Europeans have a €30 billion problem
From holidaymakers, students funding their student loans, people sending money to support loved ones back home, to small businesses working with overseas...
The COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the biggest global health issues we’ve seen in our lifetimes. We’re more than six months on from initial responses, and while we’re in a better place than we were, we’re by no means out of the woods yet.
Our mission has always been to build the best way to move money around the world. Today, we want to ensure that our approach to moving money can benefit charities and organisations who are seeking to find, and distribute, a vaccine for COVID-19.
Currently, most banks and payment providers don’t exchange your money using the mid-market rate (the rate you would find on Reuters, and Google). They alter the rate in a way that is favorable to them, and pocket the extra money. So even if they say they have low fees or even zero fees, they’re taking an extra chunk of money through their rate.
That means that if you donate money to an organisation in another country, and your transfer provider doesn’t give you the real exchange rate, your full donation isn’t getting to that cause you support.
We think that’s wrong — especially during times of global crisis.
As of today, Wise is partnering with 3 international organisations working to find and distribute a vaccine for COVID-19. When you donate through our platform, your donations will be exchanged via the mid-market rate, and we will waive our fee entirely.
That means your entire donation will reach these organizations which are working to help all of us. Put simply, it’s more money where it’s needed most, when it’s needed most.
And we’ll waive our fees on up to $20,000,000 in donations.
The UNF powers the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, set up to support the World Health Organisation (WHO) and partners’ work in offering a range of initiatives to help countries all over the world prepare and respond to COVID-19. Their work includes sending essential supplies and test kits, developing multilingual courses and guidance documents, defining public health advice for health workers, schools and workplaces, combating misinformation, supporting vulnerable populations, coordinating research for
treatment across more than 130 countries, and running clinical trials.
CEPI is an innovative partnership between public, private, philanthropic, and civil organisations, working to develop vaccines for future epidemics. CEPI has initiated nine partnerships to develop vaccines against COVID-19, and these partnership programmes will make replicating a vaccine cheaper and quicker for all involved. The aim is to develop multiple safe and effective vaccines which can be made available to those who need them most.
Before the emergence of COVID-19, CEPI’s priority diseases included Ebola virus, Lassa virus, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus. CEPI also invested in platform technologies that can be used for rapid vaccine and immunity development against unknown diseases.
Gavi is leading the COVAX Facility , which brings together 182 countries to make sure the most at-risk people in every country – like healthcare workers – will have access to a COVID-19 vaccine at the same time, no matter their ability to pay. As part of this, Gavi has launched the Advance Market Commitment for COVID-19 Vaccines (Gavi COVAX AMC). The alliance will use money from developed country donors to guarantee access to substantial volumes of safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines. It will then secure vaccines and assist in delivery for developing countries. These countries account for almost half of the world’s population, and without assistance, would struggle to access COVID-19 vaccines.
Please follow these steps rather than sending money directly to your chosen organisation. This is the only way we can waive our fees, giving you the real exchange rate.
If you’d like to donate to any of these organisations, and waive your fees in the process, please click here.
From all of us at Wise, stay safe.
*Please see terms of use and product availability for your region or visit Wise fees and pricing for the most up to date pricing and fee information.
This publication is provided for general information purposes and does not constitute legal, tax or other professional advice from Wise Payments Limited or its subsidiaries and its affiliates, and it is not intended as a substitute for obtaining advice from a financial advisor or any other professional.
We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether expressed or implied, that the content in the publication is accurate, complete or up to date.
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