Easy No-Brainer Ways for Charities to Raise Funds
In a perfect world people wouldn’t shop at Amazon or Argos, but millions do. So sign up easyfundraising and nominate your charity.
And for each purchase from over 6000 brands (including insurance, air tickets and Booking.com), a portion of the sale is donated, at no cost to you. Loyalty points are not affected.
The big companies (like Amazon) lose a little profit for doing some good, so everyone’s a winner. Say you buy a Nintendo Switch from Argos for £290.00, your charity would get £11.60. A quick search online found that around 10 million were sold last year.
So assuming 1 million of them are sold at Argos, that’s £11 million in donations available to small charities, at no cost to any buyer. If you book a hotel for £150, your tiny charity would get £6.
Other participants include John Lewis, eBay, Currys, Trainline and Screwfix. You can even raise money from booking taxis and trips to Alton Towers.
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).
How to sign up at easyfundraising
Just sign up and find (or add) your cause, which you can change at any time. Then use the app donation reminder, so that you never miss a free donation (the app pops up to remind you when you shop).
Big charities like RSPCA have raised over £20K, so just imagine how many tiny struggling charities could benefit. Local businesses can sign up and raise money each time they replenish office cartridges, or book travel/accommodation as part of their wowrk.
For charities outside the UK (say dog shelters in Eastern Europe), you can raise funds but must have someone with a UK bank account to bank monies into, as a ‘good cause’.
Teemill (organic branded t-shirts to raise funds)
Teemill is a wonderful company (run by an organic fashion company from Isle of Wight). As well as letting for-profit companies create branded organic cotton t-shirts, hoodies and sweatshirts, it lets small charities also raise funds.
Freedom for Animals has its own Teemill shop, selling organic tees and casual clothing, from ‘thanks but no tanks’ (to keep turtles in the wild’ to ‘freedom for reindeer‘ (campaigning against scared animals in shopping centres at Christmas time). It’s a great no-brainer way to raise funds.
You just design them using graphic software, then open a Teemill shop. People who buy then get print-on-demand clothing sent to them in zero waste packaging. Everything is made with green energy and items can be sent back for recycling (using QR codes on the care labels).
And your small non-profit raises money, from people buying things they would already buy elsewhere (t-shirts, casual clothing, caps and totes).
Inspiration from Abroad: The Pollination Project
Sometimes it’s good to see what others abroad are doing, to help make the world a better place. This is a great idea, that someone could emulate in England or anywhere else!
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
- Funding the monitoring of nesting sea turtles.
So far The Pollination Project has funded almost 7000 projects in 12 countries worldwide.
Giving Circles (raising funds for good causes)
Giving Circles is like crowdfunding, using software for people to pool small donations to help a cause. The favourite gets the most money, and sponsors give top-up money to charities that are doing the most good.
Movement for Good gives away £1 million to good causes each year, nominated by the public. Each charity can get £1000 (ther are six draws each year, including for Ireland, the Channel Islands or Isle of Man).
My Giving Circle gives up to £2 million in grants and donations, funded out of earned income. You can donate a regular monthly amount, then ‘vote’ to help charities get the ‘top prize grant’ (say WarPaws that helps animals in war-torn countries).
Search Philanthropy Together, a site that lists over 4000 giving circles worldwide, for all kinds of niche areas. Great inspiration to join or start something similar.
More ways to raise funds for your cause
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.
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.
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.
