Givealittle redesigns site, on track to raise $15 million
Spark Foundation's new fundraising site has new features, increases transparency following $15K fraud.
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Fundraising website givealittle.co.nz has a new site design and is predicting it will have raised $15 million in 2014 by the end of the year.
Givealittle falls under the wing of Spark's philanthropic wing, Spark Foundation.
Apart from an aesthetic overhaul, “project pages” are now a crowd-funding tool that will sit alongside the original fundraising ideas.
The site still charges no fees, something it trumpets as a point of difference from other fundraising sites such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
“Typically, both domestic and international platforms charge a minimum 5% service fee,” a release says.
Spark Foundation general manager Lynne Le Gros tells NBR ONLINE there has been a focus on transparency following a fraudulent case of a 23-year-old woman raising $15,000.
A legal fund for Nicky Hager, which has raised $65,370 and counting, has also caused controversy.
Ms Le Gros says the new site will make it clear who is fundraising for whom and there will be more process validation and more checks at the conclusion of a fundraiser.
But she reiterates Givealittle’s position that it doesn’t judge a fund’s merit.
“We still remain a self service platform that doesn’t judge what need is and what’s a good type of need and what isn’t but we’re obviously not putting up stuff that’s illegal or immoral,” she says.
Most of the traffic to the site is driven through direct links from emails, social media and mainstream media Ms Le Gros says.
The three most popular fundraisers are medical help, schools and charities.
Two years ago $60,000 was being donated a month.
“Now we’re doing that same number in a day,” Ms Le Gros says.
On average, $1.2 million has been raised each month for the past five months.
Campbell Gibson
Sat, 06 Dec 2014
Sat, 06 Dec 2014
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