easyfundraising – an always-on source of unrestricted funding
Melanie May | 9 September 2024 | Blogs
Unrestricted funding is something almost every charity could use more of, but it’s not always easy to find. easyfundraising offers a solution.
Founded in 2005 by Ian Woodroffe – who recently received an OBE for services to charity – it’s the UK’s biggest charity shopping site. To date, its community of over 2 million supporters has raised more than £50 million for good causes.
It’s achieved this through partnerships with over 8,000 brands, including John Lewis Partnership, Booking.com, Tesco, M&S, Argos, and eBay. Each of these pays a commission when someone starts their shop through the easyfundraising site, which then becomes a donation. Shoppers get to choose where that goes, providing a valuable free way for them to support the good causes they love, for whom there’s also no cost.
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Supporting community-based organisations of all shapes and sizes
“The majority of our causes are community-based organisations – small to medium sized charities, community groups, social enterprises, and CICs – those for whom that little bit of extra funding is so useful, although we also work with lots of large charities,” says Becky Coleman, easyfundraising’s Partnerships Manager.
“It’s a completely free platform open to any good cause that needs to raise funds, providing an ongoing form of unrestricted funding that they can spend on anything they want. It’s also not about asking people to shop more or spend more, it’s just about saying: if you were already going to buy something online, you can now raise a donation at the same time, and it won’t cost you anything extra.”
And with over 80% of the UK population now shopping online, it’s likely that every good cause will have supporters, volunteers, donors, and trustees among them. To get started, all a cause has to do is register, and then let people know about this additional way to support them.
Working with community partners
Getting the word out about how easyfundraising can help good causes falls under Becky’s remit, and to do this she partners with community infrastructure organisations – the CVSs and the Community Actions. As Becky puts it: “the organisations that exist purely to support all the other good causes in the area.”
This involves activity like face-to-face meet the funder events and supplying CVSs with information to put in their newsletters.
“I work with about 120 or so different infrastructure organisations around the UK,” she explains. “A CVS might run a day-long event with lots of different funders such as the National Lottery Community Fund and Groundwork, and I’ll be there as well so groups can come to me and find out how easyfundraising works, how they can use it, and make the most of it.
“We also work with other membership organisations in the sector such as Men’s Sheds Association to offer support to the 800 or so Men’s Sheds around the country, and charities that have a lot of branches, like Citizens Advice, Cats Protection and Home-Start, all of whom might need a bit of extra funding.”
A win-win way to raise funds
Using easyfundraising then is win-win all round: a free and simple way of raising hassle-free donations that can be spent wherever needed, and that also doesn’t cost the supporter anything.
Good causes interested in registering on easyfundraising site can do so here, says Becky, adding: “It’s a lovely message to share with supporters – particularly when times are tough. And once it’s set up, it just ticks along in the background as an always-on evergreen source of funding, delivering income straight into your bank account four times a year!”
Nominate your Community Champion
This September too, easyfundraising is offering another chance for good causes to gain some extra funds, through its Community Champion campaign.
“We’re simply asking people to nominate a community champion, and from that list we’ll pick three who will each win £250 to spend on whatever they like at one of our retailers, along with another £250 for a good cause that they want to support,” explains Becky. “It’s a nice way to get people thinking about the champions within their own communities and organisations, and to reward them and a good cause.”
Nominating someone is quick and easy – just a few words saying who they nominate, and why, before the end of the month. More on this here.
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.