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McDonald's adds tech to 'round up' purchases to support Ronald McDonald Houses

You might call the position McDonald's recently found itself in something like "When the need-meeter needs help." Donations have been way down for Ronald McDonald House Charities, so the brand is dispatching the latest technology to the rescue, so customers can easily round up purchases to support RMHC.

Photo: Provided

December 10, 2019 by S.A. Whitehead — Food Editor, Net World Media Group

"There was a need."

That's what the man whose efforts got the Ronald McDonald House Charities rolling back in the 1970s, said motivated him to get what later became McDonald's biggest philanthropic initiative going back then, after his then 3-year-old daughter was fighting leukemia and he noted how families struggled to remain with sick children while they received hospital treatment. Fred Hill noted the need in his family and others, which ultimately helped start the very first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia. 

Today, with hundreds of such facilities across the country, that "need" is just as great, but donations for it have ebbed. And today that need is now being addressed in a very 21st century way, through the powers of payment technology that the Chicago-based QSR is now bringing to 14,000 U.S. stores to help customers easily roundup their McDonald's purchases to the nearest dollar, giving the change to RMHC.

McDonald's said in an email to this site that it believes the modern world's growing love of alternative forms of payment from cash has resulted in less monetary love being shown by customers for RHMC. The giant QSR chain said it has seen a significant drop in donations in recent years, which it attributed to more electronically paying customers who carry less cash. 

To remedy that downturn, the brand today launched a major new initiative, Round-Up for RMHC. 

"In 2018, there was a 15% drop in customer donations at in-restaurant donation boxes (most often found near the front counter/register and/or drive-thrus)," the brand said in a statement to this website. "By offering customers the option to 'round-up' their order it makes it easier than ever for customers to continue their support of local RHMCs and the many families with sick children who benefit."

With the launch of Round-Up for RMHC, McDonald's is introducing the concept of giving to the menu — a type of socially responsible action that has been repeatedly been shown to be of increasing importance for QSR customers, particularly those in younger age groups, like millennials. 

By making rounding up a purchase's value now available at the chain's stores nationally, customers now have an easier way to donate to RMHC, which helps families with ill or injured children remain together even as youngsters receive hospital or other medical facility treatment. 

Ronald McDonald Houses are part of many U.S. communities, providing meals, private bedrooms, fully equipped kitchens and laundry facilities near care sources at major hospitals. Hill said when his daughter got sick, he was playing tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles. 

He said in an interview with this website from his current home in California that when 3-year-old Kim Hill was first diagnosed he learned quickly how not only his family, but many others suffered because they had few affordable places to stay when their sick youngsters were treated in the hospital. After all, back in the early 1970s, there was no such thing as the now well-known on-hospital-campus housing supplied by Ronald McDonald House Charities. 

"They only gave her a few months to live," he said in an interview with QSRweb. "It was very difficult. She was on chemotherapy for 3 1/2 years and we needed to be at the hospital every day. We saw other parents who had children being treated who had to sleep in their cars because they lived too far away from the hospital to go back and forth daily."

You don't get to be a pro football player by taking things lying down, so Hill went to work to solve a problem brought to light by Philadelphia pediatric oncologist Dr. Audrey Evans, and eventually those efforts resulted in construction of the first Ronald McDonald House in Philadelphia in 1974, after Kim was getting better. 

Kim Hill lived to be 44 and had a child of her own, before succumbing to brain tumors from the leukemia eight years ago. But her legacy lives on in the form of a nation peppered with Ronald McDonald Houses and support services for other families going through similar struggles. 

Her father said, the charity was a community effort then and the new technology at the chain, will help it continue to be a community effort going forward.

 "Everyone in Philadelphia rallied — it was a lot of neighbors and good people waiting to help," he said. "At the time, I never imagined the need was so great. My wife, Fran did though — she could see the need and see that we needed these houses everywhere.

"I see this new use of tech being huge in terms of the impact our customers can make. There are hundreds of thousands of transactions in every McDonald's restaurant each year, so this will be one of the biggest fundraising opportunities for Ronald McDonald House Charities and make it easier than ever for customers to make a difference."

Now at the chain — or in some cases, soon to be at McDonald's locations — customers can select the "Round-Up for RMHC" button at checkout on the kiosks or let the cashier at the front counter know they would like to round up their purchase to contribute to the cause. 

"At McDonald's, we know the importance of bringing families together. For over 45 years, McDonald's, our franchisees and our customers have been proud supporters of Ronald McDonald House Charities," McDonald's President and CEO Chris Kempczniski, said in a new release about the technology. "As a founding mission partner of the charity, McDonald's remains committed to leveraging the size and scale of our restaurants to promote and raise money to support the growth of the charity."

To highlight how each donation benefits RMHC families, McDonald's unveiled a Menu of Moments today showing how the charity and its donators help keep families together at some of their toughest moments. 

"We could not achieve our mission of providing families a place to stay while their child undergoes medical treatment without support from the community and corporate partners like McDonald's," RMHC President and CEO Sheila Musolino, said in an email from the brand. "Round-Up for RMHC will support the expansion of core programs and services to help families find strength and comfort when they need it most."

It costs an average of $80 a night to house a family at a Ronald McDonald House and last year the charity provided more than 2.5 million overnight stays in communities around the world, saving families over $930 million in food and lodging costs.

The brand said donation boxes will also remain in stores for those who actually still do carry cash and change. But the brand said that though donations have remained healthy, that 15% drop has a big impact, so Round-Up for RMHC is seen as a great program to keep the philanthropy going strong. 

About S.A. Whitehead

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Pizza Marketplace and QSRweb editor Shelly Whitehead is a former newspaper and TV reporter with an affinity for telling stories about the people and innovative thinking behind great brands.