerful like a co-pay for someone to get their chemotherapy.”
Changbowl’s goal is to make donating more efficient. As for the rest of the nonprofit world, Marsolan believes they have been slow to adapt:
“The way I see nonprofits today is like the federal government — not the most efficient. A lot of the donors to nonprofits are older. The idea for Changebowl is to make this a younger user group that can then contribute to things they care about and are passionate about.”
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