image, backed by national publicity. You can join us whether you’re a registered charity or not; we cater for volunteer-led groups and social enterprises. The costs are low and you get giftaid, processed automatically by our host.Localgiving.com is a website developed by dot.com millionaire Marcelle Speller (holidayrentals.com). LG’s mission is to use technology to empower community groups and help them become self sustaining. Groups can raise money, awareness and support through web pages that they can write and update themselves. It also links donors to geographic areas and themes of their choice. LG is a not-for-profit social enterprise controlled jointly by Marcelle and the Community Foundation Network (58 grant making member Foundations in the UK).
Benefits for local communities
Grassroots groups are threatened by the difficult economic climate: increasing need combined with budget cuts and scarcer funds.
The growth in the online giving market (currently 50% per year) is also a threat to those groups that are not able to accept online donations. Online giving favours large charities. They’ve already tapped the online market. They have the resources and wherewithal to optimise web opportunities. For the local grassroots groups, LG offers:
- Your own pages on the LG web site to attract donations and raise awareness online
- Extensive donor search facilities
- Sophisticated communications tools
- Web page updating at any time
- Automated giftaid processing (currently 28.2%)
- Improved search results on Google and other search engines
Benefits for donors and supporters
Increasingly, donors want to give locally rather than to big (high core cost) national charities. So, LG offers:
- The only UK website that enables donors to find and support local groups, including those that are too small to be registered by the Charity Commission
- Extensive search functionality so that donors can search by location or theme
- Vetting and endorsement by Foundations of LG registered voluntary groups