The Giving Room launches to turn video meetings into fundraising opportunities
Melanie May | 14 May 2020 | News
People holding meetings and conferences on video platforms now have the opportunity to raise money for charities at the same time using QR codes, through new non-profit initiative The Giving Room.
The Giving Room has launched to provide dedicated donation QR Codes and weblinks to charities and business video conference users wishing to support those charities.
It is a joint venture from contactless donation service provider Purple Pot, and Thyngs, which is providing the charity donation links and QR codes for the project, with distribution of funds to charities provided by the Charities Trust.
The launch is part of an appeal to raise £200,000 over the summer for NHS charities, people affected by Covid-19 and other charities. Those currently supported by The Giving Room include Samaritans, Demelza, NABS and British Skin Foundation.
Users choose a charity to support and can download a cartoon virtual background with a QR code supporting that charity to use in their virtual meeting as their background. The meeting participants then see this background and can scan the QR code with a smartphone camera to trigger a donation. Alternatively, they can copy and paste a weblink into a chat box or invitation for their online meeting.
Charities currently supported include the UCHL appeal and the National Emergencies Trust, as well as Samaritans, Mind, Shelter and St Elizabeth’s Hospice.
Martin Loat, Founder of Purple Pot and backer of The Giving Room, said:
“With millions of business people now using Zoom, Teams and other online video platforms every day, we think we’ve found a new source of vital funding for charities. So we’ve made it easy for them to ask for and make small charitable donations during these meetings. QR codes are so easy scan on your desktop or laptop, if you have a smartphone camera, and they work well as background shots on video calls.
“All we are asking is for people to give £5 or £10 to a charity they see pop up in a Zoom. It’s really just the price a couple of coffees or drinks that they would buy if they were having a face to face meeting before lockdown happened.”
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About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.