Google to Donate for every Android Pay Transaction

Holidays are for giving, and Google wants to give back to the community in the most generous way using technology, all the while marketing its latest product. Google has announced that it will donate one dollar from every transaction through Android Pay to an NGO this Holiday season.

This is Google’s effort to ramp up its mobile payments platform, Android Pay. The tech giant will donate upto $1 Million to special education projects tailored towards children with special needs in partnership with the nonprofit organization DonorsChoose.org. The program started on November 24^th and continues till the end of the year.

It is estimated that teachers for special needs spend around $500 annually from their own pockets in order to introduce new projects and activities to help children with special needs. Collectively a part of Google's Global Impact Challenge: Disabilities campaign, it states that $1 from every transaction through Android Pay will be donated to over 6.4 million children in connection to the charity till Decebmer 31, 2015. Also, on Black Friday, Google donated $2 for every transaction. The campaign aims to improve the lives of people with disabilities.

Android Pay is an NFC-based payment system on newer Android phones that supports payments at over 1 million outlets across the United States including AT&T, BJs, Babies “R” Us and Toys “R” Us, Bloomingdale’s, Express, Macy’s, GameStop, Office Depot, Sports Authority, Staples, Walgreens, Aeropostale, Whole Foods, and many more. Just like Apple Way, Android Pay allows a user to tap to pay at a POS outlet. The campaign is available in all states except Alabama, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Mississippi and South Carolina, as such program are prohibited in these states.

Google tried the same approach a few years ago using Google.org by launching an app called One Today. It allowed users to donate $1 to different charitable organizations using a mobile phone. Although the app still exists today, it failed to gain the traction needed to cross 100,000 app downloads. Google.org has already donated more than $720,000 to support special education projects across the states.

The new campaign is part of a larger initiative by Google with over $20 Million in grants from Google.org for organizations to improve the lives of children with disabilities.

The Android Pay application is available on the Play Store and works on any NFC Android device running Android KitKat 4.4 or higher. Download Android Pay Here - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.walletnfcrel