Justgiving CEO, Zarine Kharas, awarded the RSA’s Albert Medal for ‘democratising fundraising’
Howard Lake | 9 April 2009 | News
This year, the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), will award the Albert Medal to Zarine Kharas, founder and CEO of Justgiving, for democratising fundraising and technology for charities.
Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA said: “In creating Justgiving Zarine Kharas changed the rules of the charity game, bringing web technologies within the reach of every charity in the UK, and making it easier for all of us to support great causes. Hers is an inspiring example of the long-lasting social value that a company can deliver under the right leadership.”
Zarine Kharas commented, “I am humbled and honoured to receive the Albert Medal on Justgiving’s behalf. The internet has been, and continues to be, a revolutionary force, and we are proud to have harnessed some of its power for the benefit of charities, especially the smaller ones.” Since early 2001, the site’s 7m users have collected over £400m for 6,700 charities. The company expanded in to the USA in 2003, where it is known as Firstgiving.
At a lecture to mark the award on April 22nd, Zarine will argue that companies exist primarily to create social value, not maximise profits for shareholders. In Justgiving’s case, all profits have been re-invested in to the business and investors have yet to make a return.
She will also argue that hierarchies and rules get in the way of innovation by holding people and organisations back, rather than keeping them accountable. She will tell how Justgiving is learning to work differently, with people working in teams and managing themselves.
Recent recipients of the award include Sir Tim Berners-Lee in 2002 for his outstanding contribution to the World Wide Web and Professor Stephen Hawking in 1999 for making physics more accessible.
For more information, contact Jonathan Waddingham at Justgiving on 0207 067 0923 or jo******@ju********.com
www.justgiving.com
www.thersa.org.uk
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.