She was raising money for The Samaritans and collecting donations, like many others, via a Just Giving page.
Since her tragic death, donations to her chosen cause, via the page have kept on going and, in fact, have increased dramatically with monies coming from all around the world. Currently the total stands at about £200,000.
The Samaritans would, I'm sure, love to get that £200,000 to put towards the various good works they do .... but they won't get all of it.
Just Giving, unlike other similar charity collection websites such as Virgin Money Giving, will take a cut of all the donations made to go into their own coffers.
Yes, every time you donate to a charity via Just Giving they take a percentage from your donation.
This may be legal, it may be in the small print that everyone signs up to, but it feels like piracy on charity donations.
This seems bad enough as a matter of course, but to pilfer the donations made to Claire Squires, a woman who died whilst trying to help others, seems obscene.
Will Just Giving make an exception and waive their cut from the charity donations? Sadly I doubt it.
In the meantime, if you want to make a donation to Claire Squires charity appeal and want all the money to go to The Samaritans, I'd suggest bypassing Just Giving and donate directly to The Samaritans.
I've been watching her page and the total donations on it rise and rise over the last 24 hours. It is inspirational.
ReplyDeleteBut I have to question whether you're right here Robert..
Virgin are a huge company, and make a lot of money elsewhere in the marathon to recoup the costs involved with running the donation service.
JustGiving, on the other hand, began as a startup and needed a business model. This site takes money to run - and without it, there wouldn't be a site there in the first place.
5% is a smaller amount than most other campaigning methods - like street chuggers, or advertising (if you averaged it out).
If JustGiving made the exception this time, they'd have to make it for everyone, and they'd go bust. Charities would incur a net loss, as JG provides great marketing tools as well as handling massive amounts of financial transactions.
My 2p worth :)
Yes, I understand that argument and, in fact, have had it with a Just Giving employee on Twitter many moons ago, but I don't think it's right that they take such a large percentage (and don't make it that clear that they will either).
DeleteMaybe they should have a limit to how much they will take per page (after all, as it currently stand, Just Giving will benefit to the tune of £10,000 from the donations made to Claire Squis page), or maybe they should ONLY take costs and not profits.
basically, as a charity donation tool, their business model is fundamentally flawed and needs to be more like the Virgin one. If their sole purpose was maximising charity donations and making it easier for people to donate, once Virgin Money Giving had set up JG should have merged or closed down, but, insteadm they continue to take £5 from every £100 raised.
I see you point,
.... (continued) but I think they need to look at why they exist. is it profit or charity?
DeleteAnd, in laire Squires case, I think they should definitely reconsider.
Virgin Money Giving take a percentage of gift aid which would have gone to the charity.
ReplyDeleteDoes CAF take as much? Why not pay direct to the charity!?
ReplyDeleteHi just seen that Just Giving has said they won't be taking any money from any of Claire's donation. Good they've been seen to do the right think
ReplyDeleteExcellent news! Thank you.
DeleteGood news indeed.
ReplyDeleteRobert, I understand your point. I've had issues with them too. But the question has to be, are they or are they not to the greater good? I used them for my own fund raising, despite a few misgivings, because I believed that the benefits outweighed the costs. Of course, everyone's mileage will vary here. But all charities take a cut to keep their staff employed. JustGiving are at least open about it. I'd be surprised if your friendly local Oxfam manages a 95% return on all donations. I could be wrong...
Very few things are actually free or 0%. Virgin is a not-for-profit organisation, which means they do take a cut of the donation, between 3.5% and 3.6%, smaller than Just Giving, but still a cut. Even if you donated directly to Samaritans online the card processor will unboubtedly charge a fee for collecting and sending the money. A charity never really gets 100% of the money anyway, unless you go to their office and hand them cash!
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