Introducing Roundabout

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 DILLEMMA OF THE 3 C’s CONSUMERS “I really want to give, and do so regularly, but the current channels present too much of a hassle.” COMPANIES “We don’t know how to keep consumers’ social attention span and what to make of CSR!” CHARITIES “We can’t compete against Tesco for online consumer money, so why bother.” CONSUMERS “I really want to give, and do so regularly, but the current channels present too much of a hassle.” COMPANIES “We don’t know how to keep consumers’ social attention span and what to make of CSR!” CHARITIES “We can’t compete against Tesco for online consumer money, so why bother.” Roundabout™ is a free fundraising technology for online, European retailers (such as Amazon.co.uk or Tescos.com) to enable “small-change” donations at point of sale to consumers’ (aka donors’) charity of choice. The installation of Roundabout™ on a site will cause the efficient aggregation of millions of small-change donations (at no cost to the retailer or charity), and will affect an instant and ongoing cash injection to the top-line of charities we partner with. The donation process is done in a single-click, intimidation-free manner. Deployed in this spirit, Roundabout serves as an effective electronic fundraiser to encourage “frequent, small change” donations, rather than “infrequent, larger” donations, and to convert consumers’ willingness to give into actual giving. Roundabout solves some of the most pressing issues as it pertains to the online distribution of wealth and giving to worthy causes. Three broad constituencies will benefit:  Online retailers wishing to:  Position themselves as socially responsible corporations in the eyes of consumers and regula tors,  Demonstrate their understanding of the “real” consumption needs of modern consumers who increasingly demonstrate a desire to “give back”.  Charities wishing to:  Bolster their top-line donor volumes without having to compete head-on with likes of Amazon for consumers’ time and attention,  Widen their donor profile, and  Amplify their visibility.  Most importantly, online consumers wishing to:  Give regularly at their whim to their favorite charity in a single-click, hassle-free, secure manner through a trusted brand How does it work? Roundabout™ installs seamlessly onto retailers’ systems. Roundabout automatically rounds up a purchase to the nearest pound, and offers the consumer the choice to donate or not (the default position is “decline”, and a donation will only be made if the consumers chooses to). The donation process does not intrude on selli ng – essentially, Roundabout blurs the line between buying and giving to emerge as an effective impulse fundraiser. Consider the graphic depicting a purchase of £9.24 being rounded to £10.00. Donors also have the option to add in extra pound amounts. At month-end, Roundabout invoices the retailer with an itemized bill for all donations that have been collected over the month. Upon receipt of these donations, Roundabout sorts and distributes the donations to the selected charities. A similar concept has already been shown to be successful by IDEO-designed “Keep the Change” campaign for Bank of America to improve savings.

Transcript of Introducing Roundabout

8/14/2019 Introducing Roundabout

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DILLEMMA OF THE 3 C’s

CONSUMERS

“I really want to

give, and do soregularly, but thecurrent channels

present too muchof a hassle.”

COMPANIES

“We don’t know

how to keepconsumers’ ‘social 

attention span ’and what to make

of CSR!”

CHARITIES

“We can’t

compete againstTesco for onlineconsumer money,

so why bother.”

CONSUMERS

“I really want to

give, and do soregularly, but thecurrent channels

present too muchof a hassle.”

COMPANIES

“We don’t know

how to keepconsumers’ ‘social 

attention span ’and what to make

of CSR!”

CHARITIES

“We can’t

compete againstTesco for onlineconsumer money,

so why bother.”

Roundabout™ is a free fundraisingtechnology for online, European retailers

(such as Amazon.co.uk or Tescos.com) toenable “small-change” donations at point

of sale to consumers’ (aka donors’) charityof choice.

The installation of Roundabout™ on a site will cause the efficient aggregation of millions of small-change donations (at no cost to the retailer or charity), and will affect an instant and

ongoing cash injection to the top-line of charities we partner with. The donation process isdone in a single-click, intimidation-free manner. Deployed in this spirit, Roundabout serves as an

effective electronic fundraiser to encourage “frequent,small change” donations, rather than “infrequent, larger” 

donations, and to convert consumers’ willingness togive into actual giving. Roundabout solves some of the

most pressing issues as it pertains to the online 

distribution of wealth and giving to worthy causes.Three broad constituencies will benefit:

  Online retailers wishing to:

•  Position themselves as socially responsiblecorporations in the eyes of consumers and regulators,

•  Demonstrate their understanding of the “real” 

consumption needs of modern consumers whoincreasingly demonstrate a desire to “give back”.

  Charities wishing to:

•  Bolster their top-line donor volumes without havingto compete head-on with likes of Amazon for

consumers’ time and attention,

•  Widen their donor profile, and•  Amplify their visibility.

  Most importantly, online consumers wishing to: •  Give regularly at their whim to their favorite charity

in a single-click, hassle-free, secure manner through

a trusted brand

How does it work? Roundabout™ installs seamlessly onto retailers’ systems. Roundaboutautomatically rounds up a purchase to the nearest pound, and offers the consumer the choice to

donate or not (the default position is “decline”, and a donation will only be made if the consumers

chooses to). The donation process does not intrude on selling – essentially, Roundabout blurs theline between buying and giving to emerge as an effective impulse fundraiser. Consider the

graphic depicting a purchase of £9.24 being rounded to £10.00. Donors also have the option to

add in extra pound amounts. At

month-end, Roundabout invoices theretailer with an itemized bill for all

donations that have been collected

over the month. Upon receipt of thesedonations, Roundabout sorts anddistributes the donations to the

selected charities. A similar concepthas already been shown to besuccessful by IDEO-designed “Keep

the Change” campaign for Bank of 

America to improve savings.

8/14/2019 Introducing Roundabout

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/introducing-roundabout 2/2

 UK donations from small(<£10) donations: 27%

Economic Philosophy:SMALL CHANGE ADDS UP!

UK donations from small(<£10) donations: 27%

Economic Philosophy:SMALL CHANGE ADDS UP!

FEE STRUCTURE

• Average donation size: £0.50

• For donations ≤ £0.10 – Free! and for donations > £0.10 – 10%

• As revenues increase, expenses stay relatively fixed

Total number of Roundabout donations

696,000 1,176,000

1,740,0002,376,000 2,580,000

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Number of online

transactions in 2006:

10,5mn. Revenues inexcess of £1bn.

Where does the profit come from? The revenue

model relies on high volumesof low value transactions – a

feasible approach given theboom in online retail and the

volumes of transactions that

leading retailers areexperiencing (see Tesco.com).

The administration feestructure is set in such a

manner that the maximumamount of money can be

transferred the charities wepartner with.

Development costs are minimal, and a prototype is currently being developed. Marketing to largeonline retailers will commence soon. The business model relies on partnering with only a few big-

ticket online retailers with high-volume online presences. Given the high probability of signing atleast a few of these retailers, Roundabout can reasonable expect to break even within an 18-

month period, and within a short space can see dramatic trading volumes.

Management team: The original business plan was developed by 5 Oxford MBA’s – 3 of whichare carrying this forward and championing the incorporation and rollout. The management team’s

combined experiences cover a wide range of domains, including online startup experience andwork in the social sector. The team consists of:

  Mr. Christopher North (CEO) – South African national working fulltime in UK private equity

sector as a renewable energy investor. Experience with Accenture and a niche actuarialconsultancy in South Africa advising widely on financial services issues. Founder of 2 SouthAfrican SME’s. Completed internships in venture capital and the social sector (Rwanda).

Responsibilities: Building an A-list of charity partnerships, constructing a world-class Board of 

Directors, and raising (social) venture capital to achieve large-scale rollout.  Mr. Daniel Adams (Director of Business Development) – British national working fulltime as

an entrepreneur and Director of Business Development for Tribe Partners, an internet startupand consultancy. Former senior counsel for AOL with significant experience negotiatingcontracts on behalf of multinational corporations and their online operations. Responsibilities: Heading all business development activities, promoting Roundabout widely to the online

retailing community, establishing a large base of retailing clients.

  Mr. Shreekant Vattikuti (Director of Strategy / Legal) – US national with substantial legal,financial, and operational experience. Working fulltime in boutique US investment bank,

promoting entrepreneurial deals mostly in the technology sector with significant exposure to

key players in global banking and venture capital sectors. Responsibilities: Evaluating andmonitoring Roundabout’s proposition to all stakeholders, and proactively identifying growthopportunities. Responsible for incorporation and ongoing legal matters.

I n c o m e S t a t e m e n t  

I n c o m e S t a t e m e n t  I n c o m e S t a t e m e n t  

I n c o m e S t a t e m e n t  

Y e a r e n d e d 3 1 D e c e m b e r (  

£000s) 

2 0 0 8 2 0 0 9 2 0 1 0 2 0 1 1 2 0 1 2  

T u r n o v e r 2 2 0 7 1 6 1 , 3 2 7 2 , 2 5 8 3 , 5 1 9  

G & A E x p e n s e s 2 3 9 6 4 1 6 9 7 7 4 7 8 0 7  

O p e r a t i n g C o s t s 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3  

M a r k e t i n g E x p e n s e 3 1 2 7 2 4 2 1 1 9  

P B I T ( 7 2 ) 2 5 5 8 4 1 , 4 6 8 2 , 6 7 1  

I n t e r e s t 6 6 5 5 4  

T a x a t i o n 0 7 1 6 4 4 1 1 7 4 8  

N e t P r o f i t ( 7 8 ) 1 2 4 1 5 1 , 0 5 2 1 , 9 1 9  

P r o f i t M a r g i n - 3 5 % 2 % 3 1 % 4 7 % 5 5 %  

BREAKEVEN: 18 MONTHSBREAKEVEN: 18 MONTHSBREAKEVEN: 18 MONTHSBREAKEVEN: 18 MONTHS

Break-Even Analysis

£-

£100,000

£200,000

£300,000

£400,000

£500,000

     J    a    n   -     0     8

     M    a    y   -     0     8

     S    e    p   -     0     8

     J    a    n   -     0     9

     M    a    y   -     0     9

     S    e    p   -     0     9

     J    a    n   -     1     0

     M    a    y   -     1     0

     S    e    p   -     1     0

     J    a    n   -     1     1

     M    a    y   -     1     1

     S    e    p   -     1     1

     J    a    n   -     1     2

     M    a    y   -     1     2

     S    e    p   -     1     2

Revenue Expenses

Break-Even Point

 BREAKEVEN

Break-Even Analysis

£-

£100,000

£200,000

£300,000

£400,000

£500,000

     J    a    n   -     0     8

     M    a    y   -     0     8

     S    e    p   -     0     8

     J    a    n   -     0     9

     M    a    y   -     0     9

     S    e    p   -     0     9

     J    a    n   -     1     0

     M    a    y   -     1     0

     S    e    p   -     1     0

     J    a    n   -     1     1

     M    a    y   -     1     1

     S    e    p   -     1     1

     J    a    n   -     1     2

     M    a    y   -     1     2

     S    e    p   -     1     2

Revenue Expenses

Break-Even Point

 BREAKEVEN