Five large charities have launched an initiative designed to make payroll giving more accessible and encourage more people to take part.
The collaboration between Barnardo’s, Crisis, The Royal British Legion, RNIB and WaterAid will take the form of an independent business, called WeAreGoodGiving, which is wholly owned by the five charities.
Payroll giving enables workers to nominate one or more charity they wish to donate to straight from their paypacket each month, with the donation deducted before tax. Companies can choose to match their employees’ donations.
But the process has historically been viewed as overly complicated and has suffered from low uptake, particularly in recent years.
In a statement on its website, WeAreGoodGiving, which has been founded with support from the innovation consultancy Good Innovation, said: “Using modern digital fundraising techniques and technology efficiencies, we will double the number of UK payroll givers and raise an additional £150m for charities by 2030.”
A statement from WaterAid said each charity would take an equal share in the business and use a technology-led approach to reach new and untapped audiences.
“Traditional fundraising approaches like mass events and shops have been significantly disrupted during the pandemic, but by pooling together their unique insights, expertise and ambitions, WeAreGoodGiving will serve to benefit all charities, employers and employees,” the statement said.
Richard Packman, an entrepreneur and digital expert, has been appointed as managing director of the company.
He said: “Giving through payroll is the most tax efficient way for employees of any company to donate to any charity of their choice.
“Yet over 80 per cent of companies don’t offer it, just four per cent of UK employees do it, and most don’t even know about it.
“We will put payroll giving back on the map, drive a huge amount of new income for charities and enable employees of any size business to support the causes they care about in the most efficient and convenient way.”