Looking for suggestions for a UK fundraising platform

May 23, 2024 4:08 AM

I have started a volunteer group of residents who help with the upkeep of a local cemetery. There have been various expenses, which I've so far just covered myself. I'm thinking of starting a JustGiving or similar fundraising campaign where people can contribute towards expenses if they wish. We are not a charity or association, so I would be the only beneficiary at present.

The group has been going for 6 months and has around 50 members. If it continues successfully for a year or so I would look into registering it as a charity or association, with its own bank account. But I'm not ready to do that yet.

I'd like recommendations for a fundraising platform. I know of JustGiving, but it looks like it's only for giving to a nominated charity? In this case, donations would go to me personally, which I would be completely transparent about. I could list all expenses incurred, to give an idea of the costs I'm trying to defray - we're talking small amounts.

What platform should I use, and anything I need to be aware of?

posted by snarfois to Work & Money (5 answers total)

Best answer: JustGiving lets you raise money for your own cause, and pay it into your personal bank account.

It just doesn't let you claim Gift Aid from HMRC in this mode. Here are the terms. There's no platform fee, but when they transfer you the cash, they'll hold back 2.9% plus 25p per donation for payment processing costs.
posted by Klipspringer at 4:49 AM on May 23 [1 favorite]

I'm involved with a group that is just starting to use Social Change Nest, which offers fiscal hosting. This is relatively new in the UK, though I understand it's common in the US. Basically, it offers an online platform where a group can receive contributions to a UK bank account and then disburse funds based on invoices or receipts. It's all very transparent, and means funds aren't received into a personal account which felt important to us to head off any issues in the future and to help with transitioning to a charity or social enterprise. The fee is a combination of a one-off set-up fee (less than £50) plus a small percentage of deposits. Take a look, it's designed for tiny groups like yours (and ours). We've not been using it very long, but the groups that recommended the platform to us were very happy with it.
posted by tavegyl at 5:28 AM on May 23

Here are a couple of different ideas, which don't involve crowdfunding sites, but both of which involve having a website for your community activity. They're both to do with climbing, but the idea is to share food-for-thought, models-for-collecting-donations, rather than being specifically about the activity involved.

The first is the UK Bolt Fund, which is a consortium of groups of climbing volunteers who equip cliffs and crags with shiny new bolts for climbers to use. They all donate their time for free, but the hardware (drills, drill bits, bolts, glue) cost real money, so they've all got websites which takes direct donations using a paypal button. The main website is here, with paypal donation buttons for each local group (and links to their individual websites). Each local group also seems to leave physical collection buckets at relevant venues (indoor climbing walls, specialist shops) to get extra cash donations.

Here's another climbing-related crowdfunding example: Climbing Commons. A group of climbers want to open a community-owned indoor training gym in Stroud UK, and they're seeking funds to get it started. They have a website which allows people to make donations. Rather than using a paypal button, the mechanism for donors is to enter an email address, after which the site automatically emails them with the details of the bank account to which they should make a bank transfer. Donations page here.

In the FAQs at the bottom of their page, they have this:

Why are we not using a crowdfunding platform?
Crowdfunding platforms generally charge around 5% of the total raised, plus 3% on every transaction. We think this money is better spent on making the facility better. It is a bit of an effort to do a bank transfer but you get a lot more for your money.

In each example, the money is being paid directly into a bank account. The UK Bolt Fund definitely receives a decent amount of donations a year, and it looks like the Climbing Commons has already received £13k in the short period that they've been seeking contributions.
posted by Joeruckus at 5:36 AM on May 23 [2 favorites]

We use OpenCollective.
posted by lokta at 6:22 AM on May 23 [1 favorite]

Collectiv app does exactly what you want. We use it to collect for my children’s teachers gifts and yes there is trust thing as it goes to a persons bank account but they prove they have bought the gift so it works out.
posted by atlantica at 8:22 AM on May 23 [1 favorite]