Recent News
Recent News
Bmycharity to close
Online fundraising service Bmycharity is to close over the next three weeks. The company made the announcement in an email to its clients and on its blog.
Founders Ben Brabyn and Matt Cooper explained that they had made the decision following the recent failure of a proposed deal that would have brought them investment to help support their expansion. They had been seeking additional resources for some time to help them to develop their system and expand their team.
Since 2001 the site has helped 300 charities raise over £28 million. Ironically, the site, which moved to a commission-free service last year, still had a queue of charities waiting to register, and it had recruited its first major corporate sponsor in the shape of Interactive Investor. Donation volumes and average values had also surged, according to Brabyn.
He apologised for the inconvenience that the closure would cause to the site's users and clients. He wanted to make clear, however, that all charities' income was protected in client accounts, so charities would not lose any of the income raised for them.
Brabyn concluded on his blog post: "Without additional resources, we've done all we can to contribute to the development of the market for online fundraising in the UK, and now the time has come to seek other challenges".
£1 Gold Heart badge for Mother's Day to raise funds for The Variety Club
Children's charity The Variety Club is encouraging the public to buy a Gold Heart badge with a suggested minimum donation of £1 to celebrate Mother's Day. The funds raised will help it in its work to support "inspirational mums" of sick and disabled children or those children born or diagnosed with a disability.
The charity hopes that the badge will become a collector's item, as well as a "stylish Mother's Day gift".
Gold Heart Badges are available in all Co-operative stores, H Samuel branches, Cineworld, Odeon and across all AHG/MWB venues including DeVere Venues, MWB Exchange and CEC Centres, as well as from the Variety Club website.
Singer Alesha Dixon is the face of the 2010 Gold Heart Appeal and has designed the the badge, which features her signature.
Established in 1991, The Variety Club Gold Hearts have featured a different design every year. Since then it has raised nearly £30 million.
Virgin Money charity credit card to donate up to 1% of card purchases
Financial services provider Virgin Money has announced that its new Virgin Charity Credit Card will donate up to 1% of the customer's spending on the card to the charity of their choice. The company's first product since it became a bank, the Virgin Charity Credit Card will also be the first charity affinity card to enable Gift Aid.
The Virgin Charity Credit Card can donate a basic 0.8% of the customer’s expenditure on the card to the charity of their choice. Since it enables Gift Aid for cash back, the first charity affinity card to do so, the total value of the donation can rise to 1%.
Scott Mowbray at Virgin Money, said: "Cardholders will be able to nominate their chosen charity which they can change quickly and easily. As an example we have seen from the recent earthquake disaster in Haiti people are keen to help in cases of dire need and this card ensures they can react quickly. If a customer can’t decide which charity they want their cash back to go to, then our nominated charity will receive the funds."
The card has a typical rate of 12.9% APR (variable) and offers a lifetime balance transfer rate of 8.9%. It charges a 2% balance transfer fee if the transfer is made within 60 days of the account opening. A 2.98% fee applies otherwise.
Virgin Money last year launched its not-for-profit online fundraising service virginmoneygiving.com, the official sponsorship website of the Virgin London Marathon, Royal Parks Half Marathon and Sony ‘Run to the Beat’.
PFRA gathers data for annual attrition and retention survey
The Public Fundraising Regulatory Association (PFRA) is now collecting data for its annual Donor Attrition and Retention Survey. Charities have until the end of March to return their completed forms to the PFRA.
Ten charities have committed to be part of the survey for the next five years, including Amnesty International, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, Dogs Trust, EveryChild, and Quarriers.
However, any charity involved in street or door face-to-face fundraising can take part on a year-by-year basis without committing further. Nor do they have to be members of PFRA.
The Donor Attrition and Retention Survey (DARS) has been run annually by the PFRA since 2008 and has established an attrition/retention benchmark for street and door F2F fundraising, based on analysis of more than 250,000 donors, dating back to 2004.
It has confirmed that around 50% of people cancel their direct debits within the first year. However, the 2009 edition of the survey showed that attrition for 2008/09, the first full year of the recession, was predicted to peak at around 56%.
Morag Fleming, head of fundraising at Quarriers and co-organiser of DARS along with Future Fundraising's Rupert Tappin, said: "Everyone is extremely keen to see whether this trend will continue or whether retention rates will fall back. My gut feeling is that we’ll see a return to pre-recession levels."
The results of the 2010 DARS will be released at a special seminar hosted by PFRA in June.
Those interested in taking part should contact PFRA Chief Executive Mick Aldridge.
Variations on Elgar notes
The £20 notes with Sir Edward Elgar on the reverse are being phased out, and from 30 June will no longer be legal tender. There will however be a grace period during which any still in charities' or anyone's possession may be exchanged at the full value.Introduced in 1999, the design began to be phased out by the Bank of England three years ago when it introduced a new design featuring Scottish economist Adam Smith on the reverse.
The Bank of England explained that, after 30 June, "most banks, building societies and Post Offices will accept the Elgar £20 notes for deposit to customer accounts and for other customer transactions". Failing that, the Bank of England will always exchange its old notes, years into the future.
The Bank of England offers a "Know Your Banknotes" leaflet in PDF, which provides a guide to the key recognition and security features on banknotes.
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