Virgin Money Giving raises £300m in its first five years
Howard Lake | 7 January 2015 | News
Not-for-profit online fundraising service Virgin Money Giving has been used to raise more than £300 million including Gift Aid since it was founded in 2009. This income has been received by 9,000 good causes.
Since the service prides itself on its not-for-profit status – Virgin Money pays for its operating costs – the company points out that as a result it has passed on an additional £10 million in donations compared to what the service’s “closest competitor” would have done on an equal sum of money.
Gift Aid reclaim
During its first five years, Gift Aid has been claimed on 86% of all donations processed.
Highlights of 2014
During 2014 service improvement launched included a smartphone app for Android and iOS, the introduction of an API, and a new ‘Campaigns’ functionality which enables charities to bring together multiple supporters under one cause, event or activity.
During the year, Sir Richard Branson joined runners and fundraisers at Tower Bridge to celebrate that in the five years since Virgin Money became title sponsor of the Virgin Money London Marathon, fundraisers had raised more than £250 million for charities in five years, including funds raised through Virgin Money Giving.
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5for5 in 2015
This year, to mark its fifth anniversary, Virgin Money Giving is encouraging its supporters to join in with its ‘5for5’ during the year. This involves using the service to take on five personal challenges to raise more money for charity.
Virgin Money Giving’s Executive Director Jo Barnett explained: “We are inviting members of the public to take on five charity challenges each, to help us and our charity partners mark this anniversary and raise even more funds for good causes. Whether that’s taking on small feats to build up to a big event, like the Virgin Money London Marathon, or five one-off fundraising events, Virgin Money Giving’s pages can be personalised to suit”.
Growth in income raised by Virgin Money Giving
In its first full year in 2010 Virgin Money giving raised over £21m, having raised £10m in its first six months.
It reached its first £100 million in March 2012.
In 2012 it boosted the total raised by 26% to £67.4m.
It passed the £250m mark in June 2014.
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.