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+--- Thread: Online Fundraising Providers (/showthread.php?tid=1950)
Online Fundraising Providers - marathondan - 18-01-2011
I'm currently wondering which fundraising website to use for my forthcoming Brighton marathon effort.
Since 2009 I've used JustGiving, which I assumed was the best of the bunch. Back in 2005 I avoided all online services, asking people to give cash or cheques instead, to avoid the fee charged by the site. I don't mind doing the extra admin if it means more money for the charity, but I'm now convinced that the convenience of a credit card site makes people more likely to get around to sponsoring me, hence more funds raised overall.
Then this week I got a flier in the post from Virgin Money Giving, which claims that the average 2010 London Marathon entrant using their service raised £61 more than they would have done if they'd used JustGiving.
There is a third player, Bmycharity, which closed in 2010 but then reopened under the ownership of the charity Help for Heroes - but still offering its service to other charities as well.
Virgin Money gives a comparison chart, which appears to be out of date as it claims that Bmycharity isn't not-for-profit.
Bmycharity provides some hard figures, and appears to be the only one of the three not charging commission on donations. Its Wiki page seems to confirm that it's the most cost-effective of the three (see also Wikis for JG and VMG).
JustGiving bigs up its site robustness - a factor that should not be dismissed out of hand.
So, which to use? Does anyone have any experience of VMG or BMC? I'm currently thinking that BMC looks best.
RE: Online Fundraising Providers - Sweder - 19-01-2011
BMC offered best value/ support combo the last time I looked into this for JDRF (2 years ago). The two main factors were user-friendliness and overhead fee. On the latter the two we looked at from the receiving charity point of view (also looked at Just Giving) came out roughly equal.
BMC HAD the best interface for newbies/ Luddites and the system of making donations appeared to be simpler.
That said I believe JDRF are looking at the VLM offer. For charities affiliated with the VLM the overhead drops significantly.