AI startup secures grant to help it boost charities’ fundraising, & more sector supplier news
Melanie May | 10 April 2024 | News
Four snippets of news from the charity supplier world, from a new online fundraising platform, to an AI startup that aims to boost fundraising for charities of all sizes.
BuytoGive launches online fundraising platform
BuytoGive.co.uk has announced the launch of a fundraising platform that aims to combine the convenience of an online marketplace with philanthropy. The platform fully launched from 9 April 2024, and pre-launch had achieved over 300 verified sellers with over 176,000 products and over 200 charities. It is now open for more registrations.
Over 2000 products a day are being added to the platform from verified sellers with online sales experience on other established marketplaces. They offer the same price and service whilst providing the opportunity for donations from the sales to go to charities and other good causes.
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BuytoGive charges sellers a commission for the sales generated and from that they donate 35% to the chosen cause. It doesn’t charge for direct donations or Gift Aid, except from a card transaction fee of 1% and £0.20p.
A marketing toolkit is available, including assets such as videos, social media images, printable leaflets, and posters. Additionally, the platform offers free PR support and assists charities in connecting with businesses for further backing through custom fundraising pages and an incorporated, free-to-use Payroll Giving partner.
Kevin Turner, the founder of BuytoGive, said:
“It’s taken a long time to get BuytoGive ready to launch. We had a test site before COVID, but we were inundated with charities and sellers. In short, the platform was not robust enough, and we needed to rebuild from scratch. A platform this size takes a lot of development, pain, and tears, but we are finally here, ready to start! Our goal is simple, to help as many charities and good causes to raise funds without charging them to do so.”
AI startup secures Innovate UK grant to help it boost charities’ fundraising
Pravi.ai has received a £350,000 Smart Grant from Innovate UK, the UK’s innovation agency.
Pravi.ai aims to democratise AI-driven insights by using advanced AI and machine learning to help charities and non-profit organisations in the UK find and convert new donors, pooling behavioural data and preferences from a range of charities to create a dataset that enables charities without extensive donor databases of their own to extract meaningful insights.
The company is the vision of Robyn Greaves and Jeremy Healsmith, two entrepreneurs who, after witnessing the AI revolution in large corporations, were inspired to bridge the technological gap for smaller, purpose-driven organisations. The two have partnered with Technical Lead, Dr Sathish Sankarpandi, and are collaborating with AI agency Orbital Global.
Robyn Greaves, Co-Founder of Pravi.ai, said:
“We believe that there is a supporter for every cause, and a cause for every supporter – Pravi.ai helps them find each other.”
Charities are invited to join pravi.ai, which will initially support UK charities, with ambitions to go global and assist nonprofits worldwide.
goDonate & The Giving Block join forces to offer cryptocurrency donation & conversion service
Digital fundraising platform goDonate has announced a partnership with The Giving Block to enable charities to accept gifts in cryptocurrency from supporters.
Charities using the partners’ integrated services will now be able to display crypto as a giving option directly in their online donation form through goDonate. When a crypto donation is made, the technology instantly and automatically converts it to cash. This automatic conversion option can also be switched off for charities that want to hold the crypto to monitor its value before eventually choosing to sell.
goDonate is offering the service to existing goDonate Plus clients free of charge and without any additional annual fees. Along with access to this integration, charities will also receive access to fundraising communication strategies for crypto users and tips on how to target new cryptocurrency donors.
Vicky Reeves, Managing Director of goDonate, said:
“This is a potentially huge and therefore vital income stream for charities, regardless of their size and existing donation channels. But it’s important to realise that if your organisation doesn’t give cryptocurrency users the ability to donate with it, they’re likely to give to another charity that does.”
GoodPAYE announces membership with the Association of Payroll Giving Organisations (APGO)
The partnership enables GoodPAYE to actively participate in industry discussions, contribute insights, and advocate for the widespread adoption of the workplace giving scheme.
GoodPAYE says it is the sole APGO Member to provide a fully integrated one-stop shop for payroll giving, which eliminates the need to manage two separate PFO and PGA contracts for promotion and charity payments. This is achieved through its integration with PayCaptain.org, which offers a cloud payroll solution and is also joining the APGO.
Tony Charalambides, CEO of GoodPAYE, said:
“GoodPAYE holds great respect for the APGO and its efforts to elevate payroll giving as a transformative mechanism within the charitable sector. We are thrilled to join the APGO membership and play our part in making Payroll Giving accessible to every UK employee.”
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.