Virgin Money Giving and Holly Branson help Charities use Technology to Boost Donations
Virgin Money Giving has teamed up with Holly Branson to launch its new mobile website, designed in partnership with Usablenet, which will allow charities of all sizes take advantage of digital technology to boost donations in difficult economic circumstances. This comes as charitable donations are reported to be at their lowest in real terms since 2004-5.
Virgin Money Giving, the not-for-profit online donation service, is partnering with its patron Holly Branson to launch its mobile website. The newly optimised site, created in partnership with mobile and multichannel leader, Usablenet, will support fundraisers by providing a greater choice for donating ahead of the Virgin London Marathon and for other charitable fundraising events.
The new site will streamline the donation process helping charities capitalise on the rise of mobile giving. Donors will now be able to give on-the-go with Virgin Money Giving, with just a few clicks – or taps – of their device, making it easier than ever to donate to charity.
Difficult economic circumstances have already forced 50% of charities to take steps to reduce salary costs, while the demand for their services increases. Charities can use Virgin Money Giving’s dedicated mobile site to create campaign pages and direct traffic for appeals to maximise the reach to their target audience, saving the hassle of creating their own donation-enabled site.
In recent research commissioned by Virgin Money Giving, 80 per cent of charities surveyed said digital technology is the key to increasing future income. Yet 86 per cent of charities currently do not believe that they are making the most of digital and online fundraising and 76 per cent of charities do not have their own mobile friendly website.
Virgin Money Giving’s mobile site allows charities to focus funds and resources on helping those in need, rather than building online infrastructure or dealing with administration. The new Virgin Money Giving mobile site makes charity donations easier and simpler for everyone.
Holly Branson, patron of Virgin Money Giving, comments: “When I crossed the finish line of the Virgin London Marathon the feeling was something I wanted to bottle and share with everyone. It’s fantastic and exhausting but always worth the effort. It’s a particularly hard year for fundraisers and charities trying to raise money for fantastic causes so we need to do everything we can to make it easier for people to get involved. Like many people, lots of my family and friends are fundraising and I find it incredibly useful to be able to donate on the move. I also know from running my own charity, Big Change Charitable Trust, how important it is for people to be able to donate quickly, easily and efficiently. Often people donate ‘in the moment’ and via a mobile is the quickest and easiest way when you’re on the go.”
Carin Van Vuuren, chief marketing officer, Usablenet, comments: “Smartphones are becoming ubiquitous in our daily lives and it is important that charities can maximise this in reaching out to and engaging with donors. The mobile site demonstrates Virgin Money Giving’s commitment and understanding that if charities can make it easier and simpler for people to donate on their own terms they, and the causes they serve, will reap the rewards.”
Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]
