Raise Funds for Tiny Charities (no-brainer ideas)
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.
Donate Unwanted Goods to Small Charities
A Good Thing lets businesses donate items to small charities via an app, rather them languishing in offices or going to landfill. From office furniture to laptops, you can even donate meeting room space.
The dispenser above was sitting unused in a dental surgery. This organisation arranged for it to be donated to a homeless shelter, to sanitise rooms ready for incoming residents. It would have cost £1600 to buy, but they got it for free!
Many animal shelters and wildlife rescues can legally take unused human medical waste from GP surgeries and hospitals. Get in touch to see how they could help.
Most small local charities need volunteers, from helping out at shelters to building/decorating work. Or use your graphic design or photography skills to help promote and drive fundraising.
Photographer Sophie Gamand uses her photographic skills to snap animals in shelters, ready for adoption drives.
Save and Donate to Charity (at the same time)
Charity Bank is a saving bank and also a registered charity. So if you sign up, your ‘rainy day’ money is pooled with others, to support small projects in communities.
Your savings become part of a social mission, from investing in clean energy and affordable housing, to supporting small causes. The simple accounts include fixed rate and tax-free ISAs. There are also simple accounts for charities, credit unions and businesses.
Just imagine the huge difference to communities, if everyone put a little something away in one of their accounts, rather than with big banks?
Apply for Micro Grants
The Pollination Project is a US idea that is great inspiration on what could be done here. It offers tiny microgrants (around £1000) to help small charities establish or keep afloat.
Two examples was a mobile vet van (to help pets escaping from domestic violence) and earth-friendly water bowls given to stray animals in India).
Create (organic) Branded Goods with Teemill
If you run a small shop, you could use the branding to create print-on-demand grocery totes on organic cotton at Teemill is a wonderful company (run by an organic fashion company from Isle of Wight).
It has used its success to create a company where small companies (and charities) can make profit (or raise funds) by designing organic cotton print-on-demand t-shirts, sweatshirts and grocery bags. The above organic cotton jumper helps The Shark Trust.
Your customers or fans then order, and everything is printed-on-demand (to avoid waste) and sent you in zero waste packaging. Everything is also made with green energy.
You can even send items back at end of life (using QR codes in the care labels), and they’ll be recycled into new t-shirts!
This organisation has managed to create lots of funds for important animal and environmental charities, and also lets indie shops brand their own goods. Like Bumblebee Conservation Trust. Or Sea Shepherd.
For instance:
- If you ran an indie shop, you could find a nice designer to create a logo with tagline, then have it printed on your own bags, for people to give you advertising around town.
- If you ran a wildlife charity, you could again find some nice premade designs, then sell organic fashion and bags on your site, to help raise funds, and save plastic at the same time (which of course is doubly good for wildlife!)
For around £12.50 a month, tiny charities can list on the professional site with good traffic, and get listed by area for people to find local tiny causes. Registered charities also can set fundraising targets, use AI-generated grant applications, have Gift Aid taken care of and receive friendly expert support.
Gift Aid lets charities claim an extra 25p on each £1 donated, at no cost to you. You can include all donations from the last 4 years, but must tell charities, if you stop paying enough tax (there are special rules for high-rate taxpayers). The government page is complicated to understand, but perhaps that’s the point.
Innovative Ways to Raise Funds For Your Cause
The following organisations make it easy to raise a lot of money for your favourite cause. If nominating medical charities, only support those that use humane medical research (not innocent animals).
Annual Charity Donation Programs
Movement for Good is run by the Benefact Group, which gives away all available profits to charity. This annual program donates over £1 million to good causes each year, and accepts nominations each year.
During each year, you can nominate your favourite charity or charities for awards of £1000 (one nomination per charity). This can also be in Ireland, the Channel Islands or Isle of Man. There are six £1000 draws each year, staggered throughout.
My Giving Circle is a social enterprise that each year, gives away up to £2 million in grants and donations, funded out of earned income.
It earns money by connecting charities with donors and earning a small platform fee, when people donate via the website. Sometimes companies also get on board to sponsor grants.
Help for Small Charities (to raise big donations)
Work For Good is a fundraising platform that helps businesses raise funds for charities through legal channels. Each year, charities have to turn away millions of pounds of donations from business, simply due to a legal agreement: Commercial Participation, which is expensive and time-consuming, so no good for tiny charities.
So this organisation has made the process quick and simple, by making a digital version, so small non-profits can raise unlimited income and accept corporate sponsorships.
Local Small Charity Award Nominations
Yorkshire Building Society is just one of many companies, that accepts nominations from local charities via its own foundations. It considers projects that help job prospects in or near Bradford.
Charities can apply from £100K to £500K for a funding period of up to three years. All must be registered with The Charity Commission, and submit annual returns on time.
Its national Small Change Big Difference® Fund provides donations from £250 to $2500 to small charities working to ease financial hardship, with annual income of less than £100K.
Inspiration from Abroad: The Pollination Project
The Pollination Project offers small grants (around $500) to tiny animal welfare non-profits worldwide.
It has a dedicated team of 75 grant advisors and 5 country co-ordinators, all experts in their fields to guide funding decisions, to ensure each dollar creates meaningful change.
For farmed animal advocates, it can offer larger capital, and follow-up funding of up to $10K. Examples of projects funded include:
- An exam table for a pet mobile vaccine unit
- Earth-friendly water bowls for stray animals in India
- Campaigning for CCTV cameras in Spanish abattoirs
- Funding a vegan food relief bank in Ukraine
