Whizz-Kidz teams with Cofacio – a new way of giving by micro-fundraising
Howard Lake | 9 September 2010 | News
New online platform, Cofacio – where users accrue ‘points’ for helping each other – has signed up mobility charity Whizz-Kidz as its latest partner.
Cofacio – the help engine – works by members getting awarded ‘points’ every time they answer or ask a question of the community, and are thanked for helping someone else. Points are converted into a personal ‘fund’ – and members themselves decide where to cash in their points, supporting one of four current charities.
Users of the site can sign in using their Facebook or Twitter log-ins, and are automatically set up with a profile to begin ‘micro-fundraising’.
Corporate partners such as Legal & General provide the financial backing converting points into money; providing an incentivising and unique way of investing in the third sector. Graham Precey, Head of Corporate and Social Responsibility at the firm, says:
“Legal & General has from the start been backing this new and innovative way of raising funds for charity by using social media to get more people involved in helping a cause and to build communities. Cofacio’s work with Whizz-Kidz is a great example of where the power of social media is positively used to build goodwill and greater awareness of important causes which then turns into the release of corporate funds for the project”
“We are now entering a world where donors to charities can directly donate their money and expertise to their favourite causes and can now donate all of their indirect expertise in the form of micro volunteering through the Help Engine to add to their donations.”
Fenella Bain, Corporate Partnerships Fundraiser at Whizz-Kidz adds:
“We already use social media a lot to engage with supporters, corporate partner employees, and the families and young people we work with – but this is a great new way to contribute to fundraising for Whizz-Kidz, by very small, simple acts of helpfulness.
“We hope that Cofacio community members that choose to support Whizz-Kidz will explore other ways they can volunteer or get involved with our work – it’s the start of a conversation.
“What’s also very accessible about the site is that our young people can easily get involved too in answering questions, and building the community. This is incredibly empowering, and turns ‘beneficiaries’ into ‘producers’; valuable experts in their own field.”
Whizz-Kidz joins Carousel, Action Against Hunger and Conflict & Change as founding charity partners. To start using Cofacio, visit http://cofacio.com.
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For further information please contact Rob Dyson, PR Manager on 020 7798 6103 or r.*****@************rg.uk.
Notes to Editors
• Legal & General ‘s Community Programme is committed to donating at least £2.5m per annum into the Third Sector www.legalandgeneralgroupcsr.com
• In 2009, Whizz-Kidz provided close to 1,000 children with mobility equipment. Next to the NHS as a whole, Whizz-Kidz is the biggest provider of mobility equipment to disabled children in the UK. The right wheelchair and mobility equipment is not automatically provided on the NHS, and it is virtually impossible for a disabled young person to get a powered wheelchair. Children have virtually no chance of getting a powered wheelchair on the NHS, while recreational equipment such as adapted bikes and trikes are not provided at all.
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.