Alternatives to Just Giving?

timcrips

would be interesting to see if anyone can think up a way of setting up a "just giving" without the need to charge..

Maybe just adverts

Bob63

timcrips wrote: »

would be interesting to see if anyone can think up a way of setting up a "just giving" without the need to charge..

There will always be a charge to cover credit card fees - whether the charity stumps up the bill, or the donor. It's the handling fees and setup fees on top of that which can get quite expensive - especially if your charity isn't putting high volumes of transactions through. Interesting thought though...

benbmy

Hi - I've an interest to declare as co-founder of Bmycharity. We're always looking for ways to increase the value of what we offer. I think that the charges that we and others make for processing donations should be compared to the cost savings that they generate - the transaction charges are low relative to the "thanking and banking" costs associated with cheque and cash donations.

More importantly, online sponsorship creates an opportunity for charities to recruit more supporters to fundraise, so every page created represents an advertising opportunity which is free, but potentially worth hundreds of pounds. Some of the charities we are working with are also using their sponsorship pages to raise awareness of issues such as self-checking for cancer.

We're always ready to hear ideas about other ways of funding these services - get in touch if you want to help us develop!

ahai1

The advertising thing seems like a good idea but the advertisers may not pay enough to cover the full cost.

eurooilngascons

These alternatives to JustGiving are becoming more numerous, cheaper and better:j. I have used JustGiving and when I found out how much money they're making I was disgusted and I felt I and the charity I was raising money for had been exploited:mad:.

I have used CharityGiving - it is itself a charity, has no sign-up or annual fee to the charity and their charges are quite low at 3.99% including the credit/debit card charge.

Bmycharity just hit the headlines by announcing it's moving to a no-commission, advertising-funded model. Good luck to it - choice is good:beer:. VirginMoneyGiving weighed in earlier this year with its 'not-for-profit' operation:T. Both Bmycharity and VirginMoneyGiving have a sign-up fee for the charity, however.

There's also MissionFish. Mentioned in previous replies and I was unaware of are:
globalgiving
sponsor-me
help.co.uk
mycharitypage
everyclick
(sorry this site won't let me put the actual URLs in, you'll have to use your favourite search engine to find them).

oldtoolie

The real question to consider is not how much are the fees collected by fundraising services but how much money will your charity raise using a particular service. If you spend £100 to raise £1000, that is better than spending £50 to raise £750.

What makes it complicated is the different fee structures and calculating how much money you might forecast raising.

You need to look at it from the point of view of your donors as well. A fundraising maxim is - look for obstacles to giving and remove those obstacles. So a cheap but awkward to use fundraising portal might lose more money than it saves. Don't ever sign up to a fundraising service until you have actually tried using it as a donor.

Each fundraising services has different advantages for different types of fundraising as well. And they change as they add and improve (or not) to their services. So it is never done and dusted.

Just Giving has become one of the most popular, so you have many donors familiar with it -- that's a good thing. Virgin now has their Giving service and they have taken over sponsorship of the London Marathon. So they are sure to link the two in one of the biggest fundraising events of the year.

Happy_Daddy

Just seen this thread - I posted the following earlier today - can anyone help?

Has anyone used Charity Choice to raise money for their charity? I'm looking for the most cost effective way for my daughter's playschool (a registered charity) to recieve donations online and have just come across them. It says on their website (charitychoice.co.uk follow the 'register your charity' link) that it is a "free means of channelling donations to your charity" and seems to be part run by The Cooperative Bank which is encouraging, however my 'too good to be true filter' is flashing!

Otherwise has anyone compared the various online charity giving sites to see which represents the best value for charities?

Many thanks

Savvy_Sue

I just checked, and DH is using it on his charity's website, so I'd say it was safe.

It's not geared up to sponsored events in the way that JustGiving is, but if you just want to encourage people to make random donations then it should be fine.

lanieloola

The charity I work for use a site called charitygiving they've been using it for almost a year and it seems to be working well, might be worth having a look at!

Lanie

eurooilngascons

In response to oldtoolie, I don't believe the choice of mini-site provider is crucial to how much money you raise. What counts is how many people you send the url to, how cleverly you convince them to donate, and how generous they are. None of these providers actually do much to help you get people to donate, that's all down to you. So you may as well choose a provider who'll take less of your donor's gifts. Actually that may help you persuade them to donate!