UK Fundraising is eight years old today
Howard Lake | 30 November 2002 | News
Today is this site’s eighth birthday. The site’s original single page was published on the Web on 30 November 1994.
Today UK Fundraising celebrates its eighth birthday. We’ve been publishing news, information and advice for fundraisers, including unparalled coverage of Internet fundraising, since November 1994. We’ve done so at no charge to our site’s users, yet we continue to make a profit. If we’ve helped you and your charity improve your fundraising in some way then we have achieved some of what we set out to do.
Our guiding aim from the beginning has been to use the Internet to spread best practice in fundraising, to link fundraisers with other fundraisers, and of course to demonstrate how the Internet can assist fundraisers in a remarkable number of ways. At the same time, we’ve worked to serve the broader fundraising industry, linking fundraisers with appropriate suppliers and advisers.
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Of course, the site now looks quite different from that first page we created eight years ago. Indeed, it now runs on a database-driven solution, has around 5,000 pages (if you counted all our database records), and a few months ago we started introducing personalised e-mail services for site users.
But many things haven’t changed – we remain independent and self-funded. In fact, in these days of £150,000 grants for creating online knowledgebases such as AskNCVO, it’s worth remembering that in 1994 there were no grants for initiatives such as UK Fundraising. No trust, government department, umbrella body, or industry supplier was interested in funding online infrastructure for the voluntary sector. For that reason, we set ourselves up as a limited company, invested our own money in it, and knew that we would have to make a profit to stay in business. We then set ourselves the challenge of giving away our information at no charge and still making a profit – a true testament to our belief that the Internet was a significant revenue tool for organisations of all kinds.
One other thing that hasn’t changed in eight years is the contributions of our readers: fundraisers from around the world send us their success stories, thoughts and ideas. We are truly delighted to see the Internet being used by fundraisers in so many creative and successful ways. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the site and given us their support.
You might have guessed that we’re still excited by what we do, and we have plenty of ideas for new and better services for fundraisers. Feel free to continue making your suggestions though.
We raised a glass earlier today to UK Fundraising’s success. Let us take this opportunity to wish you all the very best in your fundraising to help your organisation make a difference.
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.