Revolut: donations for the fires in Australia

Revolut has announced a partnership with the Red Cross and WWF to collect donations for the fires in Australia. 

This project, supported by Revolut, aims to assist thousands of people and animals involved in the recent fire emergency in the Australian country. 

Specifically, the Red Cross is supplying the people affected with water and food supplies, as well as psychological support, while WWF is trying to respond quickly to the impact of the fires on local wildlife. 

In this regard, Revolut, the Red Cross and WWF have launched a call to contribute with donations towards the realization of these interventions. Revolut itself makes available to its users the possibility to donate money for this cause easily and quickly. 

The fintech company has already participated in this type of initiative in the past, thanks to its dedicated donations function within the app, which allows users to round off their payments by donating the difference to charity. 

Users will also be able to donate by setting up recurring payments or making individual donations. 

100% of the donations will be donated to charity and the company will not retain any commission. There is no minimum threshold for donations and the feature can be activated or deactivated at any time. 

In particular, donations to the Red Cross will be sent to the Australian Red Cross Disaster Relief and Recovery Fund, the organisation that is providing food and water, psychological support, medical check-ups, satellite telephone services and more to the Australian population overwhelmed by the crisis. 

Whereas the donations to WWF will be sent to those who are dealing with the impact of the fires on local wildlife. In particular, the funds will be used to restore the habitat of the koalas by planting 10,000 trees necessary for the survival of these animals. 

The fires have been devastating and the crisis is still ongoing.

There are more than 1,200 houses destroyed, tens of thousands of buildings without electricity, thousands of people evacuated, with more than 10 million hectares of land burned and up to 1.25 billion animals killed directly or indirectly by the fires.

Revolut’s Global Head of Legal, Tom Hambrett, said: 

“The support from everyone within the team here at Revolut during this difficult time in Australia has been really appreciated and I am confident that our global community of generous customers will appreciate the opportunity to donate and support those affected by these catastrophic fires”.

Australian Red Cross Head of Engagement and Support, Belinda Dimovski, added: 

“The size and scale of these fires in many parts of Australia is unprecedented. But so is the incredible wave of support we’ve seen from people and businesses around the country and overseas. The funds we raise will ensure our trained staff and volunteers can continue to be there for the long-haul, helping people take a deep breath, take stock of their losses, and slowly but surely get back on their feet. We’ll also be giving out emergency grants to help people cover essential costs as they start to rebuild. We’d like to thank Revolut and their customers for leading this incredible initiative and showing such generosity to our emergency teams and the people we help”.

Finally, WWF’s Chief Wildlife Adviser, Paul De Ornellas, concludes: 

“Australia is burning, and the scale of the crisis has been described as unprecedented. Human lives and homes have been lost, and wildlife is suffering too. More than one billion mammals, birds and reptiles are estimated to have been affected, including an estimated 30% of the entire koala population in this area. Once the fires clear, we will need to work to restore what has been lost. While climate change does not cause bushfires, it does make them worse and more likely.The intensive heatwaves and extreme droughts of the past year have fanned the flames creating this state of emergency. We must all do our bit to protect our world from climate disaster – failure to act will make extreme events standard, with deadly consequences for people and nature”.