Western Union and Kimbia: Making Fundraising Simpler

Western Union Business Solutions, a division of the Western Union Co., last month struck a partnership with omnichannel fundraising platform provider Kimbia Inc. to provide organizations a service to help them better meet their fundraising and distribution goals internationally.

Under the partnership Austin, Texas-based Kimbia will deliver a cash-management solution to help nongovernment organizations (NGOs) facilitate the dual management of multicountry, multilanguage and multicurrency in-bound donations, and global, multicurrency out-bound payments.

When they enroll in Western Union Business Solutions and Kimbia, NGO clients now are able to accept payments in local language and currency from more than 100 countries, allowing donors to contribute funds with increased ease and visibility. This should make it easier for donors to participate in fundraising campaigns, and it will enable NGOs to manage their inbound cash flow more efficiently.

In a one-on-one exclusive interview, PYMNTS.com spoke with Brian Harris, chief product officer, Western Union Business Solutions, to get some background on the partnership and on the goal the companies hope to accomplish.

What got Kimbia and Western Union interested in forming their partnership?

We actually met at an industry event, where different organizations were able to network and talk about various issues and developments. I was introduced to Daniel Gillett, Kimbia’s CEO, and we both thought there was a lot of potential for collaboration.

One of the things we heard from our customers in the NGO space was that they liked what Western Union was doing in terms of enabling outbound payments, but also that they were eager to have a solution for inbound payments – i.e. the collection of donations and other contributions. Connecting with Kimbia, who offer that kind of service, was incredibly fortuitous. It was really perfect timing, and I was impressed by their platform; the way they’ve designed it is first rate.

How soon before Western Union’s customers will see the benefits?

They can see the benefits now. We launched the partnership in December and are working together and doing referrals from our customers to theirs and vice versa. In the course of the year, our ambition is to bring a stronger technology alignment to our partnership. The goal is to have a more direct connection between the two platforms that creates simplicity for the customer. In the end, NGOs want a streamlined collection, management and ultimately distribution process for their funds.

On the collection side, for example, you want to make it as easy as possible for donors to give money. You don’t necessarily want to ask people in Britain to send money in dollars, and you don’t really want them to have to worry about foreign exchange. Working with Kimbia means we can help alleviate that challenge.

Are there new services tied to the partnership?

It’s really about combining the capabilities – the inbound and outbound fund management and distribution process. In essence, we’re combining two best-in-class platforms and over next year we will work to align them more closely for our customers.

What is it that makes NGOs an important market for Western Union?

We work with a lot of NGOs to facilitate payments around the world. They represent an important part of our customer base, and our goal is to help them meet the challenge of bridging the last mile. It can be difficult to reach people in need in remote locations, and that is exactly where we as Western Union can help. We work with our NGO clients to get funds to recipients all over the world when they’re needed, where they’re needed and how they’re needed, as quickly and transparently as possible.

One common thing we’ve been seeing within the industry generally is a movement toward cash aid. Our NGO partners have been telling us that, increasingly, they want financial resources to go directly to the people who need them most. It’s about enablement and choice, and our payment platform helps them to deliver that. We are very proud and work incredibly hard to be a partner that really adds value to our customers by solving persistent pain points, and this is one that we are uniquely placed to address.

In the nongovernment sector, there’s a movement toward cash aid. How will the partnership help in facilitating such transactions?

I guess that goes back to what I was saying earlier. Our NGO Global Pay product is really about getting the right form of aid to the right people when and where they need it. For NGOs, the first part of the payment cycle is the need to get money to distribute – the campaign in response to the emergency in the Philippines is a good example of that – and then they need to get those funds out as quickly as possible to combat disaster. That is why the combination of Western Union and Kimbia is such an important one. Together, we can provide a service that makes it that bit easier for NGOs to operate.


Brian Harris, Chief Product Officer, Western Union Business Solutions

As chief product officer for Western Union Business Solutions, Brian Harris is responsible for the delivery and strategic direction of the organization’s market leading global product portfolio for cross-border B2B payments. He has a strong track record of success building and delivering global payments products and electronic channels, and plays a senior role on the executive management team in addition to managing the global product team. Harris’ responsibilities include identifying customer needs in over 30 markets around the world and delivering differentiated and customer-centric product solutions that drive business growth.