From humble beginnings fundraising for a local boys’ school to transforming the way charities engage with donors, Yitzi Bude has reimagined how charities can harness technology to increase income and impact through the launch of charity crowdfunding platform, CharityExtra.
Here we sat down with Yitzi to gain insight into the personal inspiration behind launching CharityExtra, how he identified a crucial gap in the market, and why the platform has become the go-to solution for hundreds of charities looking to exceed fundraising benchmarks.
With CharityExtra forecast to surpass £1 billion raised within the next 12 months, Yitzi reflects on his journey to date, while providing exlcusive insight into what’s next for his mission-driven venture.
What inspired you to launch CharityExtra? How did you identify the gap in the market?
“I initially established the website as a fundraising alternative for the community after becoming frustrated with my own charity efforts on behalf of a local boys’ school. It was an online fundraiser, and I wasn’t happy with many aspects of the process.
“I was looking for custom-made technology for my furniture business and took on a team of developers to build it. It occurred to me that now I had this technology team, I could create something that offers a great service and is also run morally, and so CharityExtra was born.
“CharityExtra was also inspired by the work of my late father, Mendy Bude, who dedicated his life to supporting good causes. He was a lawyer and used to work pro bono for many charities, and was also a trustee on numerous boards. I grew up listening to weekly charity meetings and seeing all the great work he did for them.
“This instilled in me how important charities are to our community and how crucial it is to support them.”
You have built an unrivalled reputation for helping charities significantly exceed fundraising benchmarks. How do you achieve this? What are the key components to your success?
“There are three ingredients to every successful fundraising campaign – setting a limited timeframe to donate; matching funders’ donations; and encouraging volunteers to spread the word.
“At CharityExtra we do all our fundraisers in a very short amount of time, usually 36 hours. Building that excitement is critical to getting donations.
“Most campaigns are now also matched. This is when a charity goes out to its major funders and they agree to double the donations, often for the first £500,000 raised. It’s a real boost for donors when they give, for instance, £25, and once it is matched and Gift Aid has been added, it totals £62.50. In fact, the average donation is 30 percent higher when there is a matching campaign.
“The final key element is having teams of volunteers spreading the word about the fundraiser to their friends and network. There is no better way of fundraising than through connections.
“Each volunteer gets their own link which makes it a more personalised experience, and this is what donors connect to more than anything else. All fundraisers can also see how much each volunteer has raised on a leaderboard, which encourages healthy competition to raise even more.”
As a business, one of your USPs is service-based crowdfunding. Can you explain how the personalised process works, from onboarding to campaign execution?
“Each charity gets three experts from our team assigned to them to guide them through every step of the process.
“The client relationship manager has the initial discussion about how CharityExtra works, what to expect, what we can support with, the training on offer, and the entire onboarding process.
“Next, the fundraiser coach provides expert know-how, including guides, timelines and videos. We coach one-on-one to make sure every charity maximises how much they raise.
“Finally, the tech manager sets up the entire campaign including credit cards, links, theming, leaderboards, gamification and more. The tech manager shares a preview and discusses any special requirements the charity has regarding data collection or bespoke customisations, so the entire campaign is exactly how they want it.”
How does your bespoke technology and approach to fundraising campaigns help charities perform better when compared to rival and/or traditional platforms?
“We offer lots of customisation options for every campaign – from integrating Strava or Fitbit stats and trackers, to incorporating raffles, and this personal touch makes a real difference.
“We also give donors the option to leave their number if they want to make a donation via a route other than the online platform, so charities can easily follow up with them to do so.
“CharityExtra makes donations super fast and easy. In under 45 seconds it’s possible to engage with and like donations, creating opportunities for social interactions between fundraisers and donors to create more momentum.
“We also gamify the fundraising process and provide charities with real-time updates on how well they’re doing compared to their peers. Our engaging and encouraging content spurs them on. For instance, letting charities know they’re just £25 away from topping the fundraising leaderboard provides a real boost to keep going.
“Allowing charities the ability to choose which donor data they want to collect also makes us different. There is the option to make it compulsory for donors to provide their address and phone number for instance, or this can be made optional instead. Most importantly, charities get to keep and own all donor data.”
How do you differ in your approach to ensure successful fundraising strategies?
“The one-to-one approach we take has a real impact. We’re in constant communication with charities, often months in advance of the campaign going live.
“From planning to implementation, to the live campaign and the post-campaign stage, we always follow up with thorough feedback. Equally, we’re always striving to improve our guides, online platform, and the experience we provide for both charities and donors.”
You are forecast to exceed £1 billion in funds raised via the platform within the next 6 – 12 months. What is the next step for CharityExtra after reaching this milestone?
“It’s an exciting milestone, and we’re now aiming to grow our year-round fundraising hubs, our free service allowing charities to fundraise throughout the year utilising our bespoke technology, and to give charities ownership of their data.
“Our mission to help as many charities as possible will always underpin our work at CharityExtra, and we want to continue to give charities the support they need to make their fundraising campaigns a success.”