The Switch: Maddi Ingham of GreenPay

Building your super with Future Super is a powerful climate action, but we love it when our members go the extra mile to do something else for the planet too.  

Future Super member Maddi Ingham is co-founder of GreenPay, a payments platform born from a simple question: what if everyday spending could fund positive change? 

Maddi knew one thing for sure – she wanted to have an impact. Through her previous work in sustainable finance she met her future co-founder Glenn, who was already exploring the idea for GreenPay. As Maddi puts it, “as he told me the GreenPay story, I could instantly see how it could work, how successful that business model could be, and also the impact that it could have.” 

Businesses use GreenPay to take payments from their customers, both in-person and online. From there, 50% of company profits are directed to protecting Australian biodiversity through the GreenPay Foundation, now a registered charity with DGR (deductible gift recipient) status. 

Despite being new to payments, Maddi leaned into the challenge. Only a year in and GreenPay is already powering transactions for brands like Ben & Jerry’s, made by Fressko, Planet Ark and Dry July. For Maddi, it’s about making impact practical: giving businesses an easy, credible way to embed sustainability into how they operate, every single day – without them having to do anything different. 

We caught up with Maddi to find out more.  

What gets you out of bed each day?   

Coffee! No, for me, I try to embed purpose in a lot of what I do. 

I try not to buy any new clothing and instead shop secondhand, or at least from ethical, small or local businesses. I’ve been doing that for a few years now and find it really freeing. I also am a non-executive director for a local women's charity. I just try to leave the world in a better place than we found it, and selfishly, it makes me feel good too.  

I’d really struggle to go back to not working in an impact business. That's what gets me outta bed, along with that coffee and a beautiful walk with friends in the morning. It’s being able to go to work and know that when times get tough, it’s for a greater purpose than just yourself.  

How are you contributing to the planet beyond switching your super?  

At GreenPay we’re working with Australian businesses and not-for-profits of all sizes to improve their payment processing. In a lot of businesses, this is a set and forget thing – they set it up one time and then never look at it again. 

This means they often don't realise that they might be missing out on some core functionality, or may be paying too much. So we work with them to improve their processes, functionality or cost base, and then of course donate 50% of our profits to the GreenPay Foundation.  

On the charity side, the GreenPay Foundation has already made or committed four donations in year one.  

We've given to Bush Heritage Australia, for their work in purchasing and restoring degraded land, most recently a piece of land called Nil Desperandum.  

We’ve also given to the Conservation Ecology Centre, who are doing a lot of research down the Great Ocean Road around endangered plant species like the leafy green orchid, a vulnerable native plant facing extinction.

We also gave to Gudjuda Aboriginal Rangers Group up in northern Queensland. They’re doing a lot of work with sea turtle populations and also educate youth through cultural and conservation work. The Gudjuda rangers have been monitoring marine turtles for 20+ years, including research into the fibropapilloma virus.  

Then the last committed donation supports Halfcut in partnership with Jabalbina Aboriginal Corporation, who do a lot of work up in the Daintree, protecting the world's oldest rainforest via the purchase and restoration of land. This year, they’re rewilding 203ha of land in the Daintree River Station – a once-in-a-lifetime chance to restore a large habitat for endangered species.  

We actually got lucky enough to go up onto Country with Halfcut and Jabalbina as part of the Ben & Jerry’s conference. It was really awesome to see the work they're doing.  

What people-powered movement has been making a difference lately?   

I love one called Five Bucks. Basically the concept is to make it easier to give to charity, especially if you’re not sure which cause to support or you find it a bit overwhelming. 

Each person chips in $5 a week, all the money is pooled over the financial year, and you’re part of this community that then votes which organisations get the money, across a few core themes.  

It’s such a cool way to make charitable giving easy: low overhead, low admin, low stress, but also they’ve built this really cool, fun community, with events and people talking about giving. It's cool seeing the pool of money grow as more people sign up.  

Recently I’ve been reading The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer, which looks at why people don’t give, and the psychology of giving. Five Bucks taps into a lot of what that book talks about – particularly that you can get FOMO from hearing that other people are giving more.  

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