From classroom to boardroom: Hackney pupils’ innovative charity payment scheme launched across 6,000 UK schools

 Today sees five teenagers from Skinners’ Academy in Hackney, East London celebrating the culmination of an extraordinary 18-month journey from classroom to boardroom as their school business project, ‘iRoundUp’, has become a commercial venture.

Agnieszka Rudnik, Daisie Spiteri, Elif Sucu, Mark Daniel and Matthew Daniel (all 17-18 years of age) – collectively known as ‘Team iRoundUp’ – won Mosaic’s 2015 Enterprise Challenge competition with their idea for a scheme that rounds up payments made to schools using ParentPay’s online payment service, with the excess being donated to nominated charities.

Following a successful testing phase last month, iRoundUp has today been rolled out across ParentPay’s entire UK platform and is now available to approximately 2 million parents. So far, over £12,000 has been raised for good causes.

One of the first charities to be confirmed as beneficiaries of the innovative scheme is Wallace & Gromit’s Children’s Charity, which raises funds to improve the lives of sick children in hospitals and hospices throughout the UK.

Jonathan Freeman, Managing Director of Mosaic, said: “This is truly a moment to celebrate. The success that Team iRoundUp has achieved is very much deserved and proof that high-quality mentoring, such as that enjoyed by the pupils taking part in Mosaic’s Enterprise Challenge competition, has the potential to change lives. Mosaic will remain forever committed to nurturing and encouraging the talent of pupils in schools throughout the UK, regardless of background, faith or circumstance.”

Clint Wilson, ParentPay CEO commented: “iRoundUp is an excellent concept: the idea of students donating spare change to charities via ParentPay is simple but ingenious. Designed for an increasingly cashless society, iRoundUp is a digital charity box allowing students and their families to donate small amounts that can make a big difference to other people’s lives. We love the fact that our supporting five students from Skinners’ Academy in developing their skills, has allowed them to go on to support thousands more young people, with the money raised via iRoundUp.”

Helen Haskell, Corporate Partnerships Manager at Wallace and Gromit’s Children’s Charity, added: “We are delighted to be chosen by ParentPay as the first charity to benefit from the funds raised by the iRoundUp scheme. The students at Skinners’ Academy should be thrilled with their achievement. The money raised will benefit children in hospitals and hospices, providing life-saving medical equipment, free family accommodation and a range of arts, music and play therapy programmes so will make a huge difference.”

 Team iRoundUp said: “We were all moved by the heart-warming story of Andreia and her two-year-old son Henrique who was diagnosed with a condition that means he was unable to speak. The iRoundUp donations have helped fund Music Therapy for Henrique and he was recently able to speak his first words. Knowing that our scheme has helped a little boy to be able to speak was very overwhelming, and a few of us got very emotional. It’s amazing to see how small donations can make such a big difference to someone else’s life.”

The Enterprise Challenge is generously supported by Apax Foundation and Qatar Charity UK.