There are a few different places the money can end up. In the most noble cases, the change is donated to a charity. For example, the fountains in the Mall of America collect roughly $24,000 a year, and that money is donated to several different worthy causes. In other, more practical cases, the money goes toward the cleaning and maintenance of the fountain.Finally, the far too common alternative is for the change to go back into the pockets of citizens. Maeri Ferguson from the New York City Parks and Recreation Department’s press office told The Atlantic, “[Fountains] are cleaned regularly by Parks staff (every few weeks) but we consistently find that most of the coins have already been removed by entrepreneurial New Yorkers and there is not a significant amount left to be collected.â€