Devine intervention

People affected by the economic slowdown are increasingly turning to charities to get through these lean times. According to a survey by the Association of Chief Executives of Voluntary Organisations (ACEVO), demand for services has increased by 72pc in the past 12 months. However, individual donations have dropped by almost a third in the same period.

Niall Devine of www.mycharity.ie is resolute that Irish people will continue giving in the face of the current stress in the marketplace. “We haven’t seen any huge movement in any particular direction yet,” says the Dublin-based entrepreneur, but is optimistic about how it bodes for the sector.

“It will be surprisingly high up people’s priorities when things are a little tighter,” he predicts. “People will sacrifice their Friday night pints or big dinner before they stop giving to charity.”

Mycharity.ie has been on the go since 2006 and is headed up by Devine, who developed the idea on the back of a strong impetus to run his own business. Devine saw it as something with real potential after carrying out some fundraising for a cycle he did with the National Council for the Blind some years ago. “I signed up for one of its trips to the States from LA to San Francisco and you had to raise IR£3,000 at the time. Myself and another guy decided that we’d fundraise together and we raised about £7,000-£7,500. I thought there has to be an easier way to do this.”

 A one-stop shop for charity donations, around 40,000 people have used the site for transactions to date. With an acquisition target of 10 new charities a month, by year end this figure should stand at 210, Devine predicts. On target to generate €1.8 million this year, 192 charities are currently signed up with the website.

When it comes to online donations, people are much more generous than if they were giving cash straight out of their pocket, Devine believes, and he quotes the average online donation at a healthy €58.25.

A surprising amount of donations exceeding €100 have been conducted through this site, with one generous user parting with a staggering €10,000, he reveals.

Devine began developing the site in November 2004 on a part-time basis but it wasn’t until 18 months later that he started talking to charities. The charities he initially targeted were a cross between the small, medium and the large. “We did that deliberately to see where the traction was. Getting the first 10 was a struggle, Devine admits, but after that it began to gather some momentum and gain credence. One of the first charities to come on board was Irish Blind Sports based in Dun Laoghaire.

A similar, less “well-developed” site similar to Mycharity.ie existed but has ceased to function, so the market is wide open for his brainchild.

According to Devine, 7,500 charities are registered in Ireland but weeding out the ones that are more than in name only is a huge task. Between 400 and 500 of these are “seriously active” charities, he reckons. This can be whittled down to “10 to 20 big players” that do a huge amount of fundraising and grab a big section of the charity marketing space. In terms of earning power, some charities generate millions in income but there are also the much smaller but very active entities taking in between €10,000 and €30,000 a year, says Devine.

The website is a useful, easy-to-use tool for those wanting to donate but might not have the relevant charity’s address. “If you want to do fundraising for a particular charity – again, it may be one of the smaller ones that mightn’t be able to produce sponsorship cards because they’re just not in that space enough to incur the cost of it – you just go to the site, pick your charity, pick your event, create your fundraising page and email all your friends and the money goes straight to the charity,” he explains. 

New products in the offing involve the site being intertwined with the social networking phenomenon. Anybody who has a Facebook or Bebo profile can go on to the Mycharity.ie website and download the application for either sites. With this they can put a mini charity profile on their Facebook or Bebo profile. People can also download a mini version of a fundraising page and put it up where all their contacts can see it.

“A lot of charities don’t have the ability to take donations online through their own website and it is immediately cut off from an easy way to give and a way in which people can be very generous with their giving.”

Long term, Devine hopes to see the business abroad with versions in non-English-speaking countries. Devine has some stellar first-hand advice to offer would-be entrepreneurs: “Don’t give up the day job until you’re sure it’s going to work. Plan like mad for what you’re going to do. It gives you the confidence to execute against that plan.”

Success, he feels, is having control over your own time and being able to plan and execute for your own goals. “It’s all a question of finding that thing that gives you drive and enthusiasm.”