Charities | Virgin Money Giving Blog

Posts Tagged 'Charities'

We’ve helped charities raise more through the Virgin London Marathon

Published October 12, 2012 Virgin Money Giving News 5 Comments
Tags: Charities, Donations, Gift Aid, Stats, Virgin London Marathon

Virgin Money Giving is the official fundraising website of the Virgin London Marathon, and since launching in 2009, we’ve helped charities like yours receive over £145 million* – with £38.8 million raised by the Marathon alone.

Our 2012 Marathon Figures speak for themselves…

In fact, in the last three years over £1.3 million more has reached charities just by Virgin London Marathon runners fundraising through us instead of JustGiving** – because we’re 100% not-for-profit.

	£16.8 million raised through Virgin Money Giving in 2012.
	22% up on last year’s total of £13.8 million!
	£1,469 (incl. Gift Aid) raised on average by Virgin Money Giving fundraisers.
	87% of donations included Gift Aid.

20,000 more reasons to use us!

And if all that wasn’t enough reason for Virgin London Marathon runners to use us – this year we’re giving away ‘kit bags‘ to the first 20,000 runners who start their 2013 Virgin London Marathon fundraising with Virgin Money Giving.

* Figure includes Gift Aid, up to 29/9/12

**If the £38.8 million raised through Virgin Money Giving for the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Virgin London Marathons was raised through JustGiving instead, £1.3 million less would have reached charities. This is based on the Gift Aid reclaim rate for the Virgin London Marathon on Virgin Money Giving and the overall mix of payment types on Virgin Money Giving.

Four tips from our charity workshops

Published May 22, 2012 Support for Charities 1 Comment
Tags: Charities, deep link, Events, Reporting, Workshop

Over the past few weeks the Virgin Money Giving charity support team have been out and about meeting up with some of our member charities.

We’ve held a series of free workshops in London and Manchester, with Newcastle next on our tour.

Chatting with some of the charities we wanted to highlight some of the features of Virgin Money Giving that can help charities make more from their fundraisers and events.

Using a fundraising page as an appeal page - You can create specific event and then fundraising page to support any appeals your charity runs. Encourage your charity supporters to donate through this page, instead of directly and you can easily tell how much money you’ve raised through the appeal your reports.
Event Deep links are special web addresses that you can use to send to your fundraisers or add to your website. They link directly to a specific event (e.g. the Virgin London Marathon) and pre-populate the fundraising page with your charity, making it even easier for them to get started and ensures they select your charity for ‘open events’.
Quickly look up fundraiser details – If you want to quickly find the details of someone raising money for your charity, simply sign into your charity account and click on ‘reporting’ and ‘manually allocate report codes’. From here you can search for a fundraiser get their contact details and view their page in just a few a clicks.
The thank you message - is a great way to contact your fundraisers and donors. These messages can be tailored to say what’s important to you – either about your cause or to promote events you have. Someone sponsoring their friend could be inspired to do something similar.

We also got asked a lot about the charity reporting on Virgin Money Giving, and we’ll be covering some of the top tips on how to make the most of your data in a future blog post.

Further help and tips can be found in on line our help guides, or get in touch with our charity help desk – they’re here if you need them.

If you think you’d be interested in attending future workshops please email us at help@virginmoneygiving.com with your Charity Name and location. We can then let you know of any future workshops happening in your area.

You’ve reached £100m in donations

Published March 27, 2012 Virgin Money Giving News 1 Comment
Tags: £100M, Charities, Donations, Fundraisers, Gift Aid

Stickman with Donations Just two and a half years after our launch you’ve broken the £100 million donation barrier.

In these short 30 months you’ve also helped boost the online giving market by 59% – and because Virgin Money Giving is not-for-profit, an extra £3.4 million* has gone to charities.

And our super-fast Gift Aid reclaim process has seen over 85% of all donations on the site boosted by the taxman, which of course we pass on in full to the charity.

Over 2.7 million donations have been received to the various fundraisers and charities with over 4,000 charities registered.

We would like to offer a huge thanks to all the charities, fundraisers, events and donors that have supported us over the past two and a half years and hope that we can continue to offer support to all those that use the site – and see more money reach good causes.

Fundraisers have taken part in a range of fundraising activities, from marathons and triathlons to sky dives, Ironman events, bungee jumps and cake sales. If you’re taking part in a fundraising activity and are registered on Virgin Money Giving please let us know – we can follow your story and feature you on our blog.

* If the money raised through Virgin Money Giving since launching in October 2009 was raised through JustGiving instead, £3.4 million less would have reached charities. This is based on the Gift Aid reclaim rate for Virgin Money Giving and the overall mix of payment types on Virgin Money Giving.

We need to do a little work on our website

Published February 28, 2012 Service Update 61 Comments
Tags: Charities, Maintenance, Planned Maintenance

Virgin Money Giving With a new summer of fundraising fast approaching we’re doing our spring cleaning to ensure the website remains in tip top condition. To complete this we are planning releases on 29 February and 2 March, resulting in the website being unavailable.

The website will be unavailable between the following times:

22:00 on Wednesday 29 February until 02:00 on Thursday 1 March
20:00 on Friday 2 March until 06:00 on Saturday 3 March

As part of these releases we’re tidying up the reporting system and will remove any saved reports which you created before 1 October 2011. However, the data will still be available and should you need any of these reports again, all you’ll need to do is run a fresh report for the dates you need.

If you have any reports saved within your account that you’d like to keep, just log onto the reporting site and save the reports to your computer before 2 March 2012.

If of course you need any help with this, just email theteam@virginmoneygiving.com

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause, but it’s important for us to carry out this type of maintenance to ensure the system runs efficiently to support your fundraising.

Update @ 05:30
We’ve completed the changes to the website and Virgin Money Giving is now fully available again.

Offline Totals, Targets, and Updating pages
If you’re having issues updating your page, please see our latest post.

Charity Story: Stepping Stones DS

Published December 7, 2011 Charity Story Leave a Comment
Tags: Charities, Down Syndrome, Stepping Stones DS

Stepping Stones Logo Run by parents, for parents and carers of children with Down Syndrome, Stepping Stones DS offer social events, training, a buddy system, and a specialised lending library.

Virgin Money Giving fundraiser Gareth Sutton wanted to give something back, so raised an impressive £6,600 from two sponsored events, including a Mountain Trail Challenge.

Sharon Smith, Joint Chair of Stepping Stones DS, said “It is only with fundraising efforts, like Gareth’s, that we are able to operate.”

Since his daughter Zoe was born with Down Syndrome 19 months ago. Gareth said “I don’t know what we would have done without Stepping Stones DS. We first got in touch with them when Zoe was just 10 days old and from that point on we knew everything would be alright. They provide us with friendship and knowledge, as well as practical and emotional support. Doing these challenges was my way of giving something back”.

Gareth used Virgin Money Giving to collect donations for the two challenging events raising an impressive £6,600. In September this year, he and two friends took part in the Mountain Trail Challenge, which required them to walk 30 miles in 10 hours, including climbing three peaks!

The Challenge was not without drama, the weather was dreadful, visibility was poor and Gareth’s boot fell apart after just 20 miles!

Boot falls apart

The money Gareth raised has enabled the Stepping Stones DS to set up fortnightly physical activity sessions for our pre-walkers encompassing movement, balance, co-ordination games and more, this activity supports and promotes all areas of the children’s development as well as giving parents an important chance to meet up and have a natter!

Without fundraising efforts, like Gareth’s, they wouldn’t be able to operate. The Charity needs £5,000 per month to run all their activities and support their evergrowing membership, which currently stands at 80 families.

Charity Story: The Kindu Trust

Published December 7, 2011 Charity Story Leave a Comment
Tags: Charities, Gondar, Half Marathon, Kind Trust, Kindu Klub

The Kindu Trust is a small charity that supports poor children and their families in Northern Ethiopia.

Last October their UK team ran a half marathon and raised a considerable £997.40 through Virgin Money Giving. This money enabled the charity to launch an exciting new youth group in Gondar – the ‘Kindu Klub’.

The families that the charity support live in tough conditions with many parents illiterate and unable to provide any educational support for their children at home. Overcrowded housing and sporadic electricity limits the ability of these kids to study outside of school, but without gaining a thorough education they will face a difficult future finding employment.

Kindu Klub

The Kindu Klub provides supplementary education and a place for children in Gondar to study and participate in games and activities. With this support the children have a better chance of gaining a precious education that is so vital for a sustainable future for both themselves and their communities.

It’s been a success story that all involved with The Kindu Trust can be proud of.

British Red Cross

Published December 7, 2011 Charity Story Leave a Comment
Tags: British Red Cross, Charities, Earthquatke, New Zealand

Virgin Money Giving is the preferred online fundraising website of the British Red Cross, and they have hundreds of fundraisers raising money through Virgin Money Giving every year. 2011 has been no exception, and sadly with the natural disasters that shook Christchurch, New Zealand and devastated Japan, there have been even more reasons for people to set up a page and support their work.

One of the people who helped to support this recovery was Hilary Bloor, who faced the huge undertaking of running the Marathon des Sables for the British Red Cross’s New Zealand Earthquake appeal. The description on her page only goes some way to describing her challenge “7 gruelling days, hottest temperatures on record (54C), longest MdS to date, l took 54hrs 21mins carrying all my food and equipment, being totally self supported. My rucksack weighed 13kgs on day one when l crossed the highest dunes in the Sahara. I’m both exhausted and elated. Now is the time to let my feet repair and drink coffee before my next adventure!”

Hilary raised a fantastic £1,760 through her Virgin Money Giving page, with an extra £425 raised through Gift Aid.

Another individual who was touched by the crisis in Christchurch was Matthew Whitaker who, with a phenomenal group of 71 friends, cycled 65 miles from London to Christ Church (the one in Oxford, UK).

The team raised a phenomenal £23,330, with almost £5,000 extra raised in Gift Aid.

Hilary and Matthew’s admirable efforts helped to fund the emergency response in Christchurch. The earthquake left some survivors stranded in damaged homes with no power, no water, no sewerage and no way of contacting anyone. In response to the disaster the New Zealand Red Cross sent out volunteer emergency response teams to conduct urban search and rescue, door-to-door outreach and psychosocial support. Following the earthquake more than 45,000 people registered with the Red Cross, which worked to reconnect families separated in the disaster.

Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre

Published December 7, 2011 Charity Story Leave a Comment
Tags: Charities, MS, Multiple Sclerosis

MS Therapy Centres The MS Therapy Centre provides free oxygen therapy, physiotherapy, reflexology and yoga to alleviate the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Oxygen therapy also helps sufferers of autism, Down Syndrome, leg ulcers, stroke, ME, and cancer.

In 2011, £16,785 was raised for them through sponsored events. This meant 26 people with MS could receive therapy and support for a whole year.

One Virgin Money Giving fundraiser Ben, was in full-time employment when he first visited the Centre and is now studying full-time. Despite a relapse in July 2011 he recovered through the use of oxygen therapy and physiotherapy.

Deciding to give something back to the centre and through his own determination he completed a personal challenge of swimming the tidal river Forth (2.25km) in September to raise money for the centre using Virgin Money Giving.

The money that the MSTC Lothian has received from all their fundraisers this year has enabled them to continue to deliver therapies and support which are a lifeline for people with MS.

Scottish Charities Focus On Increasing Online Giving

Published November 11, 2011 Press Releases Leave a Comment
Tags: Charities, Online Giving, Research, Scotland, Scottish

But more than half would welcome more support, says virginmoneygiving.com

More than half of Scottish charities are planning to increase their use of online fundraising, new research* from virginmoneygiving.com, the not-for-profit online giving site shows.

But they would welcome more advice and training in order to maximise online fundraising, the research among 389 charities across the country shows. Nearly six out of 10 (56%) charities say there is not enough external support and advice on online fundraising.

The study shows widespread use of digital fundraising – just 8% of the charities surveyed said they did not use any form of digital fundraising and only 11% say online fundraising is not important.

Around 56% of charities say they plan to increase their use of fundraising websites and to encourage supporters to use sites – another 33% say they already use online fundraising extensively.

Analysis shows online fundraising only generates around 3% of total giving** which in 2010 was around £10.6 billion – £700 million down on pre-recession levels.

Jo Barnett, executive director at Virgin Money Giving said: “The online giving market is growing rapidly and charities and fundraisers benefit from using online giving services as they are more efficient and improve Gift Aid uptake.

“However charities need support and advice on maximising the amounts raised and on the techniques to use. Virgin Money Giving has run workshops across Scotland and has more planned as part of its commitment to help charities.”

Virginmoneygiving.com’s research shows the most popular method of online fundraising is Facebook used by 41% of charities, followed by online donation services which are used by 37%.

Around a third (33%) of charities currently use online fundraising pages while 32% use Twitter and 7.5% use text/SMS.

Through Virgin Money Giving, for every £10 donated £12.15 will make its way to the good cause, assuming donors are eligible to sign up to give Gift Aid. Since its launch in October 2009 virginmoneygiving.com has raised close to £75 million.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

*VirginMoneyGiving.com research among 389 charities in September 2011.

**UK Giving 2010.

- Ends -

To view more of our press releases click here. or for further information visit our press centre.

About Virgin Money Giving:

Virgin Money Giving is the not-for-profit online fundraising arm of Virgin Money and was established in 2009. Virgin Money uses its infrastructure and expertise as a financial services business to ensure that Virgin Money Giving is efficient, secure and offers a high quality service to all fundraisers, charities and those wanting to donate to charity online.
Virginmoneygiving.com, which is backed by hundreds of major charities, officially opened to all fundraisers for all charity events on 14 October 2009 and estimates it will deliver an extra £5 million on top of every £100 million raised for charities. This is part of its commitment to achieve the best deal for charities.
Virginmoneygiving.com is free for fundraisers, charges a flat registration fee of £100 + VAT for charities and a 2% fee on all donations before Gift Aid, which means for every £10 raised charities receive £12.15.
Virgin Money Giving charges charities the minimum fees needed to cover the running costs of the site. Any money left over after covering operating costs will go towards reducing fees further or improving services for fundraisers and charities.
Fundraisers can personalise their fundraising pages, send out email alerts and manage their fundraising events. They can include their own content, photos and links to their page as well as customise messages for their supporters. Fundraisers can also link their page to social networking sites.
Virgin Money Giving also contains fundraising ideas and tips, offering help and advice to fundraisers on how to raise more for charity.
Virginmoneygiving.com is the official sponsorship website of the Virgin London Marathon, Royal Parks Half Marathon, Virgin Active London Triathlon and Nike Run to the Beat.

RT @kc84cols: @VMGiving Less than 2-wks to go! Pls RT & donate to this AMAZING #charity 💜💚💛💜 #mixednetball #jack #fundraising http://t.c… 1 day ago
RT @VirginActiveUK: Ride & raise £ for charity w/our friends @VMCyclone & you could win a @GarminUK GPS! @VMGiving bit.ly/YGxpjA #… 4 days ago
@JoRowlingRocks Yes it is, that's a good idea. If you call the Help Desk back on 08456 101046 they'll be able to sort that out for you. ^EM 1 week ago
@jonnyauk Hi Jonny, it's funny you should say that ;) virg.co/PW5JF We've got public APIs coming very soon! ^AS 1 week ago
@JoRowlingRocks Hmmm, is it possible you could DM your contact details & I'll ask the Help Desk to call you? ^EM 1 week ago

Virgin Money Giving Blog

Posts Tagged 'Charities'

We’ve helped charities raise more through the Virgin London Marathon

Four tips from our charity workshops

You’ve reached £100m in donations

We need to do a little work on our website

Charity Story: Stepping Stones DS

Charity Story: The Kindu Trust

British Red Cross

Multiple Sclerosis Therapy Centre

Scottish Charities Focus On Increasing Online Giving

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