An Introduction to BlessingUP

BlessingUP is a faith-based charity platform that enables its users to donate their rounded up spare change to an Islamic nonprofit of their choice. Through BlessingUP, the process of giving is entirely automatic, and allows the user to turn each and every one of their transactions into an act of charity. 

In Islam, the giving of alms, or Sadaqah, is regarded as a way to share one’s blessings to those in need. With BlessingUP, the process of giving sadaqah has been made easier than ever before, enabling occasional donors to become consistent contributors. By automatically donating the spare change from their day-to-day transactions, Muslims are now able to share their blessings regularly and contribute to noble causes around the world. Through our combined efforts, we can see how small change can make a difference.

Learn more about the mission behind BlessingUP here.

“The most beloved deed to Allah is the most regular and constant even if it were little."

[Sahih Al-Bukhari]

Getting Started

No matter how small they may be, turn your daily transactions into significant acts of kindness.

Navigating the Landing Page

Visit the BlessingUP page. Feel free to explore the site and learn more about the platform and the people behind it.

As a first time visitor, the first thing you want to do is make an account. To do this, navigate your cursor over to the ‘SignUp’ button at your top right side of the page and click ‘Donors’. You can also visit the donor registration page directly by clicking here.

Choose A Nonprofit

After clicking ‘Donors’, you will be prompted to choose an organization to donate your spare change to. Use the search function to explore a variety of categories, or type in a location to see which cause best fits your donation goals.

Some of BlessingUP’s most popular featured nonprofits include Islamic Relief USA, Baitulmaal, Paani, and the Yemen Relief & Reconstruction Foundation. Feel free to click any one of these to learn more about their noble efforts. Once you click the nonprofit of your choice, click on the blue “Sign Up” button to proceed.

Creating an Account

You will now be prompted to sign up. Simply enter the information necessary and check “I agree on all terms and conditions”. Make sure all fields are filled in correctly. Then, click on the blue “Sign Up” button to continue.

Setting Minimums and Maximums

With this feature, you can set a baseline minimum and maximum limit for your weekly donations. 

Minimums are helpful when trying to meet your donation goals, as they guarantee that this amount will be spent weekly regardless of your spare change.

Maximums, on the other hand, set limits to how much you donate weekly, allowing you to stick to a budget if necessary.

These amounts can be adjusted later in ‘Settings’.

Roundup Source

Link your preferred payment method (ie credit card, visa, etc.). Ideally, this would be your most frequently used mode of payment- allowing you to maximize the number of transactions that get rounded for sadaqah throughout the week. To proceed, click ‘Connect with Plaid’ and register for an account if necessary.

Plaid is a trustworthy and secure financial services company powered by a robust data transfer network. With data encryption from all sides, Plaid utilizes Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Transport Layer Security (TLS) to protect any stored data in transit between applications. Over 3000 noteworthy financial applications are powered by Plaid- including Robinhood, Venmo, Coinbase, and Acorns. 

As a fintech web application, BlessingUP utilizes this service in order to compute your total spending throughout the week and calculate a roundup amount for donation.

Donation Source

After connecting your payment methods, Plaid will prompt you again to connect your bank account. We want users to donate through their bank account to avoid higher transaction fees associated with making donations from credit cards. Please note that the donation source is separate from your payment source. Weekly donations will be taken from the donation source (ie bank account) based on the spare change calculated from the payment method (ie credit card).

To further clarify:

Credit card, or payment method, is needed to calculate round ups. 

Bank account, or donation source, is required to make the donation.

Logging In to BlessingUP

Once your account is set up, tracking your microdonations and total roundups is as easy as ever. Simply log in to www.blessingup.com with your account credentials to edit or access your user information. Adjusting the minimum/maximum amount, setting donation multipliers, changing bank or card information, and choosing a different nonprofit, are all options that can be controlled via user settings.

Now that you have set up your account, let barakah flow effortlessly every time you purchase.

Need more help? Click here for a video tutorial.