APL FCU adds Spiral round-up saving & giving tools

APL FCU has selected Spiral for its digital banking services, adding new savings and charitable giving tools for the Maryland credit union's members.

Under the arrangement, APL FCU will add Spiral's Round-up Centre and Giving Centre to its digital banking offering through the Alkami Digital Banking Platform. The tools will let members round up debit card purchases and direct the spare change to savings goals or charitable causes. Members will also be able to donate to selected nonprofits from their digital accounts.

APL FCU serves about 31,000 members and has more than USD $700 million in assets. Founded by employees of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, it now operates as a community credit union in Howard County, Maryland.

The new features are intended to link everyday banking with saving habits and local giving. Members will be able to build what the company describes as a portfolio of causes, track donations and generate reports for tax purposes through the digital banking service.

For APL FCU, the move also reflects a broader effort by smaller financial institutions to use digital tools to deepen member relationships and encourage deposits. Credit unions and community banks increasingly want mobile and online banking to play a more central role in how customers save, spend and interact with local organisations.

Spiral's system is designed to sit within existing banking platforms rather than operate as a separate service. Through the Alkami integration, APL FCU members will access the savings and giving functions within the credit union's current digital banking environment.

The partnership also gives APL FCU another route into local fundraising. The set-up can support charitable campaigns, donation matching and broader community fundraising efforts involving nonprofit groups connected to the credit union's membership.

That community emphasis is consistent with APL FCU's position in its local market. The credit union describes support for members and local organisations as part of its core mission as a not-for-profit institution.

Kevin Marvel highlighted that link between financial services and community work in a statement on the deal.

"Helping our members achieve financial success has always gone hand in hand with supporting our local communities," said Kevin Marvel, Chief Strategy & Growth Officer at APL FCU. "With Spiral, members can automatically grow their savings and support the causes they care about through everyday banking, making saving and giving a natural part of their daily lives."

Spiral is based in New York City and sells software to banks and credit unions. It says it works with more than 45 financial institutions representing over USD $200 billion in assets.

The company positions its products around automatic savings and donation tools built into digital banking channels. It pitches those functions to financial institutions as a way to attract deposits, retain customers and strengthen day-to-day engagement with accounts.

That focus comes as financial institutions face pressure to make digital banking services more useful in routine financial decisions. Round-up savings tools have become a familiar consumer banking feature, but Spiral's approach combines that model with options for charitable giving and local nonprofit support.

For credit unions in particular, the appeal may lie in pairing digital services with a community-led identity. Many compete on member service and local involvement rather than scale, making products tied to savings behaviour and charitable donations a closer fit than some mainstream banking features.

Shawn Melamed said the agreement with APL FCU reflects that opportunity.

"Credit unions have a unique opportunity to drive deposits and primary relationships by helping people make financial progress every day," said Shawn Melamed, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Spiral. "APL FCU is showing how digital banking can help members save more, give back to the causes they care about, and strengthen the communities they serve."