Oxfam and PayPal have teamed up to launch new form of donation where 100% of donations goes directly to fighting poverty. Ordinarily charities use some of the donations that they receive for running costs, but under the partnership PayPal will cover all of Oxfam’s running costs on money donated through PayPal at www.oxfam.org.uk/giving.
The initiative follows a new Oxfam report showing that people are often deterred from giving because part of their donation usually goes towards the charity’s running costs. The 100% giving report reveals that 72 per cent of Britons believe running costs eat up a significant part of their donation, whilst 65 per cent admit they have been put off supporting charities because of these costs.
There is also a widespread misconception about the amount of money that is allocated to essential running costs, with most people believing it is more than three times the actual figure spent.
Typically for every £1 donated to Oxfam, 81p goes directly to programme work to tackle poverty, while 19p is spent on essential running costs (for instance training our staff to work in the toughest conditions, getting vital equipment out to emergency situations).
It is hoped that the partnership will establish an entirely new model for donating to charities. For every £1 you donate during February, PayPal will cover all running costs when you donate via PayPal at www.oxfam.org.uk/giving. Any regular monthly donations set up during February will also have their running costs paid for the first twelve months.
Carl Scheible, PayPal UK’s MD explained “We have huge respect for the important work that Oxfam does, and wanted to find a way to support both the charity and people looking to make their donations count in a tough economic climate. 100% giving is a quick and easy way to really make a difference.”
If you want to support Oxfam during February then every penny you donate will go directly towards supporting the people they help.
4 Responses
so where do paypal get the money to cover running costs ?
no such thing as a free lunch!
charity is an industry whose product and stock in trade is poverty and pain
This could be a good programme, but the way it’s described is incomprehensible. Are Paypal talking about a)the incremental running costs of these extra donations or b)contributing towards the existing costs the charity has, the admin staff, the IT system etc.?
If a), there’s not much to get excited about, because incrementally it’s pretty near zero. If b), it’s much more generous.
But we still can’t really tell which.
why does a financial institution helping another not shock me