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Hey all, I thought it was about time to write a bit about something we’re very interested in at Search2Give at the moment – the online donation platforms. They’re great, because they handle all the gift aid reclamation involved in donations, allowing charities to focus their time on doing their job. It also makes it a lot easier for anyone to give to charity.

You’ve probably all heard of JustGiving, the main online donation site, and the slightly less well known Bmycharity. Well now, there’s a new kid on the block – and Virgin Money Giving, and they’re going for very different and strong approaches to revolutionise online fundraising. So, it only makes sense to look at them all and find out which one is the best:


JustGiving

JustGiving has been the main online donation platform for charities for a number of years, and so far £546 million has been donated through them. You’ve got to hand it to them – they could have done worse. They’re brilliant at what they do – their site is really user-friendly, and they handle all the gift aid reclamation well. There’s one downside – these guys are a for-profit company.

Now, JustGiving charge a fee on all donations of 5%, and then credit card fees on top of that. So, potentially up to about 7% could be taken in donation fees. Lets do the maths: 5% of £546m is just over £27m in donation fees. Seems like a lot, but this has generally been accepted as an acceptable price to pay considering the great service they offer.


Virgin Money Giving

Virgin Money Giving officially launched a couple of months ago and are now in the process of registering loads of charities to be supported with them. The are a non-profit company charging a small fee on donations, (just like JustGiving) but only 2%. (As opposed to 5%)

It is also worth noting that they are part of the overall Virgin Group, who have a reputation of doing well in almost every business sector they enter into.

This all sounds great, but is that enough? Surely a few percent is not enough to get everyone to change to what they’re used to?

Well actually it is, for two simple reasons:

1. Virgin are the official sponsor for the London Marathon 2010, the biggest charity fundraiser event in the UK.
2. On the London Marathon page for this year, fundraisers are recommended to use Virgin Money Giving.



Bmycharity:

Bmycharity have been around for a while, and over £25 million has been given to charity through them. They have recently taken a very bold move – they have scrapped ALL donation fees. That’s right – they charge NOTHING on donations. All money goes straight to the charities.

All fees associated with running the company are now funded by selected sponsors and advertisers on their site.

In principle this sounds absolutely amazing. The real question is – can Bmycharity make enough money from advertising to cover all their costs? If they can, then these guys could be huge.


Which is best?

Before we get to this point it is worth noting one thing – for a charity to sign up on any of these sites they have to pay a registration fee of about £100. This could limit charities signing up to different sites.

Right now, JustGiving are saying that charities will continue to use them as their preffered donation platform because of their great service. If Virgin Money Giving and Bmycharity can match this service, then JustGiving are in trouble. As things are now, it’s only a matter of time before the number of donations through JustGiving decrease. They’ll have to change their business model – simple as that.

The real question is, can Bmycharity cover it’s costs? If it can, they should do very well. If not, then Virgin Money Giving seems a good way forward at this stage. It’ll be very interesting to see how this plays out.


Should JustGiving be afraid?