Just Giving

Couldn’t agree more

Well done Greenfinch always cut out the middle man where you can.

I am glad you were refunded Kamj but you should not have been charged in the first place. The company should feel free to ask for a donation but not stipulate the amount and add it automatically to the donation as in my case.
I still question why these middle men are necessary anyway. It seems somewhat parasitic to me.

Grandmotherto8

So many people set up Gofundme or Just Giving pages for less than charitable reasons. I cannot see why people need to beg for a family funeral, or a foreign hospital stay when they were uninsured.

I totally understand why people ('beg'?) Ask for support for the cost of a funeral!

Greenfinch

A dear cousin died recently and we were encouraged to donate to a local hospice via a Just Giving page. I went through all the motions : posting a message, giving my credit card details and address only to discover at the very end that they had added a fee of 20 %. Fortunately I had not pressed the confirm button so am now in the process of sending the donation directly to the hospice. I have since been reading up about Just Giving and their unacceptable profit margins. How can they justify it? Many of you will obviously be aware of this but a word of warning to the naive like myself. Don’t be sucked in . Donate direct.

This happened to me, I sent an email saying my mistake and they refunded me.

Fundraising is big business these days and there are often hidden costs from the people actually doing the work. I do not object to a small amount for their costs, but it is only recently that they have been more up front about it. Thank you for the reminder

Another one is the charity bags through the door. Read them to find they are a collections company and it tells you in the small print how much the charity will actually get. I use the bags to take my unwanteds to the local charity shop - they take, and make money out of, my "rags" too.

I always change the 'suggested' donation to £0.00. That seems to do the trick. Leaving it blank means it defaults to 20%

I didn’t know that. Thank you for letting us know

In some instances iff you donate to the charity directly it goes to head office and not necessarily to the cause you are wanting to donate to. An example is Hospiscare, if you donate directly it goes as mentioned to the main account. We have a local Hospiscare and Hospice at home in East Devon and most of our community want to donate to those rather than head office, so make sure they donate to the link given at the time, so it benefits our own area.

None of the churches I have been involved with have taken a percentage either . They already get paid for their services so why should they take more?
If the internet is to be believed Just Giving received £31 m profit in one financial year. Agreed they should be paid for their services but how necessary are they? I would be very grateful to be enlightened.

Not all churches take a percentage. Certainly none of the ones I have attended recently - and I’m on the PCC so should know!

But, yes, generally, it’s wiser to give directly, unless impossible.

In some funerals at some churches, the church takes a percentage of the donations made to the charities requested by the deceased, we found out recently - 20%. So we made donations directly to the 2 charities - a cancer charity and one for RNLI rather than donating in the church. Maybe this isn't the same for all churches, and maybe some people think it's good to support the church where the funeral is held?

So many people set up Gofundme or Just Giving pages for less than charitable reasons. I cannot see why people need to beg for a family funeral, or a foreign hospital stay when they were uninsured.

All cheques direct to the hospice (dad’s funeral). He had wonderful day care with them.

The trouble is that charities need money to run, and donation sites need money to manage donations. The alternative is to expect people to work for nothing. Would those who object to paying work for nothing?

I know people who refuse to pay for anything 'digital', such as ebooks, apps, downloads, knitting patterns etc without stopping to consider that someone has written the books, created the patterns or is managing the 'back end' of the apps. Obviously we can all choose what we pay for, but I do think it's unreasonable to expect to have the convenience of online transactions without paying those who make them possible.

20% is a huge added charge, but if most people remove it it's not likely to reduce - it will be a case of some subsidising others, as usual. I think a standard fee of, say, £1 to donate would be fairer. I doubt it costs more to administrate a larger donation than a smaller one, so a percentage doesn't seem fair.

I thought with just giving that they took a fee from the donation, 5% maybe, not asked for something extra.

It costs money to raise money. WOULD you have donated directly?

Thank you so much to everyone who replied on this thread. It has been most helpful . I have learnt two things: to avoid Just Giving if possible and donate straight to a person or organisation and if , compelled by circumstances, I have to use it then I must search for where I can retrieve the”voluntary “ contribution.”

Sometimes "Just Giving" is the only way.
My grandson did a sponsored swim and wanted to collect the money that way (as organised by the charity).
I also adjusted the fee.

It really annoys me.

I posted on here before about these on-line donations after taking part in on-line fund-raising last year.

It was so frustrating that I decided never to do it again.

Now, I donate direct to the charity and will never do on-line fundraising again.

It really is counterproductive...

I didn't see any information about removing the fee Greenfinch. But when asked for 20% I just clicked backwards till I found the lowest tip.
I forget how much but a lot less than 20%.

If it is possible to waive the donation fee it wasn’t at all obvious on the site I was on and it did not mention the percentage. I worked that out for myself. It merely listed my contribution and then gave me the final total with something to click on to explain the “tip”. Here it said it was to improve the technology etc. If there was the opportunity to decline I was unaware of it.

I recently donated through just giving. I adjusted the % down to the lowest amount. I object to paying extra, but in this instance it was the easiest way to donate.
I was caught out at the hairdresser recently. When paying the bill one can opt to give a tip to the stylist. I did so, only to discover I had also paid 5% extra for the privilege!

I wasn't caught the next time. Tipped in cash.

Think you can waive the suggested 20%.

I understood this 20% is not mandatory, but a suggested 'donation' fee?

Can you not adjust or remove the fee (I haven't used the site)?

However, if it is voluntary - it should be made quite clear, and the % number left blank.