New online giving site for smaller charities
Howard Lake | 18 May 2009 | News
A window of new fundraising opportunities is opening for small to medium-sized charities across the world, thanks to a new website launching on 17th August 2009.
gift2help.com is unlike any other charity-giving website in that 100% of every donation made goes direct to the charity concerned and there is no cost at all to the charity. Donors can visit the website, choose the charity they would like to support and then view a shopping list of items required for its projects. For example, a charity may require 10 school books for children and adults at £10 each. If a donor decides to give £30 for three books, this amount is forwarded to the charity to buy the items, leaving seven available for other donors to purchase. Also, with a variety of charities featured on gift2help.com, it is possible to make donations to several different organisations at the same time.
The brainchild of returned overseas volunteers – Markus Stricker, who gave time to work with children in Kenya and Guenther Aistleitner, who volunteered in Bulgaria and Latvia – gift2help.com is a social enterprise which means it is driven by a social aim and any profits are reinvested in social objects.
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Markus explains: “Having worked for charities ourselves, we are very aware of the struggle many organisations have to raise funds for essential items and resources and – while there are other charity giving websites out there – the administration charges often make them prohibitive for smaller charities with very limited funds available. Some websites have monthly fees and others take a significant chunk from every donation made. Quite often the donor is totally unaware of these ‘hidden’ costs.”
Of course there are always operational costs involved in providing such a service, and to address this gift2help.com will charge donors a low flat fee for every purchase made – similar to postage and packaging.
“gift2help.com is totally transparent and we believe that donors would prefer to pay a minimal handling charge and know that their entire donation is going directly to their chosen charity,” says Markus.
For the first few months from launch, donating on gift2help.com will be free of charge, however, donors will be invited to make a contribution towards the service to help gauge an amount that is perceived as reasonable and fair for the future.
For more information about how your charity can start fundraising through gift2help.com, email Markus at:
in**@gi*******.com
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.