Billable Hour invites people to donate what they earn in an hour
Howard Lake | 30 September 2021 | News
The fifth annual Billable Hour campaign has got underway, inviting professionals to donate a sum equivalent to a single billable hour of their time.
The simple and effective giving campaign was the idea of employment and sports law QC Seán Jones.
In September 2015 he and legal sector colleagues were affected by the consequences of the refugee crisis, including the sight of children washed ashore. A small group set up a donation page, and started the campaign by donating what they would earn in one billable hour. They chose to fundraise for Save the Children.
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A few weeks after the campaign had begun, over £200,000 had been raised by lawyers, accountants, economists, teachers and children. In fact lots of people joined in, and donated not just billable hours, but book royalties and the proceeds of lectures and conker sales. Parallel appeals were set up in Australia, Germany and Canada.
Billable Hour continues to reach beyond lawyers and is open to anyone who wishes to donate what they earn in an hour. It still focuses on supporting children in some of the toughest circumstances. Now it supports work on reaching children in the UK and overseas who are affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
At its heart is a sense of standing up for justice for children.
Billable Hour V
This year’s campaign target was originally set at £7,500. It is already at £17,590 on JustGiving, 234% over target, with donations from 111 individuals.
The campaign has other ways in which people can donate, including:
- The Billable Hour Cookbook
- T-shirts, with one design “kindly approved by” Baroness Hale JSC and a range produced with the kind permission of the Secret Barrister.
The organisers also invite supporters to put on fundraising events for the campaign.
SEE ALSO: Lady Hale spider brooch t-shirt raises thousands for Shelter (25 September 2019)
Support from The Legal 500
The campaign has attracted support from The Legal 500, which publishes directories of law firms and lawyers. But these are not simply lists: they are rankings based on contact with 250,000 in-house peers globally, and other independent analysis.
Not surprisingly lawyers who are featured in The Legal 500 like to share the news, and their ‘humblebrags’ fill the social media feeds of lawyers and clients in the days following publication.
Billable Hour came up with the idea of selling imaginary “licences” to humblebrag, so lawyers post to social media and make a donation. This idea alone has raised “tens of thousands of pounds for Save the Children” in past campaigns.
More single hour fundraising campaigns
- Donate one hour celebrate Diamond Jubilee urges campaign (22 May 2012)
- How donating one hour’s salary can make a difference (27 August 2003)
- The final hour (3 January 1999)
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.