4 December 2014
Charity donations online rose sharply on #GivingTuesday, figures
have revealed.
Software provider Blackbaud said donations in the UK went up by
270 per cent compared to last year and that they were up 43 per
cent on any other Tuesday in the year.
JustGiving said total donations were up 46 per cent compared to
the same day last year and text donations were up by 80 per
cent.
Visa Europe said that more than £2,500 was donated every minute
on Visa cards in the UK and donations were up by ten per cent on
last year.
Stewardship, a charity which promotes tax-effective giving,
said donations increased by 16 per cent on last year.
The Charities Aid Foundation, which promoted #GivingTuesday in
the UK working closely with Blackbaud, said that the number of
spontaneous donations through the organisation increased by
35 per cent on last year.
Localgiving.com, which helps small charities to fundraise, said the
total raised yesterday was £75,736 – an increase of 885 per cent on
last year when they raised £7,693.
Shopping and fundraising website Give as You Live, which gave
increased charity donations when people purchased from major stores
via the site, said shopping was up by nearly a quarter on last
year.
Charities small and large across the country reported a huge
surge in support on the day.
Fundraiser Polly Kersys-Hull from Hand in Hand, which helps
impoverished communities in Africa and South America, said:
‘’As a small charity, Hand in Hand were delighted to be
involved and it gave us a platform to engage with a whole cross
section of the public who we might not normally have contact
with.’’
A spokesperson for Visa Europe said: “Data is still coming in
but early indications suggest the number of donations made with
Visa cards on #GivingTuesday was up around ten per cent
week-on-week and year-on-year.
‘’That’s the equivalent of more than £2,500 donated every
minute on Visa cards in the UK”.
JustGiving’s co-founder, Zarine Kharas, said: “At the heart of
#GivingTuesday is the desire to bring people together to show the
world why it’s good to give, which is why JustGiving is pleased to
be a key partner.
‘’The social nature of the campaign is in tune with
JustGiving’s role as a social platform that unites people around
the world with the causes they care about.
‘’It is a perfect antidote to Black Friday and Cyber Monday
- a day dedicated to thinking about and taking action together for
charitable causes close to everyone’s hearts.”
Celebrities including David Tennant, Carey Mulligan and Tom
Daley took to Twitter in their droves to lend their support to
#GivingTuesday.
The British campaign trended on Twitter across the UK for 11
hours and reached more than 180million people worldwide.
Over 2,500 tweets an hour were posted about #GivingTuesday and
hundreds of charities and good causes were highlighted.
#GivingTuesday simply asked people to mark the day by
doing one thing for a good cause after the shopping days of Black
Friday and Cyber Monday.
Hannah Terrey, Head of Policy and Campaigns at the Charities Aid
Foundation, said: ‘’It has been truly inspiring to see how much the
nation embraced #GivingTuesday.
‘’We have been receiving such lovely messages from charities
about what an amazing day it was for them.
‘’#GivingTuesday was all about giving back and helping others
and people took it to their hearts. We are so proud to have helped
bring this special day to the UK.’’
A few stories from the day
Streetbank, which unites neighbours to give to one another, said
#GivingTuesday had led to ‘an outpouring of generosity’, with three
times more things given than normal. Items included an air
hockey table, a children’s car seat a large coffee table and Harry
Potter trivia board game.
Crisis took 1,000 online donations.
Delete Blood Cancer registered 150 people to go on standby to
donate some of their blood stem cells if they are a tissue-match
for someone with a blood cancer in need of a lifesaving donation
with another 200 online.
Vision Africa raise £2,000 for a project via Global Giving
website, Global Care raised £1,390 which was matched to £2,780 and
staff at the Charities Aid Foundation raised £5,182.
African Children’s Fund saw traffic to its Facebook site
increase by three times.
The Centre for Voluntary Action gathered 12 boxes of
non-perishable food, 18 bags of clothes and two boxes full of
toiletries from local donors.
Simple Gifts Unitarian Centre for Social Action received £1,250
of unexpected donations – two-thirds of their Christmas Appeal goal
after only learning about #GivingTuesday the day before.
Azuko raised £932 with people selling everything from vintage
tennis racquets to decorative eggs.