# Utility comparison Web site offers affinity income for charities

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2003/03/20/utility-comparison-web-site-offers-affinity-income-charities/
- Published: 2003-03-20T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Switchandgive.com enables customers to compare prices from all the UK’s gas and 
electricity suppliers and switch utility suppliers. Each time a customer switches
utility suppliers, charities receive a commission of up to £40.
Switchandgive.com
has been created by Fundraising Innovations Ltd, and is the “first of a series of
innovative fundraising e-products aimed at charities” according to the company.

Mark Todd co-founder and director of Fundraising Innovations Ltd commented: “Ten
per cent of UK households (circa 2.6m) are switching suppliers each year. Given 
that there are generally two people to a household, 5% of a charity’s supporter 
base will switch gas and electricity supplier each year. A charity with 100,000 
supporters could raise up to £180,000 each year, if this 5% of their supporter base
switched through switchandgive.com.”

The National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), Christian Aid,
The Refugee Council, Action for South Africa (ACTSA) and the National Autistic Society
are amongst the first charities to use switchandgive. Each has its own branded version
of the Web site (eg [www.switchandgive.com/nspcc](http://www.switchandgive.com/nspcc))
and is marketing the service through its supporter base, staff and corporate partnerships.

## Advertisement

The Web site was developed by BouncingFish, and included a management information
tool to help Fundraising Innovations track the success of the charity partners’ 
marketing channels in order to maximise their revenue potential.

Jay Manek, co-founder and director of Fundraising Innovations Ltd explained the 
company’s approach. “Fundraising Innovations was created to develop longterm partnerships
with charities to help them realise the full fundraising potential offered by the
Internet and new technologies. So far, much has been talked about in the charity
sector, but little revenue has actually been realised. Fundraising Innovations aims
to change this.”

Charities will receive up to £40 for dual fuel (gas and electricity) switches, depending
on the supplier and tariff chosen. For each fuel switched (i.e. gas or electricity),
Fundraising Innovations keeps £5, and donates the rest to charity. This, says the
company, usually amounts to about 70-80% of the commission received from new suppliers.
To date, the average donation to charity has been £36 per user that has switched
to a new supplier.

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