Could Ammado be the answer for payroll giving?
Howard Lake | 22 September 2008 | Blogs
In the wake of another inconclusive report into how to boost UK payroll giving perhaps we need some radical ‘out of box’ thinking. Ammado, the social networking site for charities, might just offer that. They have just launched ’employee giving circle’ – aimed at giving companies simple online tools to enable staff to engage in philanthropy.
Terry Farris who joined Ammado last month from UBS tells me that CSR is now at the core of Ammado’s strategy. Employee giving circle will give companies the means to create CSR/philanthropy communities within their business in a way which has never been possible before.
So instead of using payroll collection agencies UK companies will be able to sign up with Ammado and make use of a suite of online tools which will give employees the ability of select charities of their choice, track their giving, and recieve feedback directly from the charities they are supporting.
There is still some way to go before the Ammado site is fit for purpose. If you want to donate to a charity in Africa the site comes up with zero results. Latin America gives four results. Major household names are not there.
The way charities get allowed onto the site needs to be tightened if donors are to have confidence their money is being used well. The quality of information on different organisation’s profiles varies significantly. But then they weren’t written for the purpose of attracting funds.
There is also currently no way of collecting Gift Aid declarations – so it’s not tax efficient.
But these are issues which could be ironed out and as the site grows more charities should start to feature.
When they first launched I struggled to understand what Ammado was for. The business model just didn’t seem to make any sense. They seem to have reached a similar conclusion and are busy re-inventing themselves. Possibly in a way that could be really useful.
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.