ThinkDonate, the UK’s first # donating brand available across the major social media platforms has launched recently.
ThinkDonate takes social media’s most famous marketing symbol, the #, and turns it into a fundraising tool, enabling charities to fundraise across social with it – thereby supercharging awareness days, events and social trends.
# donating will be available on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube initially – and also offers a new way to donate on Twitter. Supporters can tweet a charity or reply to a post with the charity’s registered # to instantly donate – working in a similar way on LinkedIn, too.
Doubling the impact of any # campaign, charities can invite corporate partners and influencers to get involved also, by fundraising on their own social channels with the campaign #.
ThinkDonate launches with several UK charities including Chickenshed, Mintridge Foundation, Shelter, StreetVet and The Mix who will be ‘# fundraising’ with user groups, influencers and corporate partners. Brain Tumour Research and Crisis will also be trialing the platform with # fundraising campaigns in the coming months.
The UK has one of the most developed non-profit sectors in the world with £81bn raised for charity in 2021 alone. Yet charities consistently cite the younger demographic as being the most hard to reach and engage with.
Comments ThinkDonate founder Johnny Pitt; “The # was once just a marketing symbol. Now it’s a fundraising one. We’ve talked a lot to charities over the last 18 months and know that leveraging social media to reach younger audiences is a massive focus for them right now. We’d love to hear from any charity who wants to get # fundraising.”
Adds Michael Thelwall, Head of Fundraising from The Mix charity; “This innovative approach to social media fundraising will become an important part of our fundraising campaigns to help The Mix remain as the UK’s digital lifeline for young people. By offering a simple new way to donate online, it’ll be easier than ever to support our life-saving services and ensure that The Mix is always there for young people when they need us the most – via our website, over the phone or on social media.”
Charities can set up # campaigns in a secure, easy to use dashboard. As well as activating # donating on their social channels, they’ll have access to QR codes so supporters can scan and donate. Donors will also be given the option to cover the payment processing and platform fees, so the charity receives 100% of the donation.
All sign up information for charities can be found at www.thinkdonate.com.