Cash App, owned by Square and your rapper's favorite way to pay for things and send money, is shaking up the charity industry. Cash App has always been about giving things away. According to the Genius music database, about 200 hip-hop artists have mentioned the app in their lyrics. Cash App has changed what the Giving USA Foundation says is a $450 billion charity sector by being culturally aware and having a giving spirit.
What you need to know about it:
CultureBanx said that giving has become much easier with apps like Venmo, Cash App, and Zelle, which have become very popular during the pandemic. At a time when 40% of Americans would have trouble paying a $400 expense they didn't expect, Cash App has been directly targeting users with its once-a-week giveaway, called Cash App Friday, in which some users who ask for cash get it digitally. Trapital said that in January, Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion used the app to give $500 to 2,000 random Twitter users, for a total of $1 million. On its namesake Friday in 2019, Cash App gave away $60,000.
Rappers have been using the fin-tech platform for a while as a way to connect with their fans. So, it's easy to see how hip-hop influencers and their loyal fans helped Cash App grow from seven million monthly active users in 2017 to 30 million in 2020.
Many people think that giving money to an individual Cash App user will help more than giving money to a charity. OneZero says that direct givers often say that a sense of urgency drives them. ProPublica found that the American Red Cross raised $500 million to help rebuild Haiti after the 2010 earthquake but only built six permanent homes. This may be a good reason to believe this line of thought. The Red Cross says this is not true and that it has made a big difference in Haiti. AppTopia says this is one reason why the number of downloads of payment apps went up by 94% between March and October.
OneZero said that Bill Pulte, a Detroit millionaire, said he used Cash App to give away more than $834,000. This new way to help people through social media is very important, but it also shows how broken America's social safety net is. Online giving is growing by over 9% yearly, which is six times faster than in-person giving.