# DEC breaks online fundraising world record

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2005/01/20/dec-breaks-online-fundraising-world-record/
- Published: 2005-01-20T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Officials at Guinness World Records announced today that the response from the British
public to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) Tsunami Earthquake Appeal has 
broken a World Record.
Between 6.16pm on 30th December and 6.16pm on the 31st December
2004, the DEC website, with the timely help of BT and their increased capacity, 
received 166,936 donations, raising £10,676, 836 for the Tsunami Earthquake Appeal.
This is the most money ever donated online in 24 hours.

Brendan Gormley, chief executive of DEC, said: “The unprecedented generosity of 
the British Public has been humbling. DEC agencies are immensely grateful, and are
working closely together to ensure that the money from this appeal is spent wisely
and well.”

The DEC predicts that it will raise £200 million for the Tsunami earthquake appeal.
To date there have been 1.7 million telephone donations.

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The size of the response has meant that the DEC can now wind down its appeal and
focus on ensuring the money is moved to where it is need most.

The DEC says that its members are now “in an excellent position to respond to the
emergency”. Hundreds of thousands of people are already being provided with food,
shelter, clothing, medical supplies and access to clean water and sanitation.

Beth Courtier, Head of Charity Programmes at BT, which provided the secure payments
facility on the DEC site, said: “We are delighted to have helped with enabling DEC
to handle the enormous amount of donations they have received through the telephone
lines and online. Online donations are an important part of the DEC’s fundraising
strategy and will become increasingly important for other charity appeals in the
future. Over 650,000 people have donated online through the DEC site since the Appeal
began.”

Andy Pocock, Account Director at Tango Zebra, who created, designed and served the
banner ads to large ISPs which took visitors to the DEC site, said: “We are delighted
to have helped DEC to raise the enormous amount of online donations they have received.”

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