The next generation of charity tech startups
Helen Packer | 22 December 2020 | News
Individuals and companies alike have risen to the challenges of the past year with resilience and creativity. And with charity at the forefront of many of our minds throughout the pandemic, we’ve seen people turning redundancies, furloughs and lockdowns into opportunities to put their skills to good use. These are some of the new technology companies that are are rethinking traditional giving and transforming the future of fundraising.
Felloh!
When the creators of Felloh! found themselves on furlough, they put their heads together to use their skills for good. Now their mission is to “redistribute £1bn of bad costs to good causes”. A self-described “payments platform for good”, Felloh! is helping charities, charitable causes and businesses cut the cost of payment processing and increase the amount of a donation that makes it to charity.
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Felloh! has developed a payment processing system that allows customers to make payments directly from their bank accounts using Open Banking. This means there are no processing fees, unlike with debit and credit card payments.
Nucha
With many charity shops unable to open their doors for the best part of nine months, Nucha is a new digital marketplace for good. Charity shops can list and sell products, while customers can browse their favourite charity shops on the app. Non-charitable businesses and individuals can also sell products on the condition that they donate part or all of the proceeds to a good cause.
On its website, Nucha says it is bringing “charities to the younger generations where they want them and the way they want to interact with them.”
Pledjar
This app is turning spare change into real change. Launched in June, Pledjar users can support their favourite charities by donating pennies from their everyday purchases. Pledjar describes itself as “the digital alternative to collection tins”. As the move towards becoming a completely cashless society has been accelerated by Covid-19, this could be a lifeline for charities. Pledjar currently works with charity partners including Save the Children, Samaritans and WWF and is open to registrations from new charities.
Now-u
Inspired by the acts of kindness they witnessed during the first UK lockdown, the founders of Now-u created the app to help people help others.
On its website, Now-u states: “We noticed that many people wanted to do something to help others during these difficult times but didn’t know what they could do, while at the same time, charities were doing amazing work and in desperate need of support.”
The app shares monthly campaigns with users to encourage them to take tangible actions, including signing petitions and volunteering.
FundUgive2
This unique company is putting a charitable spin on the mortgage market. FundUgive2 offers free advice to help clients re-mortgage and save money. The best part? When customers remortgage through them, the organisation donates 25% of the fees they receive from lenders to a charity of the customer’s choice.
FundUgive2 says:
“We all had vulnerable family members and realised we needed help from others to get through the impact of the devastating Covid 19 virus. After a lifetime in the financial services industry and using what we know and do best, the founders of fundUgive2 decided to offer their services for free and donate 25% of any fees from lenders to charity.”
Niceable
This crowdsourcing platform gives users the chance to win prizes including eco-retreats and Teslas. Users pay to enter the competitions on the site and Niceable donates this money to a range of charities. Niceable says it takes 16.5% of income to run the platform with the remaining 83.5% going to various charities. Its mission is to “raise $1 billion for charity and bring fairness to the world”.
MORE:
- Great British Tech Appeal opens to businesses (30 June 2020)
- Tech resources to help fundraisers amid the coronavirus outbreak (18 March 2020)
- Tech start up seeks to launch social media platform to do good (12 June 2019)
About Helen Packer
Helen Packer has a background in communications, digital marketing and branding, specialising in the not-for-profit sector. She is particularly interested in international development, human rights and foreign policy. Helen is currently completing an MA in International Journalism at City, University of London. Contact: [email protected].