What Happens to Your Round-Ups: A Supporter's Guide to Where the Money Goes

By Brandon Rumancik · 5 min read

You Signed Up. Now What?

Someone you care about — a nephew, a neighbor's kid, your coworker's daughter — is on a team that uses Droplet. You clicked the link, connected your card, and set a weekly cap. Easy enough.

But now you might be wondering: where does the money actually go? How much am I really giving? What does the team use it for?

Fair questions. Here's the full picture.

How Round-Ups Work, Step by Step

When you linked your debit or credit card to Droplet, you gave the platform permission to see your purchases — not the details of what you bought, just the amounts. Droplet uses a secure bank connection through Plaid (the same service used by Venmo, Cash App, and most major financial apps) to read transaction amounts.

Every time you make a purchase, Droplet calculates the round-up. A $3.75 coffee becomes $4.00 — that's a $0.25 round-up. A $47.82 grocery run becomes $48.00 — that's $0.18.

These round-ups accumulate throughout the week. Once a week, Droplet collects the total from your linked bank account via ACH (or charges your credit card) and sends it to the team's fundraiser.

You set the weekly cap. If you chose $5 per week, your round-ups will never exceed $5 in a given week — even if the math adds up to more. You're always in control. You can change your cap, pause your round-ups, or stop entirely at any time from your supporter dashboard.

Where Does Each Dollar Go?

Here's the breakdown. Say you contribute $5.00 in round-ups this week:

$4.65 goes directly to the team. Droplet takes a 7% platform fee to cover the cost of running the service — bank connections, payment processing, email notifications, and keeping the platform free for teams to use. On your $5.00, that's $0.35.

The team receives $4.65. That money goes into the fundraiser's connected bank account. The coach or organizer decides how it's used — tournament entry fees, equipment, uniforms, facility rentals, travel expenses, or whatever the team needs.

There are no hidden fees, no processing charges on top of the 7%, and no minimum commitment. The 7% covers everything on Droplet's side.

What Does the Team Actually Use It For?

Every team is different, but here are the most common uses:

Tournament fees. A single tournament can cost $400–$800 in entry fees alone. Travel teams often attend 6–10 tournaments per season, so this adds up fast.

Equipment and uniforms. Bats, balls, goals, nets, cones, jerseys, practice gear — the list is long and it's never cheap.

Facility costs. Indoor training, batting cage rentals, field permits, and gym time all come with price tags that fall on the team.

Travel expenses. Gas, hotels, and meals for away tournaments can run $500–$1,000+ per family per trip.

Keeping costs low for families. Some teams use fundraising revenue to reduce registration fees or cover costs for families who couldn't otherwise afford to participate. Your spare change might be the reason a kid gets to keep playing.

How Much Do Supporters Typically Give?

The average Droplet supporter contributes about $4–$5 per week. That's roughly $17–$20 per month, or about $200–$250 over a full year.

To put that in perspective: it's less than one coffee per week at most shops. Most supporters tell us they don't even notice it — the amounts are small enough that they blend into normal spending.

But across a whole team, those small amounts become significant. If a team has 30 active supporters each giving $4.50 per week, that's $135 per week or roughly $7,000 over a year. All from spare change.

Your Data and Privacy

A few things worth knowing about how Droplet handles your information:

Droplet never sees your card number. The bank connection goes through Plaid, which acts as a secure middleman. Droplet sees transaction amounts to calculate round-ups, but never your full account numbers, card details, or the specifics of what you purchased.

Your information isn't sold or shared. Droplet doesn't sell supporter data to third parties. Your email is used for receipts and collection notifications — that's it.

You can disconnect anytime. If you want to stop supporting, just log into your dashboard, pause or disconnect your card, and you're done. No phone calls, no cancellation fees, no guilt trips.

You're Making a Bigger Impact Than You Think

It's easy to look at a $0.37 round-up and think it doesn't matter. But here's the thing — it's not just your $0.37. It's your $0.37 plus $0.52 from the kid's grandma plus $0.81 from the dad's coworker plus $0.19 from the neighbor down the street. Multiply that by every purchase, every day, every week, across dozens of supporters, and you get thousands of dollars over a season.

The teams that use Droplet aren't relying on any single big donation. They're powered by a community of people who each give a tiny amount that they'd never miss. That's the whole idea — and it works because of supporters like you.

Have Questions?

If you want to check your round-up history, update your weekly cap, or manage your connected card, log into your supporter dashboard at givedroplet.com. Everything is right there.

And if you want to support another team or cause, you can search for fundraisers and add as many as you'd like. Each one gets its own weekly cap, so you're always in control of your total giving.