Believe.in

Believe.in^[1] is a UK-based social platform designed to connect charities and fundraisers to "create world-class social enterprise solutions for charities to help them access and use the web better." . It claims 100 per cent of all donations and 100 per cent of all Gift Aid goes to the intended charity^[2]

History

Set up in East London's Silicon Roundabout in May 2011 by founders Matthias Metternich^[3] a German-American entrepreneur and British-born graduate Will Cookson ^[4] it now employs a team of nine including designers and technology experts.^[5]

Metternich and Cookson were nominated, jointly, in the 'Best New Entrepreneur' category of the 2013 .Net Awards.^[6] Outside investment is responsible for the company's formation and subsequent growth. It began with initial funding from the cabinet office followed by an 'angel'^[7] round of funding in April, 2012 from investors including Jonty Hurwitz, Federico Pirzio-Biroli and Mark Sainsbury with additional seed funding from British-based Index Ventures and Silicon Valley located Greylock Partners, venture capitalists behind technology start-ups including Dropbox, Songkick, Facebook and LinkedIn among others.^[8]

Objectives

Believe.in wants to act as a social media platform for both charities and fundraisers. The website includes references to technology, creative and design professionals within the sector and it currently claims to have 170,000 charities on its site^[9]

The site says the company's principle objective is to empower both the individual and charities of all sizes to 'do more good for the world.' The corporate ethos is a recurring theme of the company blog^[10]

Fundraisers

Individuals are encouraged to create their own charity profiles, detailing who they support and wish to raise money for and keeping them in contact with friends, family and others and posting information on a specific fundraising projects such as running the marathon or a sponsored event to receive donations.

The social media nature of the site allows the individual to build contacts with favourite charities and causes. There are no fees taken from donations. Approximately £750 million a year in UK charity donations is estimated to go to middlemen through fees. Believe.in's payment processing partner is Stripe^[11] to avoid any credit card fees ^[12]

Charities

Charities can use the site to create their own communities of supporters and have access to design, marketing and other experts on the site.

Believe.in is a 'for profit' venture but it is free to register for any charitable organisation, all money raised goes directly to the charity.

Business

Companies in this sector usually impose fees on charity donations, skimming a small percentage off the amount that goes to the charity. Believe.in differs in that it does not charge charities to register on the site but instead offers those who do register access to their 'Proservices' on a tiered pricing structure. Believe.in are credited with being part of a wider Tech City move into the charity sector according to the BBC's online technology correspondent.^[13]

References