The FutureRoots Fund

A way for family, grandparents especially, to give a child a real gift toward their future, alongside the memories you're already keeping.

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Setting up a child's FutureRoots Fund

A parent or guardian sets up a child's FutureRoots Fund. It's a short setup with our payment processor, Stripe, so the money has a real account to go to. Until it's set up, family can't give a gift yet.

  1. Open the child's vault on the website.
  2. On the FutureRoots Fund card, choose Set up Maya's FutureRoots Fund (it shows your child's name).
  3. Follow Stripe's secure pages to confirm who you are and add your bank account.

In the app: Setting up a fund happens on the website. Once it's ready, family can give from the app too.

Giving a gift

Once a fund is set up, anyone in the family can give an amount of their choosing.

  1. Open the child's vault.
  2. Choose Contribute to Maya's future (with the child's name). In the app, it can also read Add to Maya's future.
  3. Pick an amount, or type your own, and add a message if you'd like.
  4. Check the service fee and how much reaches the child, both shown before you pay, then pay.

For a fund in another currency, the cost of changing the money over is shown too. See when money reaches the bank for what happens next.

Gift links and QR codes

A gift link lets someone without a FutureRoots account give to a child's FutureRoots Fund: a great-aunt far away, or a friend at a birthday party. Whoever opens it sees only the child's first name.

New gift links are paused for a little while as we add an identity check for the parents who make them. Links you've already shared keep working, and family members can still give from the app or the website.

For a link you already have, a parent or guardian can:

  1. Open Gift links on the child's vault.
  2. Choose Show QR code so guests can scan it with their phone camera.
  3. On the website, choose Print a card with this QR code to make a card with the code and your own message, sized to tuck into an invitation.

A link can be turned off at any time. If you turn a link off, its QR code and any printed card stop working too. Anyone who scans the code is asked their birth month and year first, because children will scan it too.

What the service fee covers

When someone gives to a child's future, a service fee comes out of the gift. For a fund in Canadian or US dollars it is 5.65% plus 30¢. For a fund in euros or pounds it is 6.95% plus 30 cents (30p for pounds), and changing the gift into euros or pounds costs about 2% more. The fee covers card processing and the cost of paying the money out to the family's bank. On many cards a little is left over, and that helps run FutureRoots. The fee is the same whatever card you use. You see the exact amount before you pay, and you can choose to add it on top so the whole gift arrives. The rest goes to an account the child's parent or guardian sets up and controls.

When money reaches the bank

Gifts are paid out to the bank account of the parent or guardian who set up the fund. That happens when the fund reaches $150 (Canadian or US dollars) or €250 / £250, or 80 days after the oldest gift still waiting, whichever comes first.

Whose name the fund is in

The fund is an account with Stripe, our payment processor, in the name of the parent or guardian who set it up, and they control it. FutureRoots doesn't invest the money and can't spend it. Gifts are paid out to that parent or guardian's own bank account.

Is the FutureRoots Fund an RESP or a 529 plan?

No. The FutureRoots Fund is a way for family to send gifts for a child. It is not a registered education savings plan: not an RESP in Canada, not a 529 plan in the US, and not any other savings or investment account. It earns no interest, it doesn't qualify for government grants, and it has no tax advantages. Gifts are paid out to the bank account of the parent or guardian who set up the fund, and they decide what to do with the money from there. If your family would like it to go toward education, you can move it into an RESP, a 529 plan or a similar account yourself. We can't give tax or investment advice, so your bank or a financial adviser is the best place to ask what suits your family.

Managing a FutureRoots Fund

Parents and guardians can open Manage FutureRoots Fund from the fund card in a child's vault. It shows which bank the money goes to (the bank's name and the last four digits only), whether payouts are on, and every gift the fund has received: who gave it, the fee, what reached the fund, and any message that came with it. On the website, choose Download as a spreadsheet to keep the full list.

Only the parent or guardian who set up the fund sees which bank it pays into, and only they can change it. To change it:

  1. Open Manage FutureRoots Fund.
  2. Choose Change bank account. Stripe's own secure page opens.
  3. Confirm it's you and enter the new details.

FutureRoots never sees or stores your bank details.