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Freeserve founder frustrated at charity

IT | Tania Mason | 1 Jun 2009

The former founder of Freeserve has criticised charities for being too slow to respond to fundraising opportunities presented to them.

Ajaz Ahmed recently launched JumbleAid.com, a not-for-profit auction website which works just like eBay except all the money raised goes to charity instead of the seller.

People list items for sale and specify which charity they want to donate the proceeds to – there are more than 25,000 on the JumbleAid database.  The money is collected by the Charities Trust, gift aided where possible, and distributed to the charities.

JumbleAid is backed by fellow Freeserve founder Rob Wilmot and ‘Secret Millionaire’ Carl Hopkins, and its business model is similar to Freeserve’s – it covers costs by attracting advertising and sponsorship, and promotes itself to the public through third parties. In Freeserve’s case this was the retailer Dixons; in JumbleAid’s case it is the charities that stand to benefit from the site’s success.

But according to Ahmed, despite charities all appearing very keen to embrace JumbleAid at meetings, very few have done anything to promote it to their supporters. He has presented the concept to "pretty much all the big players" yet the website still remains largely empty of stock. Only 23 charities have received donations since the site’s launch in November.

"It’s so frustrating," he said. "This is a complete no-brainer – they promote it, their members use it, and the charities get the money.  There’s no catch, it really is that simple.

"But even though they love the idea when we introduce them to it, they can’t seem to make it happen.  I’ve been stunned by their attitude.

"They spend ages having meetings and talking about it – but can’t make a decision. They’re worse than the public sector."

He suggests trustee boards ought to be much more vigilant about ensuring the procedures are in place to ensure their operational teams do avail themselves of opportunities presented to them.

But when Civil Society IT attempted to contact some of the fundraisers JumbleAid had spoken to, two had left their organisation and one was on maternity leave. Another, a fundraiser at Sheffield Hospitals Charitable Trust, said the charity liked the idea but because of staff shortages simply hadn’t had the capacity to pursue it.

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Who's Who: Tania Mason