# Virgin Money Giving to close in November - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/08/26/virgin-money-giving-to-close-in-november/ - Published: 2021-08-26T11:11:29+01:00 - Author: Howard Lake **Fundraising website Virgin Money Giving is to close on 30 November 2021. ** The decision, announced by Virgin Money this morning, follows the final London Marathon with Virgin Money as its sponsor in October. The date had been moved again from April due to the pandemic. Virgin Money Giving was established in 2009, in parallel with Virgin Money’s sponsorship of the London Marathon. ## Advertisement It was promoted as a not-for-profit entity that would direct a larger proportion of donors’ gifts to charities. Fees charged were intended to cover the organisation’s operating costs. In today’s announcement Virgin Money states that the site was set up “at a time when the online fundraising market was dominated by a very small number of providers, with high costs for charities and donors”. Since 2009 Virgin Money Giving has helped 20,000 charities and “over a million fundraisers” raise more than £900 million online. ## Why is Virgin Money Giving closing? [Sky News reports](https://news.sky.com/story/virgin-money-runs-into-row-over-closure-of-charitable-arm-12390934) that the announcement was originally due to be made next week. Virgin Money undertook a strategic review of Virgin Money Giving ahead of the bank’s final sponsorship of the London Marathon next month. The company stated that: “Given the significant investment required in the service for it to remain competitive, and without the brand exposure provided by the London Marathon, Virgin Money has decided to wind down the platform after the 2021 London Marathon in October.” ## What can charities expect from Virgin Money Giving before it closes? Virgin Money Giving will continue to offer “a full service for charities and fundraisers until the service closes for donations on 30 November”. It has also said that it“ will support charities to find alternative platforms where needed”, although it notes that many charities registered on Virgin Money Giving are already registered with alternative fundraising platforms. Virgin Money Giving says that it is contacting all charities registered with the service, fundraisers with live pages and regular donors with details of the changes. Helen Page, Chief Brand Officer at Virgin Money, said: > “Virgin Money Giving was created to support our sponsorship of the London Marathon > and disrupt the online charity giving market. The not-for-profit service has helped > millions of fundraisers and donors raise over £900 million for good causes and > has changed the sector for the better. > “Following the end of our sponsorship of the London Marathon, it is the right > time to bring the service to a close and help our charity partners to move to > an alternative and sustainable giving platform.” Virgin Money says that the closure of Virgin Money Giving will result in “a reduction of up to 26 staff roles”. It adds that staff affected “will be supported through Virgin Money’s redeployment process, with the aim of securing other internal opportunities and minimising compulsory redundancies wherever possible”. https://twitter.com/VMGiving/status/1430839331086913536 https://twitter.com/VMGiving/status/1430839343460098054 ## Reactions to the closure announcement Several other fundraising platforms issued statements acknowledging what Virgin Money Giving had achieved. Founder and CEO of fundraising, donations and events registration platform **Enthuse** Chester Mojay-Sinclare said of VMG’s closure announcement: > “It’s always a shame to see businesses leave the sector, especially for the company’s > customers and staff in this challenging period – a time when the sector needs > more competition and independent players to drive innovation. Household brands > and multinationals have helped support the early adoption of digital fundraising > in our sector, but as technology has developed, alternative approaches have emerged > that can help drive the next generation of digital fundraising.” Keith Williams, COO/CMO of **Funraisin**, said: > “Virgin Money Giving and their teams have been instrumental in supporting our > sector in so many ways through technology, thought leadership, policies and raising > hundreds of millions of pounds for great causes that need vital funds. I am truly > sad to see a platform that supports 1000’s of great charities leave the market, > especially now; when charities need solutions more than ever, rather than more > challenges. > “Like we did 18 months ago with our COVID support package, we will be putting > together a well thought out short and long-term support package for charities > most affected and plan to provide the details over the next coming days.” > We wouldn’t be who we are today without a bit of friendly competition. We’ve always > enjoyed working with the @VMGiving team, so we’re sad to hear that after 12 years, > they’re closing their doors. From us, and the thousands of charities and people > you’ve helped – thank you. 💜 > — JustGiving (@JustGiving) [August 27, 2021](https://twitter.com/JustGiving/status/1431289175035240454?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Others commenting on the closure suggested reasons for it, including plenty of criticism of VMG’s focus on its business model. Some of these comments might be pertinent to those charities who are already asking online about a suitable free or low-cost alternative platform to switch to. > Shame on [@Virgin](https://twitter.com/Virgin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) for closing > Virgin Money Giving with no regard for small charities like ours We will lose > donors + face hours of extra work [@Virgin](https://twitter.com/Virgin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > do you care about the disabled children in Sierra Leone you've hurt with this > decision?[@Virgin](https://twitter.com/Virgin?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) – a brand we > can never trust again > — Kevin Curley (@kevincurley) [August 27, 2021](https://twitter.com/kevincurley/status/1431193972194611201?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > BIG NEWS in the world of event / peer-to-peer fundraising with Virgin Money Giving > set to close in November > This continues the trend of mass disruption in the online > giving space with Facebook continuing to eat into peer-to-peer with the growth > of the 'Facebook Challenge' model. [https://t.co/gegMaY78ko](https://t.co/gegMaY78ko) > — Matt Smith (@InnovationMatt) [August 26, 2021](https://twitter.com/InnovationMatt/status/1430837833279983624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > Virgin Money Giving is shutting it's charity donation processing service down, > despite there being an uplift added for processing on each payment. > Last operational > donations date 30/11/21Guess banking & the boss's space adventures leave little > room for earthly altruism. 😕 > — David Thomas (@nevereverDave) [August 27, 2021](https://twitter.com/nevereverDave/status/1431263577340588041?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > If you think paid platforms are expensive wait until you see how much free ones > cost you.[https://t.co/4hDX5yGinz](https://t.co/4hDX5yGinz) > — Simon Scriver (@ToastFundraiser) [August 26, 2021](https://twitter.com/ToastFundraiser/status/1430886572157652992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > Tl;dr – if the ultimate goal of the crowdfunding/fundraising site you use is not > to maximise the amount of funds you raise, then switch to one that does. Misaligned > goals lead to outcomes like this, especially in what is actually a very low margin > business model. > — Jonathan Waddingham (@jon_bedford) [August 26, 2021](https://twitter.com/jon_bedford/status/1430906766221463570?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) ## What to do next? Charities looking for advice on how to migrate from Virgin Money Giving are being offered some suggestions by other rival platforms. In addition Fundraising Everywhere are offering a free online panel event: > 🚨Virgin Money Giving closes on November 30th > Join our free panel webinar on Thursday, > Sept 2nd to hear from donation platform and DD experts on what you need to do > next.[https://t.co/tsXE0qH9ko](https://t.co/tsXE0qH9ko)Panellists announced shortly.* > FREE & Subtitled*[#VirginMoneyGiving](https://twitter.com/hashtag/VirginMoneyGiving?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) > [#VMG](https://twitter.com/hashtag/VMG?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) [pic.twitter.com/kjgPcqnkx7](https://t.co/kjgPcqnkx7) > — Fundraising Everywhere (@FundEverywhere) [August 26, 2021](https://twitter.com/FundEverywhere/status/1430900693557125136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Charity Digital is putting together a podcast on the topic: > Hey both. We are putting together a podcast on what the Virgin Money Giving closure > means for the future of fundraising platforms. We'd love to have you on to talk > about the implications. Please drop us a message if you are interested and we > can give you more details. 😇 Thanks! > — Charity Digital (@CharityDigiOrg) [August 27, 2021](https://twitter.com/CharityDigiOrg/status/1431282543874162695?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) Brad French offered some advice based on his experience with fundraising platforms: > A few overnight thoughts on Virgin Money Giving’s closure, and what charities > affected can do next. > For transparency I do work for a fundraising platform, but > speaking personally here. > — Brad French (@BradleyFrench_) [August 27, 2021](https://twitter.com/BradleyFrench_/status/1431136576202027009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) * **[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)** * **[Over £250m raised by Virgin Money Giving](https://fundraising.co.uk/2014/06/19/250m-raised-using-virgin-money-giving/)( 19 June 2014) ## WATCH: Interview with Virgin Money Giving’s founding MD UK Fundraising’s Howard Lake spoke with Jo Barnett in May 2009 not long after it launched. ## Comments ### By: HowardLake - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/08/26/virgin-money-giving-to-close-in-november/#comment-3980 - Published: 2021-08-26T12:32:34+01:00 The team at Fundraising Everywhere have very quickly responded to this news with the offer of a free event to help guide charities through moving on from Virgin Money Giving: [https://twitter.com/FundEverywhere/status/1430900693557125136](https://twitter.com/FundEverywhere/status/1430900693557125136) ### By: Jen Daplyn - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/08/26/virgin-money-giving-to-close-in-november/#comment-3981 - Published: 2021-08-27T05:47:58+01:00 Having been through this with MyDonate & Wonderful, I decided to make my own fundraising platform comparison freely available to help other charities & save reinventing the wheel… [https://fundraising.rocksalt.partners/](https://fundraising.rocksalt.partners/) ### By: HowardLake - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/08/26/virgin-money-giving-to-close-in-november/#comment-3983 - Published: 2021-08-31T10:21:14+01:00 Thanks for sharing this Jen. ### By: HowardLake - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/08/26/virgin-money-giving-to-close-in-november/#comment-3984 - Published: 2021-08-31T10:22:41+01:00 Charity Digital has published a list of online giving platforms to explore, updated on 27 July 2021: [https://charitydigital.org.uk/topics/the-best-online-fundraising-platforms-for-charities-5324](https://charitydigital.org.uk/topics/the-best-online-fundraising-platforms-for-charities-5324) ### By: HowardLake - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/08/26/virgin-money-giving-to-close-in-november/#comment-3985 - Published: 2021-08-31T10:42:44+01:00 More good thoughts and resources from David Burgess, plus contributions from Jon Waddingham in the thread at [https://twitter.com/DavidBurgessFR/status/1432651090227572738](https://twitter.com/DavidBurgessFR/status/1432651090227572738) ### By: HowardLake - Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2021/08/26/virgin-money-giving-to-close-in-november/#comment-3997 - Published: 2021-09-15T05:52:51+01:00 More advice for charities on how to overcome this difficulty from Donorfy.com: [https://donorfy.com/blog/life-after-virgin-money-giving](https://donorfy.com/blog/life-after-virgin-money-giving)