Product development reaps rewards for grassroots sport

Months of painstaking product development, targeted investment and market research has paid off for innovative sport service GiveToLocal as funding continues to flow into community clubs across the UK.

New donors using the North East-based organisation’s user-friendly platform pledged more than double the minimum donation amount throughout August.

And CEO Neil Gardiner believes a combination of the general public’s generosity, focused product development and clear messaging around ‘The Power To Do Good’ means more and more teams can look forward to a secure financial future.

“As a micro-donation platform, we give people the option of a £3 per month minimum donation,” explained GiveToLocal co-founder Neil.

“But the average donation level is now more than twice that figure at £6.93.

“It’s incredible.

“Working together with donors we have the power to do good. That message is loud and clear.

“In addition, we’ve proved that our product works and I have to pay tribute to the product development team for creating such an efficient and user-friendly platform.

“GiveToLocal’s online service only launched in December but it’s been years in the making.

“Thousands of collective hours of time and a great deal of investment has gone into ensuring our platform and supporting service can make a meaningful contribution to community sport.”

GiveToLocal’s mission is to generate an additional £10m a year of funding for grassroots sport by backing sport, boosting business and building networks.

The Tyneside-based organisation works with 15 sports across the UK and continues to create an influential corporate network capable of driving lasting change.

At the same time individual donors can help to fund local teams by using the GiveToLocal app and pledging monthly support via direct debit.

“Significant development and rigorous testing has taken place to ensure the donation process is as frictionless as possible,” explains GiveToLocal co-founder and chief product officer, Jerome Iveson.

“From day one our aim was to make it as simple and easy as possible for people to support the clubs in their community.

“Our platform is fully integrated with leading payment provider GoCardless.

“With their help we’re set up to take recurring direct debits for donations and one-off payment for vouchers. The vouchers were developed specifically to help businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The figures for August are hugely positive and the future looks very exciting.

“We want to maintain an upward curve and to do that we focused on the right technology and architecture to make sure we have the scalability to handle a large volume of transactions.

“Thanks to that focus we’re in a great position to help the 50,000-plus teams registered with our service.

“And I think what really resonates with our teams is an ability to see how they can achieve even more working with GiveToLocal.

“We’ve built in some gamification within the product so individual teams can track how many donations they have and see how close they are to hitting the fundraising milestones that unlock additional rewards.”

GiveToLocal was built on the belief that – given the opportunity – people are keen to play a part in bringing about positive change within their community.

And the organisation’s latest figures confirm that generous donors across the UK are doing just that.

“Our donors know they have the chance to be part of a really positive period of change for our clubs,” added Neil.

“We wanted to make it affordable for as many people as possible to be part of that positive change and that’s why we set the minimum donation at just £3 per month.

“But when people opt to voluntarily donate more than twice that amount it gives all the clubs and the partners involved with GiveToLocal a huge boost.

“It tells us that our donors are genuinely invested in what we are here to do, together. It really matters to them just how much of a difference they can make.

“Anyone who donates regularly to their chosen club is making a huge difference.

“But every time that donation is above £3 it means even more to those clubs and the communities they serve.”

GiveToLocal continues to invest in the staff and infrastructure required to streamline processes and maximise outcomes, ensuring key funds flow directly to clubs in need.

“The data coming out from August shows that what we are doing really resonates with people and they’re embracing the opportunity to be part of positive change,” added Neil.

“From the start we set out to be an organisation that takes ownership of driving awareness and delivering results by creating the campaigns needed to help support grassroots and community sport.

“We’re all about delivering sustainable income into the heart of communities and we want our teams and clubs to see a tangible impact.

“GiveToLocal is about making it attractive, rewarding, easy and affordable to support grassroots sport.

“The generosity of donors suggests the message is having the right impact and, so early on in our journey, it’s hard not to be excited by that.”

Media manager Simon Rushworth feels GiveToLocal’s ‘Power To Do Good’ message has captured the imagination of those who are new to supporting the grassroots sport community.

And he added: “It’s hugely important that our key messages are clear and that they resonate with potential donors and sponsors.

“To support our clubs through this period, people are parting with their money at a very difficult time and we know that’s asking a lot.

“But donors can see what we’re all about and can see that their support impacts in such a positive way. They want to be part of it.”

To discuss corporate partnership opportunities with GiveToLocal contact David Broom via [email protected]
www.givetolocal.com