Justgiving
 | |
| Trading name | Just Giving |
|---|---|
| Type | Limited company |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founder(s) |
Zarine Kharas (CEO)[1] Anne-Marie Huby (Managing Director) |
| Headquarters | Paddington, London |
| Revenue | £14m (2011)[2] |
| Net income | £1.5m (2011)[2] |
| Subsidiaries | FirstGiving |
| Website | justgiving.com |
JustGiving is a private for-profit UK e-commerce company formed in 2000 that provides online tools and processing services to enable the collection of charitable donations.[2] The firm's headquarters are located in Paddington, London.
History
In 2000, Zarine Kharas and Anne-Marie Huby founded JustGiving, a company to provide online tools and processing services to enable the collection of charitable donations.[2] The company's website allowed people to donate to charities registered with the site with a credit or debit card online, and offered people doing sponsored events the chance to build their own webpage to collect sponsorship from supporters.
2006 was JustGiving's first profitable year.[3]
In June 2011, JustGiving claimed that it had provided its service for more than 9,000 UK registered charities and 1.9 million fundraising pages for users, collecting over £770 million since launch.[4] The cumulative total passed £1 billion in March 2012.[5]
Gift Aid processing
In the UK, donations by individuals are treated as being given after the deduction of income tax at the basic rate (20% in 2011), and charities can reclaim the basic rate income tax paid on the gift from HMRC via Gift Aid.
Charities that register on the JustGiving site complete the necessary legal forms to authorize JustGiving to request the tax from HMRC on the charities' behalf. JustGiving then automates the reclaiming of Gift Aid on individual donations made through its website, and passes this on to the charities. 85% of donations through the site are eligible for Gift Aid tax relief.
Fees
JustGiving charges a 5% fee on donations to cover the cost of running the business.[6] As a for-profit organisation this fee may be used in any way the company deems necessary. The fee does not include card processing fees, which are deducted additionally.[6]
For donations that are eligible for Gift Aid, the 5% is charged on the reclaimed tax as well as on the original donation, and the fees are deducted only once the claim has been settled by HMRC.
Additionally, charities have to be registered with JustGiving to receive donations. Charity registration has required a monthly subscription fee of £15 since 1 April 2002, regardless of whether any donations are made. Prior to that date, charities could register with JustGiving for free.[3]
JustTextGiving
In May 2011, JustGiving launched JustTextGiving in conjunction with Vodafone, which allows mobile phone user to donate between £1 and £10 to a charity using a SMS message, which is paid for by the donor through reverse SMS billing. Vodafone invested £5 million to ensure that charities do not incur any set-up costs, or commissions deducted from donations, ensuring that they receive 100% of donations.[7][8]
Notable fundraisers
In 2010 it was reported that Charlie Simpson, aged 7, raised over £210,000 (£145,000 in the first 48 hours) via his JustGiving page for the 2010 Haiti earthquake relief programme by UNICEF.[9]
In April 2012, Claire Squires, who collapsed and died whist running the London Marathon, posthumously raised in excess of £925,000 for Samaritans through JustGiving (without including Gift Aid).[6] JustGiving were to receive £26,000 but agreed to waive their 5% administration fee and donate it to Samaritans.[6]
Reception
In 2002, JustGiving won the New Media Awards Grand Prix award and also Best Use of the Web award.[10][11]
In 2004, JustGiving was recognized in the 2004 Charity Times annual Awards in their Fundraising & IT Services category. Charity Times claimed the company had “transformed the face of donating in the UK”.[12]
Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) reported that JustGiving "was enabling charities to tap Britain's youth with viral marketing and sophisticated processing technology for online donations." They said that the main beneficiaries have been smaller charities, which find donation tracking and fundraising costly.[3]
In 2008, The Guardian reported Kharas as acknowledging that "the commission charged by justgiving.com is controversial".[3] In justifying their 5% fee, JustGiving states that profits are reinvested in new tools.[6]
Corporate affairs
Name
JustGiving is the trading name of Giving Ltd in the UK and Justgiving Inc. in the US.[13]
ReachOut Online Limited was incorporated in November 1999, renamed as ClickForAction.com Limited in March 2000, and renamed again as Giving.com Limited in May 2000.[14]
ClickForAction PLC was incorporated in April 2000, and renamed as Giving Ltd in May 2000.[14]
Ownership
Giving.Com Limited's sole shareholder is Giving Ltd.
First round capital included the venture capital firm Vesta Capital Advisors.
Both Vesta Group Limited and Pollcast APS own at least 15%.[citation needed]
International expansion
In 2003, JustGiving launched in the United States, changing its name to FirstGiving in 2005.[citation needed] FirstGiving is located in Davis Square, Somerville, Massachusetts.[citation needed]
In 2010 the New York Times reported that FirstGiving.com was “among the best known” online fund-raising sites.[15]
Revenue
As at 31 December 2010, as per accounts filed on 30 September 2011, Giving Limited had cash on hand of £5,924,865.[16]
| Year | Revenue | Profit/(loss) | Registered charities |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | £273,000[3] | (£1.043m)[3] | |
| 2004 | £851,000[3] | (£676,000)[3] | |
| 2005 | £1,900,000[3] | (£136,000)[3] | 1,000 [17] |
| 2006 | £3,900,000[3] | £815,000[3] | |
| 2007 | £ | £ | |
| 2008 | £ | £ | 3,000 [3] – 5,000 [17] |
| 2009 | £ | £ | 6,000 [17] |
| 2010 | £ | £ | |
| 2011 | £ | £ | 9,000 [4] |
| 2012 | £ | £ |
See also
References
- ↑ Whittle, Sally (30 May 2002). "Is it a girl thing?". Guardian, The. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Smithers, Rebecca (6 April 2011). "Charitable giving: BT launches website where 100% of donations go to charity". Guardian, The (UK). Retrieved 20November 2012.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9 3.10 3.11 3.12 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". Guardian, The. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 JustGiving...by the numbers at the Wayback Machine (archived 30 June 2011)
- ↑ "£1 billion raised through JustGiving". Community pages. JustGiving. 28 March 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Oxlade, Andrew (24 April 2012). "JustGiving agrees to waive its £26,000 cut as marathon death girl's fundraiser page hits £400,000". MailOnline (UK). Retrieved 20November2012.
- ↑ Warman, Matt (9 May 2011). "'New age' of charity donations by text message". Daily Telegraph.
- ↑ "JustGiving and Vodafone launch free text donation service". Fundraising UK. 9 May 2011.
- ↑ "London boy raises £145k for Haiti quake aid by cycling". BBC News. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
- ↑ "Home". 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.
- ↑ "UK Charity Awards 2004 winners". Charitytimes.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
- ↑ "Justgiving.com". Contact info. Alexa.com. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "WebCHeck – Select and access Company Information". companieshouse.gov.uk. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
- ↑ Wallace, Amy (5 September 2010). "Online Giving Meets Social Networking". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- ↑ "Giving Limited 2010 account". bizzy.co.uk. Retrieved 24 April 2011.
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Who we are at the Wayback Machine (archived 16 April 2009)