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Virgin's fundraising website a threat to Justgiving

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 17 Nov 2008

Virgin Money is launching an online fundraising site which will be the official online giving engine of the London Marathon, potentially sidelining Justgiving.

The financial arm of the Virgin empire, Virgin Money has launched Virgin Money Giving, a website which will enable individuals to raise money for charities registered on the website for the London Marathon and other events and causes. Virgin Money Giving will begin operation next spring to coincide with the 2009 Flora London Marathon, the last of the year of the event before Virgin Money takes up its five-year sponsorship of the marathon in 2010.

Justgiving, meanwhile, has worked with the London Marathon since 2002, raising £62.5m for charities supported by runners. The arrival of Virgin Money Giving could potentially dint the former’s hold on the lucrative fundraising event. However, Justgiving has officially welcomed the entry of a would-be competitor.

Managing director at Justgiving Anne-Marie Huby said: “We believe that anything that gives charities more choice in their online fundraising is a great thing, so we welcome Virgin to the sector.”

Huby told Professional Fundraising that Justgiving has had a strong relationship with the marathon. “I am forever grateful for the support we received from the London Marathon, and David Bedford in particular, at a time when online fundraising was in its infancy. Our partnership brought our service to a wide audience, and helped build our user base to what it is today - over 6.3 million [users] and growing,” she said.

At the announcement of its sponsorship of the London Marathon in March this year, a deal which cost Virgin Money a reported £17m, founder Sir Richard Branson declared that he intended the partnership will boost the amount raised by the marathon to £50m per year.

Sir Richard said that the new online portal will be key to reaching that target. “When we announced the sponsorship of the Virgin London Marathon I said our aim was to help runners smash one quarter of a billion pounds in five years. Virgin Money Giving is going to be the key engine behind that.”

However, Sir Richard said that Virgin Money chief executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia suggested that the scheme be expanded. “So Virgin Money Giving will be rolled out beyond the Virgin London Marathon to become the website for fundraising in the UK,” he said.

While promising to offer “significantly lower” fees than alternative websites, Virgin Money Giving will not release its full fee structure until the site goes live next year. It has, however, indicated that it will charge fees only to cover costs and will only take a percentage commission on the value of the donation itself, rather than on the value of the donation plus gift aid, as is the case with Justgiving which charges 5 per cent on total value.

Next year is set to be a competitive year for such sites, with Justgiving also preparing to launch a new platform, which, said Huby, “will bring fundraising to the next level in the UK and financially”.

Virgin Money Giving is a not-for-profit entity, operating separately from Virgin Money.

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