| Type | Ltd |
|---|---|
| Industry | New Media |
| Founded | London (2000) |
| Headquarters | Paddington, London, England |
| Website | www.justgiving.com |
JustGiving is a private for-profit company formed in 2000 for the administration of charitable donations. The company's website provides online fundraising tools to enable the electronic collection of donations.
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JustGiving provides its service for more than 9,000 UK-registered charities and 1.9 million fundraising pages for users, collecting over £700 million.[1] The administrative function includes the automatic reclaiming of Gift Aid on all donations from UK taxpayers. JustGiving's stated goal is to 'allow ordinary people to raise extra ordinary amounts of money'.
More than £700 million has been raised for over 9,000 member charities on JustGiving since its launch.[2] Charity Times claimed the company had “transformed the face of donating in the UK”.[3]
JustGiving is led by founder and CEO Zarine Kharas and MD Anne-Marie Huby, from headquarters in Paddington, London.
High-profile JustGiving pages include that of seven year old Charlie Simpson who raised over £143,000 in 48 hours via his JustGiving page for the 2010 Haiti earthquake relief programme by UNICEF.[4] Of this, 5% (£7150) was kept by JustGiving.
JustGiving has received public criticism for using the business model of a private for-profit company, including in their own internet forums.[5][6] Justgiving deducts "5%" from every charitable donation as a fee to cover the cost of running the business.[7] As a for-profit organisation this fee may be used just as any income may be used within a company, and this may include distribution by way of dividends to shareholders in the company. Hence it may be argued that individuals are personally profiting from charitable donations. The JustGiving fee does not include card processing fees, which are deducted additionally. 85% of donations through the site are eligible for Gift Aid tax relief and the fees are deducted only once the claim has been settled by HMRC.
In justifying their 5% fee, JustGiving states that "profits don't come first" and that much of the revenue is reinvested in 'new tools'.[8] Moreover, Charityfacts states that fundraising typically costs UK charities between 15% to 25%. [9]
Virgin Money Giving's site has a comparison of JustGiving, Virgin Money Giving and Bmycharity.[10]