PayPay has been offering users a variety of ways to use the PayPay app other than just buying things. One such initiative is to collect donations for NPOs and other organizations through cashless payments, which we have carried out four times so far. This article will show you why PayPay supports making donations, along with an interview of Ms. Hou Yanbin who established this system from scratch.
Collect 60 million yen from 230,000 people
Recently, CEO Ichiro Nakayama, President & Representative Director of PayPay, visited Mr. Seiichi Eto, Minister of State for Special Missions in the Cabinet Office, along with his employees. They went to see him to hand over the summary of the approximately 15 million yen collected by PayPay to support the Children’s Future Fund. This money will be delivered from the Secretariat of the Fund to organizations working to reach out to children in need.
This is exactly the kind of donation we collected from our users through PayPay, as part of our “support that can be achieved with PayPay” drive.
It’s quite easy to collect donations through PayPay; users simply purchase one of our “themes” for 300 yen, with which they can customize their own PayPay app design. The total amount after deducting the consumption tax is sent to NPOs and organizations. Of course, you don’t need any cash to buy the themes, and if you have a smartphone, the donation is possible regardless of location.
Donations for the Children’s Future Fund is the fourth activity we have undertaken as part of our “support that can be achieved with PayPay-campaign. The first campaign supported the Peace Winds Japan NPO, which was launched in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11,and amounted to approximately 17 million yen. The second was the Red Feather Emergency Fund to support children and families during the temporary school closure which reached approximately 13 million yen. The third was for the Japanese Red Cross Society, and amounted to 18 million yen.
In total, we have raised over 60 million yen through four support campaign, and approximately 230,000 users have participated in the program so far. In addition, as a different type of support, we participated in Nippon Television Network Corporation’s “24-Hour Television” program in late August, offering people an opportunity to donate using a PayPay two-dimensional code.
Why is PayPay engaging in these support initiatives?
We not only aim to offer cashless services, but also to expand ourselves to become a “Super App” that makes users’ daily lives richer and more convenient. Our goal is to stay connected with our users by enabling them to handle money-related activities with the PayPay app, from finance to offline reservations.
This donation project is one of the services created in the process of becoming a Super App. We have started it using the PayPay platform to make a difference in society as well as to make our users happy at the same time.
Thanks to our 30 million users
-The story of Yanbin Hou, who created the donation project
Yanbin Hou
Business Development Department
The Business Development Department which I belong to is responsible for developing new business plans and ways of using PayPay. When my boss and I were thinking about what kind of services we could provide to make our users happy, we thought it would be great to have a system that would allow us to easily send money to people and organizations in need. We wondered if we could contribute to society by taking advantage of PayPay’s cashless payment feature and our large numbers of users and came up with the idea of this donation program.
To make this happen, we needed to make our users aware of our efforts, and make sure that the organizations we were supporting understood the benefits of using PayPay. We had to carefully explain the benefits we hoped to achieve, and then we worked closely with the organizations to make the project happen.
The achievement of being able to raise more than 60 million yen in total for four organizations was more than we expected. I believe it is thanks to our 30 million users that we have been able to garner so much support for popular organizations such as the Central Community Chest (Red Feather), along with lesser known organizations. Each organization was really surprised to see the amount of money we raised and thanked us for our efforts. We have been receiving a lot of inquiries from other organizations as well.
“Provide necessary support to those who need it, where it is needed.”
When I was talking with organization members I met through this project, I found out that many NPOs and other organizations do not have enough money to finance their activities, and an increasing number of organizations are having financial difficulties due to COVID-19.
It became obvious that there are numerous people who want to support individuals and organizations in need. 230,000 people have already participated in PayPay’s support program, so we hope that we can play a role in connecting them.
My ultimate goal is to make donation activities more commonplace and bring them closer to our daily lives.
When we say “donation,” many people might imagine activities such as collecting money in front of the station by calling out to people passing by, or putting cash in collection boxes installed at convenience stores and supermarkets. However, even if you find a donation box, only those who happen to have cash on hand can give on the spot. It often turns out that you cannot contribute because you only have 10,000-yen notes or you don’t have any change.
Of course, you can also send money directly to each organization, but you will need to check the rules and account numbers on each group’s website. Also, even if you pay by credit card, it can take up to two months before they receive the money, taking a lot of time and effort.
But, with PayPay, you don’t need any change, and you don’t need to check any information yourself. Your smartphone just enables you to easily make donations while you are at home or the train. I think this will make it easier for people to give, for example, “Since I got a PayPay bonus…” or “I just happened to see this donation program on PayPay…”
In addition, organizations in need of support can reach out to more than 30 million PayPay users at a time, and they don’t have to count or manage every single 100yen coin. The process is completed online, which has the added benefit of allowing them to transfer funds quickly.
Because we have many users and our goal is to create a more convenient world with a super app, I am confident that we can make users’ lives more convenient and contribute to society in ways other than just making payments. We are now in the process of preparing new services, to execute our mission of providing necessary support to those who need it, where it is needed.
In China, where I grew up, cashless payments are deeply ingrained in our daily experience and have been more closely tied to our daily lives than just a payment method. I want PayPay to be like that. We will continue to take on new challenges in order to enrich the lives of our users.
Currently available positions
*The recruitment status is current at the time of the interview.
Editing: Daiki (PayPay Inside-Out Editorial Department)
* Employee affiliations are as of the time of the interview.
