News

JerseyGiving, a locally based fundraising platform tailored to meet the needs of the Island’s third and not for profit sector, has just launched. 

Raising money for causes in Jersey should become much easier with the launch of a brand new, local fundraising platform.

JerseyGiving is the work of Jersey-founded company RaceNation // SportsGiving and ran by a local team. It aims to make donating an efficient, seamless experience for donors and charities alike.

“It’s about giving anyone and everyone the tools and technology they need to raise money in the Island,” says Will Golder, chief executive of RaceNation.

As one of the brains behind SportsGiving – a platform built to unlock the fundraising potential of sports event – he saw firsthand the “bigger, wider need” for SportsGiving’s capabilities to be applied to general fundraising.

JerseyGiving can host fundraisers for any charity, not-for-profit, club or association and now crowdfunding initiative, where donors can easily give one-off or regular donations to a cause close to their heart.
The platform also aims to solve another pain point for charities – making the most of Jersey Gift Support, something the SportsGiving team has experience in as they deal with UK Gift Aid, in order to “get that tax back”.

Will says this was a “major aspect” of the build, and his team structured the platform in a way that would reduce the administrational burden on charities when applying for that tax relief, which is a mostly paper-based, “old-fashioned journey”. 

“Charities can now download a fully formatted spreadsheet that revenue will accept with all the data needed in order to submit the gift support claims,” he revealed.

“This is unique to RaceNation, SportsGiving and now JerseyGiving – that digital declaration allows the charity to get 25% more of eligible donations for doing absolutely nothing.

“From a local point of view, we have the luxury of knowing that, so we can adapt and develop.”

Will also shared that the way cover fees – the cost to the platform for processing donations – are approached on SportsGiving will be the same on JerseyGiving, in that the extra charge is laid out clearly throughout the donation process.

Cheri Strudwick, director of income generation for Jersey Hospice Care, shared that the “tip culture” seen across other donation platforms was not received well by donors.

“We were getting an increasing number of complaints from people using JustGiving who didn't understand the tip function, and some charities are still experiencing this today,” she said.

“Donors are becoming tired of the tip function and feeling forced, required or trapped into making an additional tip, when it's not necessarily the case,” Will agreed. “It was a barrier to giving, but thankfully, we've always done it differently.”

A £10 donation on the JerseyGiving platform will incur a 35p fee, which donors can choose to cover on behalf of the charity, so it receives 100% of the donation. If the donor chooses to not cover the fee, they are informed that the charge will be taken out of their donation.

And Will confirmed that there is no charge for charities to set up on the JerseyGiving platform, only the cover fee.

“We will continue to stay transparent, we won’t shy away from that process, and we will not move into this tip culture,” he stated.

The features of JerseyGiving platform and its ability to solve problems experienced by the third sector was a result of a partnership between RaceNation // SportsGiving and Jersey Hospice Care.

Cheri first reached out to Will in January 2024 to discuss how to replicate SportsGiving’s success in a platform that is specifically built to handle all charitable giving on the Island.

“Hospice had been using RaceNation for our flagship events, and we really wanted a solution that was as slick and efficient, but on a general donation side,” Cheri explained.

“We wanted a platform where people could make donations for a variety of reasons, but it was all powered by that same software. Will and I began our conversations on what we could do and that’s where the journey began.”

Seventeen months later, and the JerseyGiving platform was ‘soft launched’ by Jersey Hospice Care in July to allow for “ironing out any problems”, of which there had been none, Cheri said.

She highlighted that this project was not only for the benefit of Jersey Hospice Care, but for the Island’s third sector as a whole.

“As one of the largest charities in the Island, it’s important that we're giving back to the sector by working alongside RaceNation on the technology for the benefit of everyone,” said Cheri.

 “We’ve got the resources to look at the functionality, the back-end process, and feedback improvements or ideas. It was really important for us to be part of that.”

Will pledged that the initial launch of JerseyGiving was “just the beginning” for the team as they, alongside charities like Jersey Hospice Care, consider what the “future of giving” in the Island looks like.

“The next stages of development are going to be so vital, because if you stand still, you'll be left behind,” he said.

Users can expect more features, such as multiple charities on one fundraising page, to come from the JerseyGiving platform.

“We have so many more opportunities to help support the growth of fundraising,” he added.
“It's all about helping raise more money more easily, and if that's the lasting legacy of JerseyGiving, I'll be proud to have been part of it and so pleased to see where it goes.”