Proactive philanthropy gets bigger with new project-based website

“Intelligent” giving is the motivation behind Alec Reed’s newest philanthropic venture, The Big Give, a website that aims to encourage high-net-worth (HNW) philanthropy and give charities the chance to attract project funding of up to £10m.

Launched to charities in October, the website is already advertising around £940m worth of projects, and though the site has only just been launched to donors it has already attracted considerable interest from philanthropists.

Alec Reed CBE, founder of the Reed Recruitment Group, has pledged to spend £1m promoting the site to HNW individuals, corporate foundations, grant-making trusts and legacy advisors.  A key factor of the site’s uniqueness is that it allows major donors seeking to give over £100,000 to search quickly and discreetly for charitable projects in their field of interest, filtering their search options by donation amount, geographical location, cause and type of beneficiary.

Currently there are over 1,900 projects from 3,400 charities, all of whom must be registered with the Charity Commission. Thanks to a donation from the Reed Foundation the site is free to all users.
 
“The Big Give is about making philanthropy proactive,” explains Jon Brooks, Managing Director of The Big Give. “At present giving is very reactive with donors being approached by charities and individuals, and this site gives potential donors the opportunity to take their time to discreetly and anonymously look at projects they are interested in.  It empowers them to make the call with increased knowledge.

“It is also more attractive to the newly wealthy who may be considering giving on a large scale, and without too much effort they can begin to research, while established foundations can also use the site to source future projects.”

The featured projects range from well known charities such as The National Trust seeking £1m to restore Tyntesfield House through to smaller charities such as Transplant Links, which is seeking £100,000 for its’ Kenya Kidney Transplant Programme.  The site also includes sections on ‘Magic Wand’ and ‘Off the Wall’ projects for all donor interests.

Charities also have the space and chance to think intelligently about how they define and promote their projects.  “The Big Give is levelling across all areas of charities, and it is up to them to provide the information in an accessible and attractive way,” said Brooks.

In this way the site differs from a potential competitor in the field, Oxfam’s recently launched Projects Direct website. Brooks explained: “We do see that we support each other in the marketplace, and Oxfam’s site is brilliant, and gives detailed reporting on their projects. The difference is that we are opening the door for philanthropists to research and seek new projects, across a variety of causes, discreetly.”

The site also offers potential donors information on next steps, with advice on giving effectively written by Philanthropy UK, and invites interested donors to contact staff at donor@theBigGive.org.uk or 020 7201 9980 to discuss their interests and how The Big Give can help them in giving intelligently.

• The Big Give

Quick steps to finding your perfect project

1. Go to www.theBigGive.org.uk
2. Choose the donation value, cause, geography and beneficiaries of your ideal project
3.  View the "Big Idea" of every project in the search results
4. Select a project for more details and contact information for the charity
5. Further research: follow the links on www.theBigGive.org.uk to view the charity's accounts on the Charity Commission  website, read Intelligent Giving's rating of the charity's transparency, or give the project manager a call (their direct line is displayed on the project page) to discuss the opportunity in more detail.