This solidarity reflex, born 15 years ago, is based on an easy gesture when paying at the checkout, but its terms remain vague, which can generate distrust.
Press the green button to donate a few cents to an association. Thanks to solidarity rounding, any customer of a partner store can make a microdonation at the checkout. The money collected is then donated to an association. Since its launch in 2009, the system has raised 80 million euros for the benefit of 1 800 associations, according to Microdon, the company behind it.
This year, 13 million euros in donations were collected for 300 beneficiary structures thanks to the solidarity rounding offered by some 15,000 stores of 42 different brands. Even if 42% of French people have already made a microdonation at the checkout, according to an OpinionWay study for Microdon from May 2024, some preconceived ideas remain around this simple but vague way of showing generosity.
1 What exactly does solidarity rounding consist of?
When paying the cash register, the choice is left to the customer to proceed, or not, with joint rounding. In the supermarket or in a more specialized store, everyone can either press the green button, to agree to rounding the total, or the red button, to decline this opportunity. “We have developed embedded generosity, it is the idea of grafting an opportunity to make a donation into everyday transactions”, explains Pierre-Emmanuel Grange, the founder of Microdon. The company takes care of implementing the necessary technology in the payment terminals of partner stores and collecting donations made through this in order to pay them to associations.
Not all stores offer solidarity rounding. In those that are Microdon partners, donation collection campaigns are then configured to display the question “Do you want to round up for this or that association?” before entering your bank card code. The beneficiary associations vary from one store to another. Donation campaigns take place over a certain period of time, from a few days to several months and can be active only a few hours of the day. It is generally suggested to round up to the nearest euro but also to make a fixed donation, of 50 cents for example. “Depending on the brands, the profile of their customers or the frequency in the store, we adjust the campaign parameters”specifies Pierre-Emmanuel Grange.
But on site, it is not always easy to know which association the proposed microdonation is intended for. In theory, small signs are supposed to indicate the possibility of rounding, but in reality, this information is not very visible, particularly in food stores. It is “at least written on the terminal before paying and then on the ticket when you have rounded up”recalls the founder of Microdon. But he admits that“we don’t always have time to see who we are giving to” and assures that “This is a big project for 2025: trying to be more identified in stores and more visible on the bank terminal”.
2 Are we sure that all the money goes to the beneficiary associations?
According to the OpinionWay study from last May, “66% of those surveyed would like to have more information on how donations are used”. All are donated by Microdon to the associations indicated during rounding at the checkout, assures the company. “At the end of the donation campaign period, we make fundraising appeals which correspond to the accumulation of all these cents. The brand is automatically deducted from these sums and it is paid directly to the beneficiary associations”specifies its founder.
Microdon nevertheless charges a 10% commission on donations collected. The associations thus contribute a third to the financing of the structure. The other two thirds are covered by partner companies who pay for the costs of integrating the project into their system and for its maintenance. Furthermore, Microdon asserts several guarantees of trust. The company is approved as a “social utility company” by the State and is a subsidiary of La Banque Postale. “We are controlled a lot,” underlines Pierre-Emmanuel Grange.
For certain associations, these microdonations, which, cumulatively, become millions, “account for 20 to 30% of their annual budget”assures Pierre-Emmanuel Grange. Very recently, 1.8 million euros were raised for several associations for Pink October.
3 Do partner companies benefit from tax advantages?
To the extent that donations to associations can be subject to tax exemption, some people wrongly think that brands that offer solidarity rounding benefit from tax advantages. A stubborn but unfounded distrust, so much so that this point is clearly addressed in Microdon's Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): “No, the brand does not benefit from a tax exemption linked to the amount of donations collected: it is the customers who give and not the brand, which is the collecting body.”Likewise, partner brands, such as Monoprix, are keen to clarify this question.
“No, Monoprix does not benefit from tax exemption linked to the amount of donations collected. […] Likewise, Monoprix does not collect any commission on donations.”
Monoprixon its website
As for customers, the minimal amounts they pay do not allow them to request a tax deduction.
Furthermore, Pierre-Emmanuel Grange assures that neither Microdon nor the brands have any interest in tax exemption: “Obviously there is no tax receipt issued and established in the name of the brand for donations from its customers, that would be fraud.” Microdon is the trusted intermediary that ensures that this does not happen: “In all our contracts, it is clearly explained to associations that they do not have the right to issue tax receipts for companies and to companies that they cannot request them from associations. never seen.” However, companies that participate in the solidarity rounding operation find an advantage in it. “They want to improve their image, says the founder of Microdon, and tick the boxes of corporate social responsibility (CSR)”.
Microdon offers another tool, salary donation, which allows employees to give a few cents or a few euros of their income to an association. The employer can match the donation of its employees and, in this case, the company can request a tax deduction, since it also participates in the donation.
