Royal Trinity Hospice releases its own debit card allowing supporters to round-up spending into donations

Royal Trinity Hospice
  • Royal Trinity Hospice is partnering with fintech Currensea to provide a branded debit card to allow supporters to choose to donate with every purchase
  • Becomes first charity healthcare partner to offer own branded cards through Currensea’s ‘powered by’ programme which allows cardholders to roundup UK spending and convert savings from overseas spending into charitable donations
  • This new card offers access to the best foreign exchange rates and removing bank fees – users can then donate a portion of, or all, the savings they make when spending money abroad directly to Royal Trinity Hospice

Royal Trinity Hospice, the oldest hospice in the UK and a charity that cares for 2,500 patients each year, is enabling supporters to make charitable donations via the charity’s own debit card through its partnership with Currensea, which has created a money-saving card linked to existing bank accounts.

Customers can now donate to Royal Trinity Hospice when spending both at home and abroad. Donations can be made by rounding up spending to the nearest 5p in the UK or from savings made on overseas transactions via this new branded card which allows card users to save at least 85% on every transaction abroad by removing the normal fees leveraged by banks and other card providers.

Using the new Royal Trinity Hospice card, users can now opt to donate all or part of the savings they make when spending abroad. For example, a user spending $1500 while visiting the USA can choose to contribute 50% of their savings – over £20 – while still saving money by avoiding high foreign exchange fees.

All of the donations made using the new Royal Trinity Hospice card will support their Community Palliative Care team, which provides specialist information and care to manage patients’ pain and often clinically complex and rapidly changing needs and symptoms. The multi-disciplinary team also provides specialist services including welfare advice, counselling, spiritual care, physio and occupational therapies to patients living in their own homes, care homes and homeless hostels. During 2021, the Community Palliative Care team provided care to nearly 1,800 patients in central and south west London.

The average charitable donation per card is £30. Royal Trinity Hospice hopes that at least 1,800 people will choose take advantage of the card offering, which will cover the costs of a specialist community nurse with expertise in palliative care for a whole year.

Royal Trinity Hospice is the latest charity to partner with Currensea as part of its unique ‘powered by’ programme, launched in 2021, which allows charities to issue branded cards to their supporters so they can roundup UK spending or convert savings made on overseas spending into charity donations. Other partnerships include St Martin-in-the-Fields Trust, which works with many of London’s most vulnerable communities, and Rafiki Thabo Foundation, a charity which boosts access to education across Africa.

Royal Trinity Hospice celebrated its 130th anniversary last year and continues to provide free specialist palliative and end of life care for nearly 2,500 patients each year as well as their families, friends and loved ones.  The hospice is the only dedicated end of life care provider for a population of around 750,000 people living in in Wandsworth and parts Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Westminster, Lambeth, Richmond upon Thames and Merton.

Currensea’s card allows users to access the best foreign exchange (FX) rates at only 0% to 0.5% above the FX base rate with high street banks typically charging 3-5% per transaction abroad.

Emily Carter, Chief Executive at Royal Trinity Hospice said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Currensea on the Royal Trinity Hospice card. The stylish new card is a simple way for people across our central and south west London community and beyond to support a vital local charity whilst also benefiting from savings on spending abroad – just in time for their summer holidays!”

James Lynn, Co-Founder of Currensea, comments: “Royal Trinity Hospice is a great cause and we’re proud to help boost support for the fantastic work it does. Our latest partnership offers a unique option for people looking for more control over their money and an opportunity to give back to their community.

 “Users can now support Royal Trinity Hospice when using the Currensea card at home and abroad. 5p round-ups per transaction may sound like a small contribution, but it can make a huge difference if all the hospice’s supporters take part. Similarly, the Currensea card allows customers to avoid the high foreign exchange fees they typically face when spending abroad, but they can also now support charitable causes instantly and automatically by donating part of or all these savings directly.

 “This is an innovative offering for charities such as Royal Trinity Hospice to engage with their existing donor base – whilst also providing an opportunity to directly reach new supporters and boost donations.”

 The Currensea card uses secure technology called open banking – a secure data-sharing approach between financial institutions to connect directly to someone’s bank account with their approval, allowing travellers to make overseas transactions directly from funds in their current account, whilst avoiding high bank fees, and UK users to use the round-up function.