Expensify is turning a portion of revenue it earns on purchases made with its recently released corporate payment card into charitable donations. Under the new Karma Points program—automatically applied to all Expensify cards—the company will donate 10 percent of the swipe fee revenue it earns on every purchase to causes including aiding the homeless, underprivileged youth and recently released prison inmates, as well as fighting climate change.
Corporate social responsibility has been an increasing point of emphasis among business travelers, with the younger workforce in particular placing a premium on that ethos. As such, responsibility-focused initiatives have gained significant traction in the managed travel industry in recent years. As might be expected in the flight-centric travel space, environmental initiatives, such as carbon offsets, have been the among most common focus of such programs. Anti-human trafficking efforts also have come to the forefront as the travel industry confronts that pervasive issue.
Under the Karma Points program all Expensify donations will flow through a newly established charity, Expensify.org, and will be routed automatically to the cause most relevant to the underling purchase. For instance, meal purchases will result in a donation to alleviate hunger, while flight bookings will trigger a donation toward tree planting to help offset carbon emissions. Cardholders will receive instant mobile notifications about which fund their purchase supported.
Along with the automatic donations, Expensify's corporate clients can choose to make additional contributions by enrolling in a new Corporate Offsets program, which automatically will donate $2 to Expensify.org for every $1,000 worth of all approved expenses—not just those made with the Expensify card. Individual cardholders also have the option to donate out of pocket for the same amount with Personal Offsets. Expensify plans to expand the number of ways to donate and volunteer through Expensify.org in the future, the company said.
For Expensify founder and CEO David Barrett, charitable donations are a favorable alternative to traditional rewards points for many cardholders, who often struggle to amass points and face myriad barriers to redeeming them.
"The reality is, rewards worth hundreds of billions of dollars go unredeemed every year, and most people with rewards cards spend more in fees and interest than the rewards they earn," Barrett said in a statement. "Revenue from these rewards programs is literally measured in pennies on the dollar—or fractions of pennies. But what if we combined all those billions of fractions of pennies and put them into the hands of those who need them a whole lot more than we do? That's the idea behind Karma Points."