New platforms offering lower or no fees for charities
Melanie May | 2 June 2020 | News
Here are three new platforms offering lower or no fees for charities.
Have you met your new digital payments network yet?
Hi, we're Banked! 👋 It's nice to meet you! https://t.co/TVKocFmihh pic.twitter.com/C01KBW4qM8
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— Banked : (@wearebanked) May 15, 2020
Payments start-up Banked offers 0.1% payment processing fees
Payments start-up Banked has launched, delivering real-time account to account payments without the need to share bank details and 0.1% payment processing fees.
Banked (https://banked.com/) is regulated by the FCA in both UK and Europe, and instead of giving their bank details, users generate a link, share it, and wait for payment.
Charities can join by embedding Banked’s API, and individuals can use the free Banked app to create payment links and start requesting money.
One charity using Banked is HEROES, which supports the NHS. On this occaision Banked is waiving all payment processing fees. This means that through not having to pay the standard 2.9% payment processing fee on all donations, it can save £29,000 on every £1million raised: enough to cover 9,000 FFP3 masks, 10,000 full face visors, 6,000 single use gowns and 1,450 gift vouchers for its ‘perk after work’ scheme.
Brad Goodall, Banked CEO, said:
“When we donate to our favourite charity, or support a friend or family member fundraising for a cause, we only think about the £10 we’re ‘giving to charity’ and rarely consider the percentage lost to card processing fees. On a small scale, it doesn’t seem like much, but when you consider that the UK donates £10 billion to charity every year, the value of donations lost is huge.”
“We want to revolutionise the payment system for charities and fundraising platforms by virtually eliminating processing fees, so that far more money can go to the actual causes.”
Introducing our new donation app, #DonateDirect, designed to raise funds for charities and crisis workers on the front lines of COVID-19. Help us to support amazing charities by donating and sharing with your network 💕 https://t.co/2H3mgZB5XJ
— TrueLayer (@TrueLayer) May 13, 2020
TrueLayer launches free charity donation platform using open banking
Financial API provider TrueLayer (https://donate.truelayer.com/) has launched a donation application that uses open banking to allow charities to receive 100% of all donations made, removing subscription and transaction charges.
Women’s Aid, FareShare, End Youth Homelessness, The Wonder Foundation and The Brokerage are among the charities to have signed up to Donate Direct so far, which is free to use for charities.
By using Payments Initiation, which enables donations to be made directly from online banking without the need for credit or debit cards, donations clear in minutes instead of days with the entire process underpinned by the bank’s security. Transaction fees are lowered by Payment Initiation and will then be completely covered by TrueLayer.
The idea for the platform came from TrueLayer’s Payments Product Lead George Davis, and it was then built by TrueLayer in under a week.
Shefali Roy, COO of TrueLayer, said:
“We hope this platform can provide some help to charities. They have been hit hard by the crisis just when they are needed the most. By cutting out transaction fees, we’re making sure 100% of donations go to good causes and by using our Payments API for payment initiation using bank to bank rails, donations are fully secure, and clearance is faster.
“We asked our team to come up with ways we can help people on the frontline of the crisis and have been thrilled with the response. They worked tirelessly to get Donate Direct up and running in only a few days. We’re also very happy to match up to £10,000 worth of donations made through Donate Direct.
Luke Wiechula, Corporate Partnerships Officer at FareShare, said:
“We are doing everything we can to continue to deliver food to vulnerable people during the crisis. Our service has never been more important, which is why we really welcome Donate Direct. By cutting out admin and transaction costs, it will enable all of the donations we receive to go directly to supporting the people who need it the most.”
Charities interested in using Donate Direct can contact he***@tr*******.com.
Introducing Givable – An effortless donation experience for ambitious charities. https://t.co/ofBai1HyhH pic.twitter.com/uELFlO1mOs
— Adaptable (@weareadaptable) May 18, 2020
Givable platform launches to help smaller charities encourage donations
Digital studio adaptable has launched a donations platform for small charities across the UK impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Charities wishing to use Givable (https://givable.co/) as its new donations platform can do so with a small set-up fee and no subscription fees for six months if signed up before the end of June 2020.
Givable can bolt onto any existing charity or voluntary organisation website and, powered by Stripe, can accept one off or recurring debit/credit card payments along with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Paypal.
The website features a four-step ‘funnel’ that guides donors through the giving process of the donation amount, donor details with address look-up, Gift Aid opt-in and payment details with multiple payment methods.
Givable also has a bespoke reporting dashboard for charities to monitor donations and the user interface can be styled to sit in line with any charity’s logo and brand by setting the colour palette, typography and tone of voice.
The adaptable team prototyped, designed, built and tested Givable during five weeks of remote working during lockdown.
Founder Dan Cooper said:
“As a studio, the last few weeks have got us thinking how we could help our existing clients in the charity and voluntary sectors, along with helping other charities at a national level.
“With the economy currently taking a hit due to Covid-19 we wanted to create a tool for charities both small and large to help them provide a best in class giving experience to help encourage donors to give now in these uncertain times more than ever.”
And one more idea:
Online competition platform Raffall
Online competition platform Raffall says it has seen a 300% increase in its services during the pandemic.
Raffall (https://raffall.com/) is aimed at individuals, businesses, charities, celebrities and influencers who are looking to monetise their existing audiences in a fun and engaging way. It enables users to host raffles while keeping all of the revenue generated from ticket sales. Hosts specify the price per ticket and the number of tickets issued so that the odds for winning each raffle are fixed, enabling users to calculate their chances of winning before entering.
The platform functions as a trusted third party similar to an escrow account; hosts are unable to access ticket revenue until the competition winner confirms receipt of their prize. Hosts have no control or influence over winner selection, with winners being generated completely at random. The platform also allows hosts and entrants to view how many tickets have been sold at any time.
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.