SUSTAINABLY was set up by Loral Quinn and her daughter Eishel after they spotted a gap in the market for an app that lets people give to their chosen good causes by rounding up cashless transactions and donating spare change automatically. They have just raised £300,000 which will go towards marketing the app to new users and charities as well as 
launching a B2B platform.

Name: Loral Quinn

Position: Co-founder

WHAT IS THE BUSINESS CALLED?

Sustainably

WHERE IS IT BASED?

Edinburgh

WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?

MY co-founder/daughter and I came up with the idea in 2015 to help people make a positive impact every day, effortlessly. Many of us want to support charities but don’t want to commit to one cause and face the hassle and guilt of later cancelling. Consumers want convenience, flexibility and transparency, but “giving tech” hasn’t yet caught up. 4.9bn people could donate over $1 trillion to charity by 2030 [OECD]. Plus 84% of charities are concerned about their ability to fundraise. More than half of donations are still made in cash, but we’re living in an increasingly cashless society. 94% of CEOs have a commitment to responsible business but only 14% have measurable plans in place (The Responsible Business Tracker). We saw a massive gap in the market and wanted to fix it.

Prior to setting up Sustainably, I was head of digital strategy and head of digital marketing for Aberdeen Asset Management and was recently named in BIMA’s top 100 people in digital in the UK. I always had an entrepreneurial mindset, continually learning, having worked in the investment, travel, fashion, music and charity industries. My co-founder is my daughter, Eishel, who has a background in ethical retail.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

SUSTAINABLY is a new way of living and giving. Our platform for giving brings people, businesses and good causes closer together. We turn payments into positive impact every day. Sustainably is the only app where you can donate and track your impact, in frictionless ways. With Sustainably, you simply link up your card or device and make a difference every time you spend, or give monthly with privacy, transparency and control.

Users set their own donation limits, and are free to stop, start, pause or change them at any time. You’ll never be pressured by us or our charities, and we never share your personal details. We’re also Gift Aid compatible, FCA-regulated and charge no user fees. And you can even track the impact you’ve made. Named by Richard Branson as his start-up of the year 2019. Virgin StartUp winner, 2018, Sustainably is backed by Barclays Techstars, Nesta, Startup Grind, Tech Nation and won Best of Show at Finovate. We also won £140k investment via WeWork’s Creator Awards, a global competition judged by Ashton Kutcher and Monzo’s co-founder.

READ MORE: How one Scottish charity has seen generosity flourish through Covid pandemic

The product is hailed as “smart giving” as it offers people with busy lifestyles a fast solution to positive impact. We started with the idea of creating a product where doing good was effortless. We examined urban lifestyles. Every aspect of the app has been created to enable people to give in seamless ways and see their impact.

The launch features Round Ups which uses open banking to micro-donate spare change instantly, and Monthly Happiness where you can give monthly and see your impact instantly. As well as being Gift Aid compatible, Sustainably takes no user fees and charges charities just 20p per supporter, per month (no donation, no fee), in exchange for a new income stream and anonymised supporter shopping trend data. The service works by rounding up and micro-donating spare change. Connected to 17 UK banks, you choose a cause and connect your account to the Sustainably app, then shop on your card or connected device as normal, and can track your impact in the app. You can pause it or change it whenever you like and set your own donation limits.

HOW HAVE YOU COPED WITH CORONAVIRUS?

CHARITY income has been significantly disrupted during Covid-19 with most fundraising events cancelled, with a funding gap of £10 billion. This is the combination of a drop in income as donations dry up and charity shops close, and a huge rise in demand for services, including food banks, mental health services, domestic abuse and more. Sustainably is able to provide a new daily income stream from cashless transactions and enable charities to connect and engage with younger demographics, so we’ve seen an increase in demand for our services. Our subscription-based service, enabling people to give to good causes automatically whenever they shop, creates opportunities for positive impact in frictionless ways. Our unique technology provides a new daily income stream for good causes and data to help unlock new corporate partnerships – ask some of the 40 charities we already support, including Macmillan, Shelter and British Heart Foundation. By providing a continuous new revenue stream for good causes, we’re transforming frictionless giving.

WHAT IS YOUR TARGET MARKET?

A MAJORITY (86%) of Gen Z and millennials (the UK’s biggest givers) want to donate via mobile and see their impact. And while more than half of donations are still made in cash, we live in an increasingly cashless society. People want to give with privacy, transparency and control, and Sustainably’s app enables them to do just that. Whilst GenZ and millennials are the early adopters, our platform is making it easy for any generation to give back.

READ MORE: Meet the social enterprise hoping to have ‘massive effect’ on plastic waste

Between January and June 2020, the UK public donated a total of £5.4 billion to charity – an increase of £800 million compared to the same period in 2019. There has definitely been an increase in more sustainable and ethical behaviour including shopping locally and supporting good causes.

HOW IS YOUR BUSINESS DIFFERENT FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?

THE current landscape for giving is large but very fragmented. You have to sign up to multiple services to give instantly, monthly, sponsor your friends, and get the retailers you shop at and your employer to give to causes you care about. We’re creating one place for all your giving, which manages your tax and tracks your impact. Sustainably never shares personal data so you get to give with privacy and never get hassled to give more.

IS SCOTLAND A GOOD PLACE FOR THIS TYPE OF BUSINESS?

SCOTLAND is a great place to start a tech business. We’ve had so much support from the community including Fintech Scotland and its partners. And there is a lot of local talent and capacity to learn the networks of start-ups to the accelerators, incubators and universities.

WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?

Being able to create a product that people love is the best thing about running the business. We set out to create a huge impact, so it’s really rewarding to see our giving tech really making a difference. The team we’ve built is great too, so I’m lucky enough to work with some incredible people every day who really get the mission and vision for what we’re creating.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
I THINK the biggest challenge is to learn what you don’t know as fast as you can, so get advice from people who are at later stages than you are who have navigated all these challenges before. So surrounding yourself with people who are smarter than you is key. We are lucky enough to have some incredible advisors and investors, including Brent Hoberman’s Founders Factory.

WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS’ TIME?
OUR SaaS platform for enterprise customers will enable the most visible and impactful CSR on the planet with the potential to unlock billions in unclaimed corporate match givingand we already have FTSE100 companies signing up. We built Sustainably so every individual, every charity and every business in the world could use it. So you could say we have big ambitions!