Do You Have Any Spare Change?
When I go to Starbucks I pay with my phone. At the gas pump I use a credit card. At the grocery store I use a debit card. Soon, with Apple and Samsung Pay we will be using our smartphones at all stores. Many organizations will need to rethink asking for change—from the Salvation Army red kettle drives to newspaper vending machines. Even the person on the street who asked me for spare change the other day will be disrupted by this new way to pay.
But the “change” is happening beyond technology because there is a price to handling a lot of coins: Chase Bank announced its branches will no longer accept large collections of coins from piggy banks or savings jars. I’m sure there will be coin redemption services, but we may be charged a fee to cash in our coins in the future.
Coins have been around since the dawn of civilization, but soon the digital disruptor will eliminate the need for coins. That may spur a new interest in coins as a more valued collectible. By the way, can I borrow eight quarters to get a paper?
Mark Mathis
Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.
After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.
He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”
Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”
One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.
Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.
Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.