Groupon Grassroots Launches Social Venture Week, Offers Groupon Payments™ Service to Social Venture Partners and Members of Social Enterprise Alliance

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Today Groupon Grassroots, the philanthropic program at Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN), announced the launch of Social Venture Week and the expansion of Groupon Payments™ to all Groupon Grassroots venture partners and Social Enterprise Alliance (SEA) members. For the next 14 days, Groupon will feature a series of social ventures across the country. Additionally, all social venture partners will now be offered the Groupon Payments tool, which launched in September 2012 to Groupon merchants, providing a better way to accept credit cards at the guaranteed lowest overall rates.

“We’re proud to be featuring a selection of such innovative social ventures - ones that truly illustrate a thriving cause-driven business model”

Groupon Grassroots routinely runs 10-15 campaigns a week with local nonprofits across the US, totaling just over 500 in 2012. Social Venture Week specifically features a collection of social ventures: For-profit, mission-driven businesses that seek to provide sustainable solutions to achieve a social objective.

The campaign will showcase a variety of causes, ranging from youth mentorship and disability programs to employment training and upcycle innovation. The social ventures in the series include:

Additionally, all partnering social ventures now have access to Groupon Payments. The service is built into the Groupon Merchants app for the iPhone and iPod Touch, and is backed by a guarantee to be the lowest cost option to accept credit cards. As credit card fees can be a burden for mission-driven organizations, Groupon Payments relieves that strain and simplifies the process, featuring:

Swiped transactions - MasterCard, Visa and Discover (1.8% plus $0.15 per transaction) and American Express (based on industry category)
No hidden costs or monthly fees

Participants also receive credit card deposits in bank accounts overnight.

“We’re proud to be featuring a selection of such innovative social ventures - ones that truly illustrate a thriving cause-driven business model,” said Patty Huber Morrissey, Head of Social Innovation at Groupon. “We’re also excited to offer Groupon Payments to our social venture partners, allowing them to relieve some of the stress in managing credit card transactions, save money by avoiding high credit card fees and ultimately focus more on their core mission.”

Groupon's work with social ventures isn't new - Last year, Groupon Grassroots, Groupon Getaways and Spark Ventures collaborated to offer Groupon subscribers a once-in-a-lifetime volunteer trip to Zambia. The trip is set to commence January 19th, and you can find personal updates from Grouponers on the blog here.

Per Groupon Payments Offering: The guarantee of lowest possible rates is only available to Groupon merchants, Groupon Grassroots partner organizations and SEA partners located in the United States. Merchants must provide proof of current third-party rates for identical services. Participation is subject to the terms of the Groupon Payments Merchant User Agreement which may modify or discontinue the guarantee and the underlying services at any time. The guarantee is void where prohibited by law.

About Groupon

Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) is a global leader in local commerce, making it easy for people around the world to search and discover great businesses at unbeatable prices. Groupon is reinventing the traditional small business world by providing merchants with a suite of products and services, including customizable deal campaigns, credit card payments processing capabilities and point-of-sale solutions to help them attract more customers and run their operations more effectively. By leveraging the company’s global relationships and scale, Groupon offers consumers incredible deals on the best stuff to eat, see, do, and buy in 48 countries. With Groupon, shoppers discover the best a city has to offer with Groupon Local, enjoy vacations with Groupon Getaways, and find a curated selection of electronics, fashion, home furnishings and more with Groupon Goods. To subscribe to Groupon emails, visit www.Groupon.com. To learn more about the company’s merchant solutions and how to work with Groupon, visit www.GrouponWorks.com.

About Groupon Grassroots

Groupon Grassroots, launched in July 2010 in Chicago as G-Team, features local campaigns nationwide, enabling Groupon followers to do good, have fun, and make a real impact in their communities. Groupon Grassroots uses collective action to gather support for worthwhile causes and produce tangible results for local organizations. To learn more about Groupon Grassroots and how to become a featured organization, visit http://grassroots.groupon.com. To subscribe to Groupon, visit http://www.groupon.com.