JustGiving
JustGiving is a global online social platform for giving.[3] The firm's headquarters are located in Bankside, London, England.
| JustGiving | |
| Company type | Limited company |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founder | Dame Zarine Kharas (CEO)[1] Anne-Marie Huby (managing director) |
| Headquarters | Bankside, London, England , UK |
| Revenue | £14m (2011)[2] |
| £1.5m (2011)[2] | |
Number of employees | 160 |
| Website | justgiving |
History edit
In 2000, Zarine Kharas and Anne-Marie Huby founded JustGiving (initially clickforaction.com), a company to provide online tools and processing services to enable the collection of charitable donations.[2]
2006 was the firm's first profitable year.[4] In June 2011, the firm claimed that it had provided its service for more than 9,000 UK registered charities and 1.9 million fundraising pages for users, collecting ore than £770 million since launch.[5] The cumulative total passed £1 billion in March 2012.[6] The cumulative total passed £4 billion in June 2016.[7]
Fees edit
JustGiving charged a 5% fee on all donations to cover the cost of running the business until March 2019, when the fee was made voluntary.[8][9] In 2008, The Guardian reported Kharas as acknowledging that "the commission charged by justgiving.com is controversial".[4]
Notable fundraisers edit
In January 2010, Charlie Simpson, aged seven, raised more than £210,000 (£145,000 in the first 48 hours) via his JustGiving page for the 2010 Haiti earthquake relief programme by UNICEF.[10]
In March 2014, Christian Smith was killed in a crash with a car during a 24-hour charity bike ride for Mind. Donations via his JustGiving page rose to more than £68,000 after his death was covered in the media.[11]
In April 2014, Stephen Sutton raised more than £4.5 million for the Teenage Cancer Trust, after help from celebrity backers including Jason Manford.[citation needed]
In April 2020, Captain Sir Tom Moore, by the end of a fundraising walk, had raised £32,796,155 (the most ever raised on the JustGiving platform) by completing one-hundred, 25 metres (82 feet) laps of his garden in Bedfordshire to raise funds for the UK National Health Service (NHS), to aid the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, and to mark his 100th birthday on 30 April 2020. The initial £1,000 goal was realised on 10 April and the target was increased to £100,000 and then to £500,000 as more people around the world donated. On completion, Moore said he would not stop and aimed to do a second hundred laps.[12][13]
Reception edit
In 2002, JustGiving won the New Media Awards Grand Prix award and also Best Use of the Web award.[14][15][failed verification]
In 2004, JustGiving was recognised in the 2004 Charity Times annual Awards in their Fundraising & IT Services category. Charity Times said the company had "transformed the face of donating in the UK".[16]
Corporate affairs edit
Ownership edit
JustGiving was acquired by U.S.-based Blackbaud, Inc. for £95 million in October 2017.[17]
Blackbaud were criticised in the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting for its links with the National Rifle Association of America.[18]
International expansion and U.S. subsidiary sale edit
In 2003, JustGiving launched a subsidiary in the United States, changing its name to FirstGiving in 2005. FirstGiving is located in Somerville, Massachusetts.[19] In 2010, The New York Times reported that FirstGiving.com was "among the best known" online fund-raising sites.[20] In August 2012, FirstGiving was acquired by FrontStream Holdings, LLC.[21]
Finances edit
In February 2017, JustGiving was reported to be taking more than £20 million from fundraisers while paying staff up to £200,000. It takes a cut from most donations and while some of the money is used for maintenance, product development and charity training, accounts show that more than £10 million was spent on staff costs in 2016. This includes an average salary of more than £60,000 for some directors, sales and administration workers, with the head of the firm having earned approximately £198,000. A charity chief executive[who?] had accused JustGiving of being greedy, saying the fees were "hard to stomach" and fundraisers had expressed their anger, labelling the site "JustTaking".[22]
References edit
- ^ Whittle, Sally (30 May 2002). "Is it a girl thing?". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
- ^ a b c Smithers, Rebecca (6 April 2011). "Charitable giving: BT launches website where 100% of donations go to charity". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
- ^ Walker, Chris (2 December 2013). "JustGiving online charity platform arrives in Australia to make donating easier". Daily Telegraph. Australia. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
- ^ a b Inman, Phillip (24 March 2008). "Charities go online to stay in the running and reach the next generation of givers – JustGiving.com has dealt with more than £250m in donations since 2001". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
- ^ . JustGiving. Archived from the original on 30 June 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2011.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ . Community pages. JustGiving. 28 March 2012. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
- ^ "JustGiving total raised passes £4 billion". UKFundraising. 15 June 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
- ^ Petter, Olivia (26 March 2019). "JustGiving drops 5% platform fee so more money goes to good causes". The Independent.
- ^ "How our fee works – and what we do for it". JustGiving. 23 July 2014.
- ^ "London boy raises £145k for Haiti quake aid by cycling". BBC News. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
- ^ "Family of Mind charity cyclist Christian Smith 'moved beyond belief'". BBC News. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
- ^ "Army veteran, 99, raises £4m for 'humbled' NHS". BBC News. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
- ^ Huddleston, Gemma. "Captain Tom Moore's 100th Birthday Walk for the NHS". JustGiving. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
- ^ . NMA Efficiency Awards 2006. New Media Age. Archived from the original on 23 December 2005. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
... early Grand Prix winners including ... JustGiving in 2002
- ^ "Home". Nmaawards.co.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
- ^ . Charitytimes.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ^ Ricketts, Andy (4 October 2017). "Blackbaud completes its £95m takeover of JustGiving". ThirdSector. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
- ^ May, Melanie (9 June 2022). "Blackbaud faces backlash for working with NRA". UK Fundraising. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
- ^ "Firstgiving – $50 Million Raised for Charity and Counting". 12 September 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
- ^ Wallace, Amy (5 September 2010). "Online Giving Meets Social Networking". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- ^ "FirstGiving Acquisition By FrontStream Expands Integrated Fundraising Options". FrontStream. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2023.
- ^ Willgress, Lydia (7 February 2017). "JustGiving accused of taking £20m from donations while paying staff up to £200,000". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
External links edit
- Official website
- "JustGiving". Projects. Peldon Rose Group.