Virgin Money Giving breaks the £10 million barrier for charity

In the week of the very first Virgin London Marathon, Virgin Money Giving announced it has broken the £10m barrier raised for charity. Virgin Money Giving launched on October 14 2009, just six months ago.

In the week of the very first Virgin London Marathon, Virgin Money Giving announced it has broken the £10m barrier raised for charity. Virgin Money Giving launched on October 14 2009, just six months ago.

Unlike other online fundraising services, Virgin Money Giving (virginmoneygiving.com) is a not-for-profit business. That means fees are as low as possible so more money reaches good causes.

This not-for-profit business model has already meant £500,000 more has reached charities compared to other leading online fundraising services in the same period. Virgin Money Giving estimates that this will reach £1m more before the end 2010. virginmoneygiving.com, which is free for fundraisers, charges a flat £100 + VAT registration fee for charities and a 2% fee on all donations before Gift Aid which means for every £10 donation charities receive £12.47*.

Virgin Money Giving was launched by Virgin Money, the banking and financial services part of the Virgin empire. Virgin Money's ambition is to make “everyone better off”, a philosophy which looks to offer good value to customers, treat employees well, make a positive contribution to society and deliver a fair profit to shareholders. Virgin Money Giving is a core part of this strategy aiming to make a positive difference to society through charities.

Scott Mowbray, Head of Media and External Affairs at Virgin Money said: “We launched Virgin Money Giving as a result of Virgin Money's London Marathon sponsorship. We realised there was a better, more efficient way for people to raise money online with a not-for-profit business model which is unique in online fundraising.

“The fact that in our first six months we've seen such success suggests that fundraisers agree with us too. If every runner who runs in the 2011 Virgin London Marathon raised money through Virgin Money Giving, over £1m more would reach charities.”

Virgin Money has invested over £3million in the launch, using its experience as a financial services business to build the hi-tech website.

Virgin Money Giving ensures card payments are processed as securely as possible and offers charities state-of-the-art reporting tools to help them maximise the efficiency of their online fundraising efforts.

As a not-for-profit business Virgin Money Giving charges charities the minimum fees needed to cover the running costs of the site. Any money left over after covering operating costs will go towards reducing fees further or improving services for fundraisers and charities.

The most popular message of support to runners this year was ‘un Forrest run' with over 500 donors leaving this message. Almost 500 (437) fundraising teams ran together and raised money on Virgin Money Giving and over 13,000 people sponsored Virgin London Marathon runners £26.20. That's £1 for every mile ran giving a total of £340,600 and with Gift Aid added that comes to a whopping £429,854.50 for good causes.

virginmoneygiving.com is the official sponsorship website of the Virgin London Marathon, Royal Parks Half Marathon and Sony ‘Run to the Beat'.

About Virgin Money

• Virgin Money is Virgin's financial services arm and was established in 1995 as a joint venture between the Virgin Group and Norwich Union.
• In 1997, Virgin Direct Personal Financial Services Limited launched The Virgin One Account, a joint venture with The Royal Bank of Scotland that offered the UK's first current account mortgage direct to the retail market. In 2001, RBS bought out the Virgin Group's stake in the joint venture.
• In April 2004 the Virgin Group took 100% ownership of Virgin Money.
• Virgin Money currently has over 2.5 million customers and offers Payment Cards (Credit Cards & Prepaid Cards), Savings and Investment products (Stakeholder Pensions, Children's Pensions, Employers Pensions, FTSE Tracker ISA, Bond & Gilt ISA, Climate Change ISA, Cash ISA, and Unit Trusts), General Insurance products (Motor, Home, Travel, and Pet) and Life Assurance products to the UK market.
• Virgin Money's brand ambition is to make "everyone better off" - this philosophy underpins our approach to business by offering good value to customers, treating employees well, making a positive contribution to society and delivering a profit to shareholders.

About the Virgin London Marathon

• The inaugural Virgin London Marathon was held on 25 April 2010. Virgin Money, the financial services division of the Virgin Group, is leading the London Marathon sponsorship with the aim of helping runners to raise £¼ billion over 5 years and will use its infrastructure, online capability and financial expertise to deliver that through Virgin Money Giving. Virgin has signed a five-year deal to be the official sponsor of the London Marathon, the biggest annual fundraising event in the world.