By Ney Villasenor
It is without a doubt that financial technology (fintech) has disrupted the way we deal with money. Today, financial tools and instruments that were previously almost exclusive for the rich and the powerful are now becoming more and more available to the masses. But beyond disruption, fintech has given birth to a socially-relevant feature–mobile digital philanthropy.
Not a century ago, philanthropy was also almost exclusively reserved for those with a big warchests of money and those that have power. When we hear the very term, a picture of rich men and women clad in fancy clothes writing cheques and signing deeds of donations, while sipping fine wine and eating fine hor d’oeuvres, come to mind.
A few decades later, the practice of philanthropy evolved and then included the common people. Anyone with spare change donate what they can to charitable institutions and to government agencies providing humanitarian relief efforts in times of great distress and calamities.
Today, individual giving is much simpler. With fintech, anyone can support a cause, contribute to rebuilding efforts, and lend a helping hand through their mobile phones.
Mobile digital finance apps have encouraged people to be more generous, as these solutions have addressed certain pain points often linked to donating, such as the need to go to the offices of institutions and the long queues for in-bank transactions.
By using their fintech apps, people also don’t need to fill out long donation forms, navigate through cluttered web pages, or sign cheques. Now, by simply clicking on the donation tiles on their mobile apps, people can exercise philanthropy and contribute more to society.
The rise of fintech has also encouraged people to be more generous. After all, studies such as that of Global Trends in Giving concluded that people are more inclined to give when giving is more convenient to them.
As fintech simplifies the steps for giving, more and more people are now strongly empowered to practice their innate generosity.
Take the recent explosion of the Taal Volcano, for example. The online and offline worlds are bombarded with calls for help, and Filipinos responded without hesitation. It didn’t matter whether one was rich or poor, what mattered was that people were willing to help and they went out of their way to support those in need.
We saw from the news huge humanitarian efforts from both the government and private sector, and individuals pitching in to support the relief initiatives. The Fintech Alliance of the Philippines, composed of the country’s leading fintech firms, had set up a digital donation drive that enabled anyone with a mobile digital wallet to donate any amount for the relief operations.
GCash alone was able to pool more than a million pesos in donations from its user base and was distributed equally to eight of its non-government organization partners that were at the frontlines of the relief operations for the victims of the Taal eruption.
And while all these efforts by private groups are laudable and exemplary, what is most encouraging are individuals leveraging the power of fintech to launch their own relief efforts to help their fellowmen.
Various individuals turned to social media to call on their friends and family — and even strangers — to send their donations to their personal mobile wallets, a sort of individualized crowdfunding to purchase the immediate needs of those who were most affected by the explosion.
During the worst days of the eruption, we saw what I could only describe as the comeback of the age-old tradition of Bayanihan. Only now that it is digital.
But the spirit of Bayanihan should not only be alive during calamities. Everyday, there are millions of Filipinos that are in need, and we can help them by supporting causes that directly and indirectly make an impact in their lives.
With the rise of smartphones, the pervasiveness of internet access, and a very healthy set of regulations, fintech for social use stands to have an immense opportunity that we can harness.
Social groups are now partnering with fintech firms to facilitate donations, realizing that the future of fundraising for their good causes is mobile. This synergy is what we envision mobile apps to be — not only disruptive but also socially-relevant.