Youthnet Gains from Virtual Pennies
18/2/2008
Youthnet, the UK’s first exclusively online charity, has become one of the first charities to benefit from Europe’s first virtual collecting tin, encouraging people to donate the change from their online purchases.
The charity is working with Ukash, the FSA-accredited company that introduced cash payments to global online transactions, to raise funds to support its two websites.
TheSite.org, a guide to life for 16 to 24 year olds, provides advice, support and guidance to young people on key issues that affect them, from sex and relationships to work and study. Currently around 500,000 unique users access it every month.
do-it.org.uk is a volunteer database of over 800,000 opportunities across the UK.
People can donate the change from their Ukash vouchers to YouthNet and other charities through a newly introduced function on the Ukash website.
“The pennies can soon mount up. If everyone donated the 1p change from their £9.99 purchase made using Ukash we could raise thousands of pounds a year for our partner charities,” said Mark Chirnside, CEO of Ukash: “We feel this is a dynamic way to provide charities with a new revenue stream by capitalising on the small value Ukash change vouchers that may not otherwise be spent.”
Chief Executive of Youthnet, Fiona Dawe, says: “Youthnet thrives on finding new and innovative ways of using the internet to benefit our users, be it through new technology on TheSite.org, or inventive ways to get our advice out there.
“Joining forces with Ukash is an exciting way to raise money through the internet, hopefully raising thousands of pounds for the young people we help.”
Ukash issues cash vouchers for consumers in the UK and Europe to purchase goods and services online. The purchases are sometimes for a lower amount of money than the value of the vouchers, and Ukash will enable consumers to donate the ‘change’ that results from spending the voucher.
©2008 Smart Voucher Ltd
Smart Voucher Ltd. (of which Ukash is a trading name) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority in the United Kingdom as an electronic money institution. Smart Voucher Ltd (trading as Ukash) FSA Register Number: 447811.