Reading my email late on Wednesday evening, my belief in the power of the little guy was dealt a heavy blow. Back in December 2009 it was with great excitement that I wrote about how Give A Brick was registering with fundraising portal BMyCharity. As a commission-free alternative to the monthly fee model associated with Just Giving, I was excited that this might provide just the facility we needed to move Give A Brick forward. I spoke to our treasurer, the lovely Dr Egg and he agreed that he could see the potential.

There are three players in this field. Just Giving is the most well known and charges charities £20 per month £15 per month to be registered with their service as well as taking 7% 5% from every transaction. Entering the field much later comes Richard Branson and his not-for-profit service, Virgin Money Giving. With no monthly fee but a one off set up fee of £100, they would be our first choice but for one major drawback: they charge a minimum of 20p transaction fee on every donation. As a charity who ask people to please, only Give A Brick (£1) we would lose 20p + around 16p as a banking fee on every £1. Whilst every penny counts and 64p is better than nothing, it is important we look for the best value for money options.

Enter BMyCharity. They charge a £150 set up fee and zero commission or transaction fee. After paying the initital £150, the only thing left for the charity to pay is the banking fees which are around 2% of the donation with no minimum fee. You give £1 to sponsor your friend to bath in baked beans and Give A Brick receives 98p. Awesome

Weighing up all the options, can you see why we went with BMyCharity? It’s the logical choice and they’ve been extremely popular. However, BMyCharity are withdrawing their service at the end of the month This is despite having a queue of charities waiting to sign up to their service and having secured corporate sponsorship.

We are a two man team with no external investors in a market increasingly characterised by companies with scores of employees and multi-million pound backing. Our search for investment has been unsuccessful, culminating in the failure of a proposed deal in the last few days, so the time has come for us to withdraw our service. – Ben Brabyn and Matt Cooper, Directors BMyCharity

As I’ve said before, all charities strive to be open and beyond reproach but I feel this is especially important when we’re asking everyone to get involved by giving a brick. Therefore, this post had to be written so that we can keep you involved in all that is occurring. I started constructing this post in my head last night. At the time I was feeling many things: disappointed, sad, angry and more than anything, absolutely gutted!

We registered with BMyCharity less than three months ago and as a team of similarly small proportions to BMyCharity, aside from setting Dr Egg up with a sponsorship page for his hair shaving adventure, we hadn’t yet had time to explore just how brilliant BMyCharity could be for Give A Brick’s fundraising. As a result it feels like we’ve just wasted £150 and now have nothing to show for it. I literally squeal and jump up and down with excitement every time someone kindly gives a brick so losing 150 bricks is hitting me hard right now.

With the benefit of a good night’s sleep I’m now feeling slightly more philosophical. We couldn’t have seen this coming and it will all work out in the wash. That said, if you know anyone of a philanthropic nature who would like to invest in BMyCharity, I know they are still open to negotiations at this late stage so please get in touch with them.

And now it’s your turn. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but would you have gone with BMyCharity? I always appreciate honest feedback and today is no exception. But tonight especially, be gentle. This blow is still rather sore

Tagged as: bMycharity, Raise funds