New platform whatCharity.com aims to ‘level the charity playing field’

A platform aimed at helping donors and volunteers choose which charities to support has launched. A combination of an online directory and social media platform, whatCharity.com aims to ‘level the charity playing field’ by providing charities with a profile searchable by location, mission, impact, causes, donor and beneficiary reviews, resources needed, size and more, that lets people see what support charities need and choose which ones to work with. Each charity registered on the platform will have a free, automatically generated profile with their Charity Commission data, which they can then fill with relevant content including their mission, projects and the impact they intend to make. They can request any resources from the public or companies, whether it is skill-based volunteering, trustees, monetary or product donations from companies, or promotion of their shops and services.     Peer-to-peer reviews and star ratings will also allow donors, volunteers and beneficiaries to evaluate their experiences with charities. According to whatCharity.com, it is the first platform to show charity ratings and encourage positive feedback designed to help instil more trust and transparency amongst the public. Basic charity profiles will be free, and during whatCharity’s beta phase, all charity profile functionality will be free of charge. WhatCharity will later introduce tiered monthly subscription fees for its premium features, based on charity size, for which it says it will offer an advanced GDPR solution, digital communication and promotion features. Tech start up Dobook Limited is behind the platform, and the national charity upload process will start in May and eventually whatCharity.com expects all England and Wales charities to be represented on the site. Tiia Sammallahti, founder and CEO of whatCharity.com said: “The decade long sector conversation about increasing transparency, focus on impact and donor engagement has not yet materialised through the creation of accessible digital consumer products, nor has seen a dramatic shift in the sector’s mindset. This leads to the fact that 93% of the UK public believe charities to be important but hard to navigate, lacking transparency and are perceived as financially inefficient.” “We offer a digital solution to a sector which is currently five years behind other markets in terms of its utilisation of technology and how it can be used to improve engagement with the public and deliver more resources to the sector.”    

from UK Fundraising http://ift.tt/2ppWYc1