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Giving Limited
JustGiving
Company typeLimited company
Founded2000; 24 years ago (2000)
FounderDame Zarine Kharas (CEO)[1]
Anne-Marie Huby (managing director)
Headquarters
Bankside, London, England
,
UK
Revenue£14m (2011)[2]
£1.5m (2011)[2]
Number of employees
160
Websitejustgiving.com

JustGiving is a global online social platform for giving.[3] The firm's headquarters are located in Bankside, London, England.

History

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In 2000, Zarine Kharas and Anne-Marie Huby founded JustGiving (initially clickforaction.com), a company to provide online tools and processing services to enable the collection of charitable donations.[2]

2006 was the firm's first profitable year.[4] In June 2011, the firm claimed that it had provided its service for more than 9,000 UK registered charities and 1.9 million fundraising pages for users, collecting more than £770 million since launch.[5] The cumulative total passed £1 billion in March 2012.[6] The cumulative total passed £4 billion in June 2016.[7]

Fees

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JustGiving charged a 5% fee on all donations to cover the cost of running the business until March 2019, when the fee was made voluntary.[8][9] In 2008, The Guardian reported Kharas as acknowledging that "the commission charged by justgiving.com is controversial".[4]

Notable fundraisers

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In January 2010, Charlie Simpson, aged seven, raised more than £210,000 (£145,000 in the first 48 hours) via his JustGiving page for the 2010 Haiti earthquake relief programme by UNICEF.[10]

In March 2014, Christian Smith was killed in a crash with a car during a 24-hour charity bike ride for Mind. Donations via his JustGiving page rose to more than £68,000 after his death was covered in the media.[11]

In April 2014, Stephen Sutton raised more than £4.5 million for the Teenage Cancer Trust, after help from celebrity backers including Jason Manford.[citation needed]

In April 2020, Captain Sir Tom Moore, by the end of a fundraising walk, had raised £32,796,155 (the most ever raised on the JustGiving platform) by completing one-hundred, 25 metres (82 feet) laps of his garden in Bedfordshire to raise funds for the UK National Health Service (NHS), to aid the NHS during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, and to mark his 100th birthday on 30 April 2020. The initial £1,000 goal was realised on 10 April and the target was increased to £100,000 and then to £500,000 as more people around the world donated. On completion, Moore said he would not stop and aimed to do a second hundred laps.[12][13]

Reception

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In 2002, JustGiving won the New Media Awards Grand Prix award and also Best Use of the Web award.[14][15][failed verification]

In 2004, JustGiving was recognised in the 2004 Charity Times annual Awards in their Fundraising & IT Services category. Charity Times said the company had "transformed the face of donating in the UK".[16]

Caroline Jones presenting the JustGiving Awards 2016

Corporate affairs

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Ownership

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JustGiving was acquired by U.S.-based Blackbaud, Inc. for £95 million in October 2017.[17]

Blackbaud were criticised in the wake of the Robb Elementary School shooting for its links with the National Rifle Association of America.[18]

International expansion and U.S. subsidiary sale

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In 2003, JustGiving launched a subsidiary in the United States, changing its name to FirstGiving in 2005. FirstGiving is located in Somerville, Massachusetts.[19] In 2010, The New York Times reported that FirstGiving.com was "among the best known" online fund-raising sites.[20] In August 2012, FirstGiving was acquired by FrontStream Holdings, LLC.[21]

Finances

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In February 2017, JustGiving was reported to be taking more than £20 million from fundraisers while paying staff up to £200,000. It takes a cut from most donations and while some of the money is used for maintenance, product development and charity training, accounts show that more than £10 million was spent on staff costs in 2016. This includes an average salary of more than £60,000 for some directors, sales and administration workers, with the head of the firm having earned approximately £198,000. A charity chief executive[who?] had accused JustGiving of being greedy, saying the fees were "hard to stomach" and fundraisers had expressed their anger, labelling the site "JustTaking".[22]

References

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  1. ^ Whittle, Sally (30 May 2002). "Is it a girl thing?". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  2. ^ a b c Smithers, Rebecca (6 April 2011). "Charitable giving: BT launches website where 100% of donations go to charity". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
  3. ^ Walker, Chris (2 December 2013). "JustGiving online charity platform arrives in Australia to make donating easier". Daily Telegraph. Australia. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  4. ^ a b Inman, Phillip (24 March 2008). "Charities go online to stay in the running and reach the next generation of givers – JustGiving.com has dealt with more than £250m in donations since 2001". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 November 2012.
  5. ^ "JustGiving...by the numbers". JustGiving. Archived from the original on 30 June 2011. Retrieved 10 January 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ "£1 billion raised through JustGiving". Community pages. JustGiving. 28 March 2012. Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 4 January 2013.
  7. ^ "JustGiving total raised passes £4 billion". UKFundraising. 15 June 2016. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  8. ^ Petter, Olivia (26 March 2019). "JustGiving drops 5% platform fee so more money goes to good causes". The Independent.
  9. ^ "How our fee works – and what we do for it". JustGiving. 23 July 2014.
  10. ^ "London boy raises £145k for Haiti quake aid by cycling". BBC News. 25 January 2010. Retrieved 20 November 2012.
  11. ^ "Family of Mind charity cyclist Christian Smith 'moved beyond belief'". BBC News. 25 March 2014. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  12. ^ "Army veteran, 99, raises £4m for 'humbled' NHS". BBC News. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  13. ^ Huddleston, Gemma. "Captain Tom Moore's 100th Birthday Walk for the NHS". JustGiving. Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  14. ^ "Home". NMA Efficiency Awards 2006. New Media Age. Archived from the original on 23 December 2005. Retrieved 2 March 2012. ... early Grand Prix winners including ... JustGiving in 2002
  15. ^ "Home". Nmaawards.co.uk. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  16. ^ "UK Charity Awards 2004 winners". Charitytimes.com. Archived from the original on 3 February 2007. Retrieved 2 March 2012.
  17. ^ Ricketts, Andy (4 October 2017). "Blackbaud completes its £95m takeover of JustGiving". ThirdSector. Retrieved 19 April 2018.
  18. ^ May, Melanie (9 June 2022). "Blackbaud faces backlash for working with NRA". UK Fundraising. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
  19. ^ "Firstgiving – $50 Million Raised for Charity and Counting". 12 September 2007. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  20. ^ Wallace, Amy (5 September 2010). "Online Giving Meets Social Networking". The New York Times. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  21. ^ "FirstGiving Acquisition By FrontStream Expands Integrated Fundraising Options". FrontStream. 6 August 2012. Retrieved 9 February 2023.[dead link]
  22. ^ Willgress, Lydia (7 February 2017). "JustGiving accused of taking £20m from donations while paying staff up to £200,000". The Telegraph. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
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