National Funding Scheme’s DONATE to be free to charities
Howard Lake | 24 August 2014 | News
The National Funding Scheme (NFS) has announced that its mobile giving platform DONATE will be free for charities to use. Currently, over 200 arts and heritage organisations across the UK use the system.
DONATE lets people give via SMS text giving, web app, QR and Near-Field Communication technology. The NFS, a registered charity, says that it is the only single platform to offer all of these functions.
Minor share of Gift Aid
NFS is scrapping its 4% commission fee and absorbing all credit and debit card transaction costs from a minor share of any eligible Gift Aid. It is doing so for August and September 2014, with a view to this becoming a permanent feature of DONATE.
Paul Cutts, National Funding Scheme‘s Chief Executive, explained:
“As a charity ourselves, NFS’ ambition has always been to make DONATE as low-cost a fundraising solution for other charities as possible.”
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He added:
‘When NFS launched DONATE, our 4% commission helped to cover administrative, marketing and related costs. After six months of working closely with partners across England, Scotland and Wales, we are building sufficient scale to trial DONATE as a free tool, with our costs funded from a minor share of any Gift Aid added to donations. Donors can be reassured that the full value of their donation in these circumstances is being passed on to their chosen charity, which will still receive the majority of any Gift Aid that NFS collects on its behalf.”
DONATE does not charge any set-up or monthly fees.
If no Gift Aid is added?
Where no Gift Aid has been added or is ineligible (such as from international donors), NFS will charge 2.5% to cover text channel, debit- and credit-card transaction charges. The charity points out that this is half the fee charged by commercial fundraising platform JustGiving, which takes 5% of non-Gift Aid donations plus transaction fees.
Non-profit organisations supporting charity fundraising campaigns, including BBC Children in Need and The Art Fund, keep 100% of Gift Aid added to donations.
New developments
DONATE recently introduced a self-service portal, allowing organisations to launch digital fundraising campaigns within a few hours.
Other developments in the coming months include a direct debit and repeat donation facility, and a new tool for peer-to-peer fundraising.
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.