Embrace online fundraising tools for emergencies, says Save the Children Spain’s head of digital

Maria Butera tells the International Fundraising Congress that some charities get two-thirds of their donations from this source during emergency responses

Digital fundraising accounts for about two-thirds of donations to many charities that are made in response to emergencies, according to Maria Butera, head of digital at Save the Children Spain.

Butera told delegates at the International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands that charities needed to embrace online fundraising tools in order to respond with greater speed to emergencies.

She was speaking at session called “What’s on your mind? New opportunities with Facebook”, which explored the possibilities offered by the new fundraising tools available on the social network.

Facebook launched the tools in 16 countries including the UK in September, after they were launched in the US last year. They include a “donate” button that charities can add to Facebook posts and fundraising pages so people can raise money for their chosen causes.

Butera said the way in which Save the Children Spain raised money online had changed completely in recent years.

“In past emergencies, the first thing we usually did was to set up a web page, then send emails,” she said. “Maybe after that you might put it on Facebook once or twice.

“For some organisations and for us, digital has come to be 60 to 70 per cent of emergency income because of the nature of digital. Speed is critical in an emergency, and digital tools can help you harness that because, particularly with natural disasters such as earthquakes or hurricanes, you get all the media attention in the first days.

“After a couple of weeks nobody else is talking about the emergency, but you’re still in the field helping those people.

“So you have to take the most advantage of that bunch of digital tools and start fundraising from the first day.”

Tom D’Souza, global innovation manager at the Movember Foundation, said the Facebook tools, which the organisation tested in the US during last year’s Movember event, had been an “amazing success”.

He said: “The most exciting thing for us was some of the statistics that showed fundraising behaviour change.”

On average, he said, fundraisers using Facebook raised twice as much as those who did not.

He said the tools had also allowed the charity to reach millions of people.

“We didn’t spend a penny, so that is a natural marketing platform for us, and you’ll never be able to put a value on that,” D’Souza said.

Anita Yuen, head of social good at Facebook, said another tool, which allows charities to include donate buttons on live streams and is currently available in the US, would be available in the UK soon but was unable to confirm when exactly that would be.

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Age UK grant will help older people get online

Posted: 16th October 2017

Older people who have never learned to use the internet will be helped online thanks to a £66,000 grant to Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland.

This grant will help Age UK recruit at least twenty “Digital Champions” to teach 2,000 older people to use communication tools like email, Skype and FaceTime; skills which younger people take for granted.

Digital Champions Project

The Digital Champions project aims to help older people to access online information on everything from benefits to bus timetables. With many services becoming digital by default, people who are not online face more hurdles in their daily lives to access both private and public sector services. There will also be an emphasis on online safety, and protection from viruses and fraud.

The project is supporting older people across  Leicestershire and Rutland with a focus on people in rural areas. It aims to combat loneliness by helping these budding “silver surfers” to keep in touch with family and friends online.

Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland’s Digital Champions will be holding up to four sessions a week across Leicestershire and Rutland. Sessions for groups of around 15 people will be held in libraries, village halls and residential homes. One to one lessons will also be available.

Tony Donovan, Executive Director at Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland said:

“We are very grateful to Leicestershire and Rutland Freemasons for their generous grant which will improve the quality of life for thousands of older people. More than four million older people nationally have never used the internet and we need to help them to benefit from all the advantages of a digital world that most of us take for granted.”

Leicestershire and Rutland Freemason, David Hagger said:

“We are very pleased to be able to support Age UK’s Digital Champions. As well as fighting loneliness and depression, getting older people online has great practical benefits. A household without internet access is on average £650 a year worse off.”

About Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland

Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland is an independent, local charity with a national name. The charity raises funds locally to support local older people with information, advice, services and support.

Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland offers a wide range of services for older people with physical frailty, impaired mobility, mental health issues such as dementia and learning disabilities and for those who are at risk of social isolation, loneliness, fuel poverty or financial abuse. Many services are free at the point of delivery.




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Regulator to update fundraising code to include standards for online giving platforms

It is one of the developments from a meeting last week involving the Fundraising Regulator, Charity Commission and major giving platforms

The Fundraising Regulator will update the Code of Fundraising Practice to include standards for online giving platforms, following a meeting between charity regulators and the platforms last week.

The Fundraising Regulator, the Charity Commission and representatives from 14 of the online giving platforms met last week to discuss issues such as how to tackle fraud on websites that allow people to set up fundraising pages.

In a joint statement published yesterday, attendees at the meeting said the code had been among the topics discussed.

The statement said: “The Fundraising Regulator is reviewing the Code of Fundraising Practice and wants to update and expand the standards for online fundraising set out in the code.

“Platforms will work with the Fundraising Regulator to contribute to the review of the code.”

The regulator last month announced a wider consultation on possible changes to the code, which is due to be launched later this month.

At the meeting, the platforms also committed to working with the regulators to review “their resilience to fraud and to create a new forum to share advice and intelligence about potential fraud threats”, the joint statement said.

And they have committed to offering advice and guidance to the individuals setting up fundraising pages about the choices available to them and their responsibilities.

Although all the platforms said they already had robust anti-fraud measures in place, the statement said: “More can be done, working collaboratively, to ensure clear and consistent advice across different platforms and generally to the public.

“It is critical to avoid confusion about, for example, accountability to the Charity Commission, eligibility for Gift Aid, and what happens in the event of a failed appeal.

“Platforms agree to work with the Charity Commission and Fundraising Regulator to agree and disseminate clear and consistent public advice about the choices available for donating.

The Charity Commission and the Fundraising Regulator will report back to Tracey Crouch, the Minister for Civil Society, on the progress of discussions and whether they think the current regulatory framework is adequate, the statement said.

It added that online fundraising platforms that had not attended the meeting were invited to join future discussions.

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Regulators meet online giving platforms to discuss fraud prevention

The Charity Commission and the Fundraising Regulator are meeting representatives from 14 of the biggest operators, including JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving, to agree principles

The Charity Commission and the Fundraising Regulator are meeting senior representatives from online giving platforms to discuss issues such as how to combat fraud.

The meeting, which is taking place today, brings the regulators together with 14 of the biggest fundraising platforms, including JustGiving, BT MyDonate, GoFundMe and Virgin Money Giving.

In a statement, the commission said: “The aim of the summit is to collectively agree some principles that will ensure individuals are supported when setting up or donating to online appeals, help to increase public trust and confidence in charity and online giving, and ensure that charitable resources in the short, medium and long-term are used as effectively as possible.”

The commission said these issues were especially important in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the UK this year and the Grenfell Tower fire, which prompted the public raise to more than £38m for those affected, largely through online fundraising platforms.

But concerns were raised about the veracity of some of the fundraising pages. In April, JustGiving seized control of a fundraising page on its site that purported to have been set up in memory of Aysha Frade, who was killed the previous month in the terrorist attack on Westminster, after users spotted it had been started by a woman who had the same name as someone convicted of fraud.

Attendees at the meeting will discuss how to protect charitable funds from fraud or misrepresentation, how to ensure individuals understand the responsibility they are taking on in setting up a fundraising page and are supported to do so, and how to provide transparent information about fees and the amount of money will go to the platforms themselves.

The meeting will also explore whether the self-regulatory regime set out in the Code of Fundraising Practice was the appropriate way to assure the public and parliament that major giving platforms were adhering to high standards and transparency, the commission statement said.

Online platforms that allow private individuals to collect donations for their chosen causes and share their fundraising appeals with friends and family have become increasingly popular. JustGiving’s chief operating officer, Charlie Wells, predicts that online donations will represent 50 per cent of online giving by 2020.

Jo Barnett, executive director at Virgin Money Giving, told Third Sector the platform was aware of the importance of keeping charitable donations safe.

“The key thing we would like to see progressed through the summit is an understanding of how fundraising platforms can work together to provide greater transparency, minimise fraud and support charities in driving up new income,” she said.

Helen Stephenson, chief executive of the Charity Commission, said the emergence of new crowdfunding and online giving sites had had a positive impact on charitable giving in the UK and she hoped the meeting would allow the organisations involved to build on this success and to identify what steps were needed in the future.

“We want to ensure that the public are sufficiently informed about online giving and can set up appeals and donate with confidence,” she said.

Stephen Dunmore, chief executive of the Fundraising Regulator, said it was important that online platform operators supported both the legal requirements and the good practice set out in the Code of Fundraising Practice.

“We look forward to building good working relationships with the online platforms to ensure that they support the code and can help develop it in future, as well as to assure the public that they can donate safely when they use the platform of their choice,” he said.

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More than a third of girls have wellbeing affected by online pressure, says Girlguiding

The pressure to present a “perfect” life online is affecting the confidence and wellbeing of girls and young women, an in-depth survey from Girlguiding has shown.

The charity found that more than a third of girls aged 11 said that comparing their lives with others was one of the greatest worries they had about spending time online.

A similar proportion of 11 to 16-year-olds said they worried about how they looked in photos and about a quarter were concerned that they felt the need to check their phones first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

The figures come from Girlguiding’s ninth Girls’ Attitudes Survey, the largest piece of research about girls and young women in the UK. It questioned 1,906 girls and young women aged between seven and 21 from across the UK about their lives, beliefs and activities.

The survey also found that the amount of time spent online was a concern that only worsened as girls got older: 40 per cent of those questioned aged between 17 and 21 said it was their second greatest worry next to being distracted from academic work.

The latest findings come as more girls and young women use social media platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube as recreational activities.

The survey also highlighted a gap in the perception of online dangers and how parents are at risk of underestimating the impact that a life online can have on their daughters.

It found that girls recognised that, although their parents were aware of threats to their daughters’ safety and of online grooming, less than half (47 per cent) of girls questioned felt that their parents realised the pressures they faced from social media.

The ninth Girls’ Attitudes Survey will be published by Girlguiding later this month.

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Prince’s Trust launches new digital platform to widen online access

Prince’s Trust Online has been launched to support a million more young people over the next ten years

The Prince’s Trust has launched a new online platform to help vulnerable young people access its services.

The charity said the portal would allow young people to benefit from its programmes even if they were unable to attend in person because of where they lived or the nature of their personal circumstances: those living in rural areas, for example, making travel to a Prince’s Trust delivery centre difficult, or those whose lifestyles made it hard to access programmes, such as single parents and young carers. The charity said it would also enable them to complete their programmes at a pace and time that would fit in with their other commitments. A group of such people were involved in road-testing the platform.

Prince’s Trust Online is a key part of the charity’s aim of supporting a million more young people over the next 10 years. The new platform, which is supported by founding patrons Nominet and NatWest and the content sponsor L’Oreal Paris, means the trust’s programmes can be accessed by smartphone, tablets and computers.

The new platform was unveiled at London Tech Week’s TechXLR8 this week. A digital version of the Prince’s Trust’s enterprise programme, designed to help young entrepreneurs develop their ideas into businesses, was also launched. Prince’s Trust Online mirrors the enterprise programme by providing and combining e-learning modules with an e-mentoring service.

A speaker at the event was Duane Jackson, who was supported by the trust to found a tech business after spending time in prison. He has since sold the business and become a member of the trust’s Enterprise Fellowship.

David Ivell, the trust’s chief information officer, said: “With the launch of Prince’s Trust Online we will be able to support more young people than ever and, perhaps most importantly, break down barriers that have previously prevented us reaching those who may have the most to gain from one of our programmes.”

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