Leading tech-for-good company Donr has received a six-figure round of funding to help grow their platform, which helps charities to receive donations via text.
30.04.2020 – Donr – Jesmond, Newcastle, UK A Newcastle-based company who provide the UK’s fastest-growing text donation service has secured a second round of investment funding worth £350,000.
Team Donr
Tech-for-good firm Donr received the equity investment from the North East Innovation Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Northstar Ventures, and from Angel Investor, Andrew Robson. Northstar previously invested £300,000 in the business in Q2 of 2019.
The platform, which is directly integrated with the UK’s five main mobile networks, allows individuals to easily make a donation to their chosen cause via SMS.
Donr also recently hit the milestone of helping their community of 2,500 charities to raise over £1 million in aid of their causes, less than 18 months after launching their text-to-give service.
The platform has been well-placed to assist charities’ response to the COVID-19 crisis, as fundraisers have very quickly had to turn to more digital methods to fundraise. Increased usage of the service has resulted in a 400% increase in donations for the platform.
One charity who have made text giving a key part of their emergency coronavirus appeal are Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter, who have so far received donations from over 5,000 supporters in response to their social media campaign.
Donr’s platform supported FareShare’s fundraising activities during its COVID-19 response campaign which saw unprecedented public awareness and engagement. Donations from over 25,000 supporters were received and processed in just a couple of weeks.
With the backing of a second round of investment, Donr plans to focus on product development, creating innovative new products and tools to help charities fundraise.
Chris Newell, CEO of Donr says: “On average, we check our smartphones every 12 minutes – they’re always in our immediate reach. Text giving is a really simple and accessible way for anyone to make a one-off or monthly donation to a charity in less than a minute.
“We’re really proud that we’re in a position to help charities continue their fundraising efforts during this difficult time and will now look to expand our platform further. We’re happy that both Andrew and Northstar share our vision of the critical role that text giving can play in securing donations for so many brilliant causes.”
Richard Charnley, Investment Manager at Northstar Ventures, said: “We firmly believe in the power of tech-for-good and the significant role that mobile giving will play in a more flexible, more digital future for fundraising.
“We continue to support Donr on their mission – particularly during this challenging period of uncertainty the sector is facing”.
ENDS
About Donr
Donr helps UK charities of all sizes start and grow meaningful supporter relationships through better donation technology. Now working with over 2,500 charities – including The Trussell Trust, the National Theatre, Tyneside Cinema, CHUF and St Oswald’s – Donr has become the UK’s fastest-growing Text Giving provider and helped causes to raise over £1 million in text donations in the 18 months since their text service launched in November 2018. Find out more at www.donr.com.
If you’d like further information on the above release, please contact Donr’s COO, Paul Paterson, at paul@donr.com or on 0203 542 2802.
Information About the North East Fund
The North East Fund is a suite five venture capital and loan funds which was established in April 2018, to invest £120m in around 600 North East businesses in the period to March 2023. The fund managers provide business development advice and investment finance to small and medium sized enterprises based in the seven Local Authority areas of North East England: Northumberland, North Tyneside, Newcastle, South Tyneside, Gateshead Sunderland and County Durham. The programme encourages investment in and the commercialisation of new technologies, including low carbon technologies, as well as stimulating new business creation, private investment and entrepreneurialism in the North East, with a view to creating over 2,500 new jobs. The North East Fund has overall responsibility for the programme, which is delivered through five separate funds, each managed by independent, FCA regulated fund managers. Details of these, and up to date information on the progress of the programme, is available on The North East Fund’s website: www.northeastfund.org.
The North East Fund has been established with funding from the North East of England European Regional Development Fund programme, the European Investment Bank and from returns on previous North East based, publicly supported investment funds. It is jointly owned by the seven North East local authorities.
Information About the European Regional Development Fund
The North East Fund will receive up to £58,500,000 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit https://www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.
Information About the European Investment Bank
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will lend up to £60,000,000 to the North East Fund programme. The European Investment Bank is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. For more information, visit: http://www.eib.org/about/index.htm.