# Online donations via Virgin Money Giving increase by 26% to £67.4 million

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/11/23/online-donations-virgin-money-giving-increase-26-674m/
- Published: 2012-11-23T09:44:34+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

**Online donations through Virgin Money Giving have increased by 26% during 2011/
12, rising from £53.5 million to £67.4 million.**

The average donation dropped by **4%** but the total number of donations increased
by **31%**. All figures include Gift Aid, and the comparison period for each year
is January to 11 November.

[Virgin Money Giving](http://www.virginmoneygiving.com) has now handled **nearly
£150 million** in donations since it launched in 2009.

## Advertisement

Joanna Barnett, executive director at Virgin Money Giving, contrasted the figures
with the recent CAF/NCVO study which reported that voluntary donations had dropped
by 20% in a year, with the public giving £1.7 billion less to charity than the previous
year.

“I am pleased to be able to announce an increase in online giving through VMG”, 
she said, “when other forms of giving are under strain. Whilst overall giving is
down, according to the authoritative CAF study, I believe online giving has so much
potential to help close the donations gap and help charities continue with essential
front line services.”

 **SEE ALSO: [Interview with Jo Barnett, Virgin Money Giving’s Managing Director](https://fundraising.co.uk/2009/05/01/interview-virgin-money-giving039s-executive-director/)(
1 May 2009)**

Virgin Money Giving was achieving a **Gift Aid conversion rate of 85%**. Barnett
said that this compared well to the 39% average for all giving reported by the CAF
UK Giving Report.

## Top sports

Virgin Money reports that running, and marathon running in particular, is still 
the most popular reason for setting up a fundraising page. This year however has
seen a 33% increase in the number of donations to fundraisers undertaking cycling
activities, perhaps inspired by British success in the Olympics and Tour de France.

## Top causes

Health charities were the most popular types of charities in terms of total value
of donations received at Virgin Money Giving, followed by children, social welfare,
education, disability, international, elderly, homeless, human rights and the environment.
Sport and cultural causes enjoyed the largest increase in donations during the year,
followed by animals, religion and social welfare.

 * **[Virgin Money Giving to close in November 2021](https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/08/26/virgin-money-giving-to-close-in-november/)(
   26 August 2021)**
 * **[Over £250m raised by Virgin Money Giving](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/06/19/250m-raised-using-virgin-money-giving/)(
   19 June 2014)**
 * **[Virgin Money Giving to let donors cover transaction fees](https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/11/28/virgin-money-giving-let-donors-cover-transaction-fees/)(
   28 November 2018)**
 * **[Virgin Money Giving introduces separate campaign pages for charities](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/09/15/virgin-money-giving-introduces-separate-campaigns-pages-charities/)(
   15 September 2014)**