Summit of fundraising innovation?

Howard Lake | 1 April 2005 | News

Gavin Bate is planning to climb Mount Everest on his own to raise funds for the charity Moving Mountains, and he’s using his website in a number of innovative ways which could

Gavin Bate is updating supporters on his fundraising expedition via a blog, and he’s encouraging online donations to the charity via Justgiving. None of that is unusual nowadays, of course.

Gavin has other innovative ideas though. For 25p, he will send you a text message from the summit of Mount Everest, assuming he makes it that far. Unfortunately, this service in itself doesn’t generate funds for the charity: the SMS company is operating the service at cost. But this idea could be used by another charity to generate a donation per SMS. Imagine the number of supporters who would want to receive an SMS message from their friend or colleague as they complete their overseas fundraising challenge.

Gavin has also set himself up as the subject of a bet, handled by Ladbrokes.com, as to whether he will reach the summit. “The hope is,” says Gavin, “that punters who win anything on this bet will donate 50% of your winnings to our Moving Mountains appeal!” Online gaming and gambling is still not being tested by many UK charities, or at least those for whom it presents no ethical/policy concerns. A version of Gavin’s idea which doesn’t rely on the winner to donate the winnings could prove popular with other charities.

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.