I assume most of us do not choose to round up our purchases for charity at supermarkets, pharmacies, and fast food restaurants when prompted to do so at checkout. Besides the less-than-highly-effective charities the extra change usually goes to, there could be philosophical or practical debate about the effectiveness of the practice itself as a format for giving.
However, surely there's a significant amount of money each year being diverted to various charities through this practice, most of which is counterfactual by most definitions. (The rounded-up change probably wouldn't have gone to any charity otherwise, much less an effective charity).
I wonder how supermarkets select charities for the round up. What approach could be taken to change these to highly-effective charities? Which industries, companies, or executives would be open to conversation and how could they be approached? Is it worth the effort?
Happy to help if I can! Here's some more info on me and my role as Effective Giving Global Coordinator and Incubator :)