Payroll giving consortium breaks even

Howard Lake | 27 September 2006 | News

Smile a Minute (SAM), a payroll giving consortium consisting of six charities and two other consortia, has broken even and covered all its start-up costs after launching in 2003.

From now on, Sightsavers, Mencap, Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity, NCH, MS Society and Carers UK, will be sharing a total of at least £30,000 a month in donations. SAM is managed on behalf of the charities by Bell Fundraising, and its members include two other consortia, Childlife and People for People.

All SAM’s donations are split eight ways. There are currently almost 10,000 donors signed up to the scheme and it generates £360,000 per year, and is confident the number of donors will grow.

SAM celebrated its success by encouraging more charities to develop or join payroll giving consortia, a message echoed by the Institute of Fundraising. Those charities who are not already involved in payroll giving often find it hard to enter the market because there are only a handful of Professional Fundraising Organisations, and they do not want to represent too many charities. Consortia therefore offer a viable alternative for charities to get involved in Payroll Giving and gain access to workplace giving.

Andrew Peel, Head of Organisational Giving at Sightsavers International, a founding member of SAM, said: “The success of Smile a Minute proves that the consortium approach is a viable way for charities of all sizes to raise money from individuals in the workplace. However, charities must be prepared to invest time and resources in payroll giving over the longer term to make it work for them.”

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.