2020 CouponCause Donation Impact Report

February 25, 2021 by Eric White

2020 was a difficult year for everyone. From the emergence of a global pandemic to a divisive US presidential election, 2020 presented many challenges on a personal and societal level. Here at CouponCause, we view times like these as being more important than ever for working with charities who are doing work to improve our world.

When shoppers use CouponCause coupons when making online purchases, a percentage of the revenue we earn from that commission is directed towards charitable donations.

In 2020, CouponCause donated $113,600 to charities working around the globe. In this report, we'll highlight some of our major contributions and provide details on how our donations were used. We'll also look into the future and project what 2021 might look like.

2021 CouponCause Donation Impact Report

Executive Summary

CouponCause is a website built to help online shoppers save as much money as possible when shopping at their favorite stores. With thousands of the most popular brands featured, like Target, Outdoorsy, Walmart and many more, visitors to CouponCause are always likely to find a coupon code or deal they can use right away. When shoppers make purchases using coupons from CouponCause, we earn a small percentage as a commission for the sale. 

One of the features that sets CouponCause apart from many of our competitors is our dedication to working with nonprofit organizations in the United States and around the world. Each year, we dedicate a portion of the revenue raised through our affiliate links towards charitable donations. 

There are so many different causes out there that deserve help, so we rely on the interests of our team and the use of tools like Charity Navigator to guide our decision making about where our donations will go. Causes donated to throughout the course of 2020 included a wide range of categories including youth programs, public health and safety, and education, just to name a few. We've broken down all of our donations for the year into the graphs featured below.

As mentioned above, in 2020 CouponCause raised and donated a total of $113,600 with the help of our thousands of daily users. That money was donated to a total of 18 different nonprofit organizations. To get a better view of the impact our donations had in 2020, check out the chart below to see the 18 organizations to which we donated.

Our Donations to Charity in 2020

In 2020, CouponCause users helped us raise $113,600 which was donated across 18 different nonprofits. View the graphs below for a complete breakdown of how our donations were distributed last year:

Next, we'd like to take a closer look at the specific ways in which a few of our donations were used. Keep reading to learn about our donations to the following charities:

• LA Food Bank
• charity: water
• Good Sports
• Leave No Trace
• AdoptAClassroom.org

2020 Case Studies

LA Food Bank Donation Matching

Problem: In Los Angeles, 1 out of 5 people is uncertain about where their next meal will come from.

Mission: To provide food for people who need it in the Los Angeles region.

2020 Donation: $60,622

How it was used: At the end of 2020, CouponCause partnered with the California-based nonprofit organization, the LA Food Bank, to perform a donation matching event for the holidays. The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank provides meals for people in need within the Los Angeles community and is an organization we have partnered with multiple times in the past. Through our donation matching campaign with the LA Food Bank in 2020, we were able to raise $60,622! This will be enough to provide 1.4 million meals to people in need in 2021. Additionally, as a result of email blasts and messaging on the CouponCause website and social media platforms, 690 new monthly donors will be continuing to make donations to LA Food Bank moving forward.

charity: water

Problem: 1 in 10 people around the planet do not have access to clean water that is suitable for drinking.

Mission: To bring sustainable clean water projects to  areas in need.

2020 Donation: $12,000

How it was used: charity: water is an organization we are proud to have worked with multiple times in the past several years. Our most recent donation to charity: water was used for a sustainable water project in Malawi. A handpump is currently being constructed in Malawi to help locals have access to clean water for the foreseeable future. This project is being completed with the help of local partner "Water For People," which has been working in Malawi since 2000. We will post more updates on this particular project as we receive updates from charity: water. You can learn about two other charity: water projects completed with CouponCause donations here.

Leave No Trace Giving Tuesday

Problem: Millions of people visit the outdoors throughout any given year and many of those visitors aren't properly educated on how to ethically treat the natural areas they visit.

Mission: To provide education on outdoor ethics for people visiting natural environments.

2020 Donation: $5,000

How it was used: Donations to Leave No Trace help fund their initiative to provide educational resources for visitors to parks in the United States. You can view more details about our donation to Leave No Trace here. The main categories that Leave No Trace is focused on are:

• Polluted water
• Damaged trails
• Destructive fires
• Trashed natural areas
• Misinformation in the outdoors
• Wildlife at risk
• Connecting youth to nature
• Crowded parks

Good Sports Giving Tuesday

Problem: Youth sport and play is an important part of childhood, but in some areas of the United States, access to the necessary equipment may be limited.

Mission: To help provide the equipment necessary for children to use in sports and play.

2020 Donation: $5,000

How it was used: Our $5,000 donation to Good Sports for Giving Tuesday will be put towards their mission of helping children across the United States gain access to the equipment needed to participate in sports. With COVID-19 emerging in 2020, having enough clean equipment for children to use during times of activity placed a strain on many budgets. Good Sports' "Restore Play" initiative was started in response to this challenge and helped provided over 158,000 pieces of sporting equipment. You can learn more about our Good Sports Giving Tuesday donation.

AdoptAClassroom.org Giving Tuesday

Problem: Teachers in the United States have to pay for a sizable percentage of the supplies for their classroom. 

Mission: To help provide school supplies for children in the United States.

2020 Donation: $5,000

How it was used: On average, teachers spend $745 of their own money on school supplies each year. During the pandemic, teachers are facing incredible challenges to get what they need to support their students. However, they continue to go above and beyond. For example, 70% of teachers said they dropped off or mailed supplies to students’ homes during the pandemic. AdoptAClassroom.org is a nonprofit organization that helps teachers and schools get the supplies students deserve. To date, they’ve supported more than 225,000 classrooms nationwide.

The $5,000 donation from Coupon Cause helped to support teachers on AdoptAClassroom.org during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the 2020-2021 school year, teacher needs have changed to support keeping kids safe in the classroom or during distance learning. In response, the types of supplies teachers order on AdoptAClassroom.org have also changed. Teachers are purchasing more basic supplies like writing tools because students cannot share while learning in the classroom. There has been in an increase in purchases like headphones and chromebooks to keep students connected while learning at home. AdoptAClassroom.org is also helping teachers to fill budget gaps for critical items like disinfectant, face masks, and hand sanitizer. This support has been critical for teachers on the frontlines of education during the pandemic so they can get what they need for students to learn. 

In Conclusion

2020 was a difficult year and we applaud all of the organizations we worked with last year who are doing difficult and important work. COVID presented many challenges to societies around the globe and we are proud of how we were able to help support many causes addressing these challenges. 

None of these donations would have been possible without our thousands of daily users. Therefore, we would like to close this impact report by thank you, our users! We know that our dedication to working with nonprofit organizations is a reason why many choose to visit us first, and we appreciate that.

In 2021, we plan to continue our efforts with the organizations above in addition to new organizations we discover are doing good work around the US and the world.