About LeasideLocal

What is the LeasideLocal Program?

The LeasideLocal Program is a partnership between Leaside Life and Hope Factory designed to support community need and local merchants. You spend local – they donate. When you shop locally, participating local Merchants and supporting Boosters will donate to a worthy cause. In the past, we’ve supported the Leaside Toy Drive, the Thorncliffe Food Bank and the Canada-Ukraine Foundation. Our past campaigns have raised over $24,000!

How does the Program work?

Participating is Easy & Exciting.

First, you sign up for a LeasideLocal account and securely enroll your eligible Visa or Mastercard. Local Merchants have also signed on to be part of the LeasideLocal program. Your enrolled Credit Card number is how our network connects your regular shopping transaction with the registered Merchants.

Next, you shop at those local Merchants that are part of our program. They will each have an offer that you can participate in. When you spend the offer amount in their store, you unlock a portion of their donation!

That’s it! You don’t have to do anything other than enroll your card.

How do I register?

Enrolling in the LeasideLocal program is easy and secure.

Step 1. Create a LeasideLocal Account
Click here to create an account to explore the LeasideLocal Program.

Step 2: Enroll an eligible Visa or Mastercard
Your card information is kept safe and secure, and we will never charge your card. This is simply how we connect your transaction with Merchant in order to unlock donations.

Step 3: Set Your Notification Preferences
Let us know how you’d like to be contacted.

Step 4: Validate Your Account
Confirm your email address, and you’re all set. We will send you an email with a 5-digit verification code that you enter at the last step.

Why can’t I direct the Merchant and Booster donations to other organizations?

Cash Forward programs in LeasideLocal have been set up for the specific cause charities. If there is a cause or charity you’d like to support with the Program in the future please let us know at hello@hopefactory.com

Why can’t I get a receipt for my donations?

In the case of Cash Forward offer donations the donation is being made by Merchants and Boosters. You are not actually donating anything. You just have to Shop Local like usual!

What is a Boost and who are Boosters?

A Boost is when a second business(es) joins in to Boost the Merchant donation value by a certain amount. For instance, if a Merchant donation is $20 and a Booster boosts by 50%, their contribution is another $10. This could be a brand that sells through retail, like a Coffee brand…. or a local business that does not have regular client transactional relationship, like a local Real Estate agent.

Who is Hope Factory?

Hope Factory is the company that has partnered with Leaside Life to create LeasideLocal. The technology is owned by the Hope Factory with parts of it licensed from a company called Olive. That is why you see Terms and Conditions from Hope Factory and Olive.

The platform can work in any community in Canada or the US, it just happened to be born in Leaside!

The LeasideLocal Referral Program

What is the LeasideLocal Referral Program?

We all know how good it feels when you pay something forward so we gave you another way to make positive change in the world. In addition to shopping locally, and triggering tangible donations to both local and international causes, you can now spread the love and refer your friends and family to the Program.

When you refer someone and they enroll in the Program, you increase the impact you make.

That’s not all though, we like to reward people for doing great things – after all it makes us feel good too – so we often have prize draws for those who refer someone to LeasideLocal. Be sure to sign up for our mailing list and follow us on social media to see what we might be giving away!

How do I find and share my Referral Code?

You can retrieve your Referral Code by following these steps:

  1. Log into your Leaside Local account.
  2. Visit your Profile Settings by clicking the arrow beside your profile icon to expand the Settings menu.
  3. Click on Settings and then Referral Program.
  4. Copy and send your unique referral code to everyone you know!

How can I enter to win a Referral Prize?

In order to be eligible for the draw into one of LeasideLocal’s referral giveaways, you first need to share your referral code with people you think will also love the LeasideLocal program. Afterall, you want them to enroll and participate in the program. That’s even more impact!

You will earn one ballot into the prize draw for every person you refer who joins the program and verifies their account. That includes enrolling a valid Visa or Mastercard. When your friend or family member joins the program they need to enter the referral code you gave them in Step 1 of the enrollment process.

That’s it! We’ll track everything else!

You can also earn an extra ballot by sharing to your social channels. Don’t forget to tag us for your entry to count!

  1. Download the graphic here (just right-click on your computer or tap and hold on your phone to save the image)
  2. Post on your social media account and TAG US @leasidelocal
  3. Use our recommended caption or create your own: “Have you heard about @LeasideLocal? When you enroll on their safe and secure platform, and shop at locally participating Merchants in #Leaside, #LeasideLocal Merchants & Boosters will donate a portion of your purchase to our worthy Cause. All you have to do is shop! Learn more and enroll now using my referral code (ENTER YOUR CODE HERE) at www.leasidelocal.com”

I have a Referral Code. What do I do with it?

When you sign up for the LeasideLocal Program (you can do that here), you’ll see a field called “Referral Code” in Step 1 of the sign-up process. Simply enter the code you were given, and that’s it!

Once you finish enrolling, you will receive a Welcome email that contains your very own unique Referral Code so you can spread the love too!

Credit Card Questions

Why do I need to enroll a Visa or Mastercard Credit Card?

The LeasideLocal (Hope Factory) platform uses the Visa and Mastercard infrastructure to recognize when an enrolled consumer shops at a participating Merchant. The Merchants are tracked by them agreeing to our platform recognizing their Merchant ID. Consumers transactions at those participating Merchants are tracked when they agree to securely enroll their Visa or Mastercard in our platform.

So it is kind of like chocolate and peanut butter. Our platform creates the Peanut Butter Cup!

Can I use my debit card for the program?

Unfortunately, this option is not available in Canada at this time because debit cards run through the Interac platform. However, our program allows consumers to register any Canadian Visa or Mastercard!

Why can’t I use my American Express card?

Unfortunately the platform does not integrate with American Express at this time.

Can I enroll more than one credit card?

Yes you can have up to two credit cards entered into your LeasideLocal account. When you are logged into your LeasideLocal account go to the settings menu enter Enroll a second card then select the Add a second Card button which will take you to Add a Card screen where you can enroll another Visa or Mastercard.

Technical Questions

How do I enroll?

It’s easy, just go to LeasideLocal.com and scroll down to the enroll button. It will lead you to the LeasideLocal onboarding process.

How do I update my credit card information?

When you are logged into your LeasideLocal account enter your Settings and choose Enrolled Cards, scroll to the card that has expired and enter Deactivate Card. You can then go to Add a Card and it will take you to the Add a Card screen where you can enroll your new card.

How do I unenroll from the program?

When you are logged into your LeasideLocal account enter your Settings, go to your Profile, scroll to the Close Account and enter.

I forgot my password!

Visit the “Forgot Password?” page, enter the email you first registered with and we will send an email with a link to Reset your Password, click on that link and it will take you to the site to enter the new password and to reset it.