easyfundraising (raise money for charities at no cost to you)
easyfundraising is a no-brainer way to raise money for your favourite causes, and it doesn’t cost you a penny. There are so many tiny charities both here and abroad that are desperate for funds, and of course it’s impossible to give to all of them, unless you’re a billionaire.
But this is such a wonderful idea. Basically, you sign up your favourite tiny charity that is desperate for funds.
Then when you shop online at participating partners (and there are lots of them), a portion of the sale is donated to your favourite charity. It costs you nothing, and does not even affect loyalty points.
This idea goes from feeling guilty that nobody can donate to every charity (and small charities having to beg for funds to save lives of animals or children) to automatically getting a portion of sales from the millions of pounds that are spent by online shoppers each day. The big companies (like Amazon) lose a little profit for doing some good, so everyone’s a winner.
The only caveat is that at present, you can only choose one cause, so think carefully before plumping for who’d you like.
For instance, if you buy a Nintendo Switch from Argos for £290,00, at present your tiny charity gets nothing. But if you are a member at easyfundraising, your charity would receive a donation of £11.60. A quick search online found that around 10 million were sold last year.
So let’s just assume 1 million of them were sold at Argos, that’s £11 million in donations available to small charities, at no cost to any buyer.
Say you book a hotel at booking.com, it donates up to 4% (so if the hotel cost you £150, your tiny charity receives a £6 donation).
Participants that will donate when you shop with them include:
- Amazon (up to £10 donation)
- Argos (up to £3% donation)
- John Lewis (up to 0.50% donation)
- eBay (up to 0.50% donation)
- Other participating retailers are Currys, Trainline and Screwfix.
One small business signed up and automatically raised over £1000 for a small homeless shelter, simply by buying what they would normally buy for their office (paper, cartridges etc).
There are 8000 retailers on board in all, and that does not include just shops. You also can donate when buying everything from insurance to train and plane tickets. To taxis and even trips to Alton Towers.
There is literally billions of pounds of donations out there, waiting for small charities to receive. All you need to do is to sign up for free, nominate your charity and then the cash can start rolling in on a regular basis, for small causes that need it.
How to Sign Up at easyfundraising
Simply sign up and search for your favourite cause (if it’s not listed, then add your own). You can change your cause at anytime. Then use the app and donation reminder, so that you never miss a free donation, when you buy something. You can track donations in your account, and you get updates on when your favourite cause is paid.
The donation reminder pops up when you shop as a reminder, so you don’t forget. It’s also visible on your mobile or tablet. Join over 2 million people already donating as they shop with easyfundraising.
Just add the extension from the website (on Google Chrome) so it always pops up, to remind you when you are on a site where you can click to donate.
So far easyfundraising has raised almost £70 million for various good causes. Obviously it’s best to not donate to animal-testing charities, choose humane medical research charities instead (that get far less funds).
The big charities (like RPSCA) are on board and have raised over £20,000 through this scheme. So just imagine what a difference it would make for tiny animal charities struggling to raise funds both at home and abroad. Just a few thousand pounds would make all the difference. All simply by you choosing to add an app, while you buy things at shops you normally use anyway.
How Charities Can Sign Up
Small charities can sign up as a cause, and then promote your cause!
You can take advantage of free templates to promote that you’re now on easyfundraising, to encourage people to join up so they raise money for you automatically as they shop. You receive a starter pack on joining up, and a one-page explainer that you can post on your website or social media pages.
There are also videos you can watch online, on how to raise funds.
One idea is to ask businesses that you use to sign up. For instance if you run an animal shelter, ask the people who supply your materials to sign up. Or ask local businesses to sign up, so they help each time they buy office stationery, or book accommodation or travel as part of their work.
Good causes listed must be based in the UK with a UK bank account to qualify. But if the small charity is abroad, you can also sign up as a good cause administrator (as long as you live in the UK with a bank account).
There are no recurring monthly charges or set-up fees and no drawdown fees to withdraw funds, the entire platform is free.
It also allows individual fundraising (such as for medical care or to support further education), though it may request more information to validate the cause meets their terms and conditions).
easyfundraising is funded by also taking a tiny commission from the retailer that you shop with.
When Do Charities Get Paid?
Donations are allocated to each cause, and every three months the donations are sent, as long as over £15 has been raised. If it has not been reached, the donation simply rolls over to the next payment.
