Bmycharity introduces 0% commission on online fundraising

Online giving service Bmycharity today stopped charging commission on donations to charity on its site. It has also removed its monthly fees to charities.

It is promoting this move with a 'Free my charity' campaign, urging supporters to "challenge other sites to stop charging too!" Other sites charge around 2% and 5%.

Bmycharity MD Ben Brabyn told UK Fundraising: "Online fundraising and sponsorship is now an established fundraising tool, and one of the most
efficient ways to give. We don't want concerns that "someone is taking a cut" to put any donor off - so commission charges must go.

"We hope that other providers will rise to the challenge of making their services available for free, both in online fundraising and beyond. With increasing interest in sustainable business from many major corporate partners, it is now possible to fund enterprises like Bmycharity without withholding a percentage from beneficiaries - after all, they need it more than we do."

Credit card handling charges will remain as they are outside Bmycharity's control.

Brabyn explained on his blog post Making giving free - background and vision for the future that Bmycharity had other business models that it would focus on to help it grow based on the valuable data it had developed on donors and their giving patterns, and on other corporate affiliate partnerships.

He invited charities and charity supporters to join the company's "Free my charity" campaign "to establish a new era in fundraising".

www.bmycharity.com/freemycharity.aspx