Growth drives major upgrade of Givealittle

5 December 2014

Growth drives major upgrade of Givealittle

Givealittle has released a major upgrade of their website today, including a range of changes that will give New Zealanders wider access to competitive, zero fee crowdfunding options.

The website now has additional project pages as a crowdfunding tool that will sit alongside the original fundraising pages.

This addition positions the site as another homegrown alternative to the likes of Kickstarter and Indiegogo, with a valuable point of difference: users are not charged fees to use the service. Typically, both domestic and international platforms charge a minimum 5% service fee.

Project pages follow an all-or-nothing fundraising model, where the project owner only receives the funds if their target is reached.

Along with the website’s new branding and logo, from today, users will be able to watch generosity in action on a new live feed of donations. This will also display platform-wide running totals, taking into account other zero fee fundraising initiatives powered by the Givealittle platform.

General Manager of the Spark Foundation (who own and fund Givealittle), Lynne Le Gros, says a wish for this information to be displayed became clear during the fundraising drive for Northcote Good Samaritan Lucy Knight.

“With some pages we’re now noticing a telethon effect online where after donating, donors keep an eye on the page total. They’ll revisit the page and refresh to see the total climb and read other donor comments. It’s the sense of community, and the feeling of being one of many that keeps people coming back,” she says.

Givealittle has seen massive growth in the past year, with monthly donations now regularly surpassing the million-dollar mark.

“The Spark Foundation has made a significant investment into the growth of Givealittle and as this growth looks set to continue, the system has been redesigned to scale,” says Le Gros.

“As we’re committed to supporting a strong self-regulating community around Givealittle, the upgrades include new verification controls to provide donors with extra visibility around the payment of funds raised through Givealittle.”

Givealittle was acquired by the Spark Foundation in November 2012, at which time it became New Zealand’s first and only zero fees fundraising website.

In summary:
• Givealittle has announced major upgrades to the existing website.
• These changes have been sparked by Givealittle’s tremendous growth – the system has been redesigned to scale and has a new look and feel.
• The website now includes the option to create project pages as a crowdfunding tool.
• Users will now be able to watch generosity in action on a new live feed of donations, which will also display platform-wide running totals.
• New verification controls, to provide donors with extra visibility around the payment of funds raised, have also been initiated.

Spark Foundation
The Spark Foundation (formally Telecom Foundation) is a charitable trust funded by Spark New Zealand. Key activities of the Foundation include:
• Owning and operating online crowdfunding platform Givealittle.co.nz as New Zealand’s only zero fees fundraising platform, enabling generous New Zealanders to donate around a million dollars each month to deserving causes with the confidence every dollar will get through.

• Powering pledge-based crowdfunding programme Spark My Potential (www.sparkmypotential.co.nz) to help talented New Zealanders achieve their ambitions – with selected projects receiving top up funding from Spark New Zealand.

• A key funding partner of the Manaiakalani Education Trust, which is focused on using revolutionary digital learning methods to improve learning outcomes and student engagement in economically-challenged communities. The Manaiakalani programme began in East Tamaki, Auckland, and is now being extended into other communities across the country.

• Operating a best practice payroll giving programme that has benefited schools and charities with donations totalling more than $2 million, through the generosity of Spark employees and donation matching by Spark New Zealand.

• Organising volunteering programmes under which Spark New Zealand employees can spend a workday helping in the community each year.

ENDS

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