How do you Givto?
Penny Coulthard, Givto’s charity engagement lead, shares some of the different ways that Givto members are selecting the charity they’re going to support.
We’ve been getting some feedback from people who use Givto and discussing amongst the Givto team how we choose our charity each month on the Givto platform.
It’s shown some interesting differences. Maybe they reflect our personalities – who knows?
Each month Givto presents members with a choice of three charities to choose from. Their monthly Direct Debit then goes to that charity and we also claim Gift Aid on their behalf. We try to make sure there is a good mix of charities in terms of sector, size and location.
We’ve heard that there is a sense of anticipation and excitement as members wait for their monthly email telling them it is time to choose. Who will the charities be? Who will I discover?
Some people choose on their own. Others make it a joint decision, sitting down with partners or the entire family to look through the options and decide which charity they want to support this month.
My husband and I have both signed up and choose separately and then compare notes; maybe that says something about our relationship?!
Jo, a Givto member from Wetherby explains “I read the information and then my son Alexander reads it. We have a chat and discuss it and usually he gets the final say!”
We’ve also noticed different approaches in how people choose.
Some are instinctive and base their choice on the description the charity provides. Others are researchers, clicking on the links to the charity website to learn more about what they do and the Charity Register to see how the charity spends their money. Some even turn it into a research project for the children.
Many look for a charity that is local to them, or reflects their interests or a personal connection such as cancer charities. And some even try to guess who will be the underdog and deliberately pick them.
Nick, our Technical Director explains “Since we started using Givto we’ve discovered and been able to support lots of charities we never would have known about otherwise. We like to pick the smallest or least well known charity each month; we feel like our donation will have more of an impact for them.”
Surprisingly it turns out that charities are chosen quite evenly and often receive an almost equal share of donations that month.
Finally we mustn’t forget the people who, for whatever reason, forget to choose. Fortunately Givto chooses for you, making a random choice and emailing you to tell you who has benefited from your donation this month.
However you choose, we and the charities on our platform are incredibly grateful for your support.
Why not encourage someone you know to join and start choosing on Givto as well?
Penny Coulthard is Better Giving Partnership’s charity engagement lead. Connect with Penny on Twitter or LinkedIn.
