Virgin Money Giving, the latest rival to Justgiving, has launched today.

The website, developed by Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Money and which will be the official fundraising platform for the London Marathon 2010, claims to be the most cost-effective fundraising website for charities.

Sir Richard (pictured) said: "Virgin Money Giving’s fees are as low as we can possibly make them so they receive the maximum amount possible from every donation."

Jo Barnett, executive director of Virgin Money Giving, said that the organisation believes it can expand online giving. "Online giving is a sector we believe should grow dramatically in the coming years and we’re excited about driving that growth," she said.

Virgin’s entry into the online fundraising platform market was announced last November, at which point Justgiving welcomed the introduction of more competition into the sector. Justgiving has been the dominant player in the market since its launch in 2000, raising more than £504m in the meantime.

Virgin Money Giving has reportedly carried out extensive testing of the site, wary of the problems involved in the re-launch of the Justgiving site in June.

Meanwhile, MyGift – a fundraising platform developed by The Charity Service – which had been slated for an early August launch, remains only a static page. The Charity Service’s Michael Colin told Professional Fundraising earlier this month that there were “one or two” things holding the website up from going live.