The fundraising platform Virgin Money Giving is to waive its 2 per cent platform fee for charities during the lockdown period.
Donors have already been able to cover the 2 per cent platform fee on behalf of their chosen charities, plus the 2.5 per cent payment processing fee.
But a Virgin Money statement said that for the remainder of the coronavirus lockdown the platform fee would be waived, with donors still given the option to cover the payment processing fee for the charity.
The platform fee goes towards covering the costs of VMG, which is operated by its parent company Virgin Money on a not-for-profit basis.
“By temporarily covering the fee in this challenging time, Virgin Money will help people’s generosity stretch even further in support of charities and the valuable work they do across the UK,” the Virgin Money statement said.
David Duffy, chief executive of Virgin Money, said: “With many charities seeing a large drop in their fundraising contributions during lockdown, we want to make it that little bit easier for all the generous donors, fundraisers and the charities they support.
“By covering VMG’s small platform fee for the rest of the lockdown, we hope to help charities raise much-needed funds to continue their valuable work during the worst of this pandemic.”