Modern Giving Limited t/a Forest Saving
Alresford
2023
About Modern Giving Limited t/a Forest Saving
Forest Saving is building a new charitable donations tool linked to a savings account with an initial focus on supporting charities at the forefront of protecting and restoring forest ecosystems. The idea looks to address the key challenge of repurposing the banking industry in the UK as a way to save the planet. Banks are among some of the largest culprits in funding deforestation activities across the globe, and at the same time are happy to pay low to no interest on retail deposits in the UK. Forest Saving will look to mobilise these deposits into interest bearing savings accounts with an option for account holders to forego some of their savings interest with these going to a charity of their choosing. The idea is still a concept, but some validation has been completed with user interviews as I took the idea through the Tech for Better programme from Founders and Coders earlier in the year. The proposed business model is also being reviewed by a law firm who is working on a pro-bono basis and were engaged through Advocates for International Development (A4ID). Initial discussions have been had with a handful of conservation charities and one large charity is interested in piloting the model once a prototype product is available and legals have been ironed out. The product will be delivered through an embedded savings accounts (a plug-in from a company called Sync Savings who work with a range of banks to integrate savings accounts into non-financial websites/apps).
