Lord Mayor’s Appeal goes digital for City Giving Day

537

Fintech startup GoodBox has announced a partnership with The Lord Mayor’s Appeal, which sees the launch of a digital giving experience for City Giving Day 2020.

The day brings together companies and employees across the City to raise vital funds for multiple causes including the four charities supported by The Lord Mayor’s Appeal whilst also celebrating the philanthropic and voluntary achievements of the City itself.

Since launching in 2014 City Giving Day has raised millions in donations, but this year they faced a new fundraising challenge.

With the Square Mile remaining eerily quiet amid Covid concerns, many of their typical fundraising activities are not possible.

Through this new partnership, The Lord Mayor’s Appeal hopes to drive record engagement through its website despite a reduction in in-person fundraising, with engagement driven through a fist-of-a-kind digital experience.

GoodBox Project Lead Oli Coles said: “We were conscious that this year City Giving Day was going to have to be very different, with many City employees working remotely and with individual sponsorship requests being all the more challenging.

NOW READ: DragonFest takes flight to web to overcome Covid-19

“So our team set out to develop a platform that not only allowed City employees to engage with unique fundraising activities remotely but also as a way to engage with their colleagues, despite their distance from one another.

“As with social “nominate” campaigns we feel this can be an effective way to bring people together and raise significant funds for four worthwhile causes.”

Lord Mayor William Russell said: “2019 was hugely successful, and this year we hope to see even more organisations and businesses getting involved in City Giving Day, holding events, volunteering, fundraising and sharing their stories to demonstrate the transformational impact of bringing together businesses, employees, communities and charities.

“I hope that you will join me and the hundreds of businesses committed to making City Giving Day 2020 the best yet.”

Hosted on The Lord Mayor’s Appeal website, visitors are encouraged to nominate their colleagues to take part in up to 15 challenges, ranging from a 10km run to baking something red. Once the sponsor has chosen their nominee, they will provide encouragement in the form of sponsorship to the four supported charities.

The GoodBox offering includes a “Charity Calculator” which dynamically displays exactly the impact and difference that their donation will make to each of the four charities; Place2Be, OnSide Youth Zones and Samaritans, and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. In addition, it is Gift Aid enabled through digital intermediary Swiftaid, who GoodBox also partners with to automate Gift Aid across its network of contactless devices.

For the latest headlines from the City of London and beyond, follow City Matters on TwitterInstagram and LinkedIn.