The Great British public are a generous bunch of people, with 64% having donated to a charity in the last year!
But choosing a charity to support has never been easy as there are so many deserving causes and most of us, myself included, have many causes close to our hearts through family illness or disability or our passion for our furry friends or those who live overseas.
There is another way to give and its one I have wholeheartedly enjoyed doing for the last 15 years, and that is charity consortium giving. Why support one charity when you can support a range of charities with one gift?
Consortiums can be for one type of cause, such as Together for Animals, a consortium of four charities supporting animals with homing, veterinary care, and research, both at home and abroad or Childlife, supporting children with Ataxia UK, Acorns Children’s Hospice, National Deaf Children’s Society and the National children’s Bureau. Together they reach many thousands of families every year, providing a range of direct services, information, and advice.
Or they can be for a mixed cause such as Charities at Work, a group of 5 charities, including Age UK, British Red Cross, NSPCC, RSPB, and Scope. Just imagine being able to help all these people and animals with one donation!
There are also location-based consortiums, such as Big Hearted Scotland or Northern Ireland Charities Together.
Another major benefit of consortium giving is that you can help the smaller charities that may otherwise struggle to recruit regular donors.
We have set up and manage 5 consortiums which mix smaller low-profile charities with larger charities, so that one donation can help all of them. By promoting these consortiums to employees and encouraging them to give through their Payroll Giving scheme, smaller charities have been able to receive long term income which they would only have dreamed of, if they had been promoted on their own.
So, donors are not only helping many charities with one donation, but also helping those smaller charities to receive the help they so badly need. A big win win situation!
Check out the fantastic range of consortiums on our list
Author: Helen Von Trotsenburg Joint CEO StC Payroll Giving