Barclaycard Freedom partnership announced at inaugural JustGiving awards
Howard Lake | 10 February 2010 | News
On Wednesday 3rd February, JustGiving announced that it will be the charity partner for the newly launched Barclaycard Freedom rewards programme – set to be the broadest retail rewards scheme in the UK. The scheme, which JustGiving will join in May, allows customers to donate additional money to charitable causes using their Barclaycard Freedom ‘Reward Money’.
The innovative loyalty scheme will be available to over eight million Barclaycard cardholders who will earn rewards in a broad range of high street and online retail outlets when the scheme goes live in March.
Charities will benefit in two ways: not only will Barclaycard customers be able to donate their Reward Money through JustGiving, but Barclaycard will match those donations, up to the value of £50,000 during 2010.
Anne-Marie Huby, JustGiving’s Managing Director said: “JustGiving is constantly looking for new ways to help charities raise more money. Barclaycard Freedom will both grow our member charities’ income and delight their supporters – a fantastic win for the charity sector in a tough economic climate.”
Sarah Newman, Managing Director of Barclaycard Freedom, added: “Barclaycard Freedom incorporates all of the best elements of a rewards scheme, with the rewards, quite simply, in pounds and pence. We are delighted that JustGiving has joined as a charity partner in this scheme.”
The partnership was announced by JustGiving’s CEO Zarine Kharas at the first JustGiving awards evening, held to celebrate the most inspirational appeals held on JustGiving in 2009.
Major Phil Packer who, despite the loss of the use of his legs whilst fighting in Iraq, famously walked the London Marathon over 14 days raising over £1 million in the process, was the keynote speaker. The awards celebrated the incredible achievements and irresistible energy of people who each year raise money for the causes they are passionate about. Sarah Hope, nominee for Incredible Achievement Award and a fundraiser for The Limbless Association commented on the awards, “So many people have tragic stories to tell and when tragedy happens you have to swim or you sink. The strength of feeling in the room created a wonderful atmosphere of the strength of human kindness and how people can overcome adversity.”
Fundraisers were joined on the night by many of the charities they so tirelessly campaigned for. “It was a privilege to be present at the first ever JustGiving awards, listening to the amazing stories from the ordinary people who had put such time, effort and drive into raising money for the causes they care about,” said one of the charity representatives, Craig Fordham, Challenge Events Manager at Macmillan. He added, “It really reminds me why we do what we do and makes me proud of the sector. I’d like to thank JustGiving for making this happen – firstly for bringing all these heart-warming stories together, and secondly, for enabling these special individuals to raise huge amounts of money through their website.”
ABOUT THE JUSTGIVING AWARDS
The most popular award went to the Sophie Atay appeal, set up to help 2-year old Sophie, who needed to raise half a million pounds to undergo special treatment for her rare form of Neuroblastoma. After her story was featured on ITV news 40,000 people visited her page, and donated over £520,000 to the 2Simple Trust.
The most successful award went to Major Phil Packer, who lost the use of his legs after a spinal cord injury in February 2008 whilst fighting in Iraq but has since completed many incredible challenges, including walking the London Marathon over 14 days, raising over £1 million.
Simon Painter and David Wood from Berkshire won the most innovative fundraising award for a sponsored jailbreak which took them from Manchester University to Luanda in Angola, via Lagos, Liege in Belgium and U.A.E. – without spending any money at all, and dressed in flip-flops and orange boiler suits.
The JustGiving community of users voted for the final award, the people’s choice, for the most incredible achievement. The winners were Will Hemsley, Jonathan Hughes and Nick Mclelland, who led a 600-mile cycle ride through England, France and Switzerland with a team of 24 friends, in aid of spinal injury charities Spinal Research and Aspire. One of the riders’ younger brother, Oli, was helped by Spinal Research after he was stabbed in an unprovoked knife attack in August 2008. Together they raised an astounding £77,931 through JustGiving.
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About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.