JustGiving’s ‘£100,000 in fees’ from tragedy

FUNDRAISING website JustGiving has come under fire for taking up to £100,000 in fees from money donated to those affected by the Manchester bombing.

By last night nearly £2 million had been donated via the website to appeals related to the atrocity.

But JustGiving, which lets people raise money online, pockets 5 per cent in fees on what is raised.

That means an estimated £100,000 will have gone into the website’s coffers, rather than to the intended cause.

Last night JustGiving refused to waive its fee. A spokesman said the website was donating £50,000 to the Red Cross Manchester Emergency Fund. James Daley, managing director of campaign group Fairer Finance, said: ‘There is an element of opportunism about the business model and it doesn’t feel right.’

A page set up by the Manchester Evening News had raised more than £1.1 million last night. Another page by Manchester City Council had raised more than £630,000.

JustGiving takes less commission from donations to charities receiving a large volume of donations, making it difficult to put an exact number on its cut.

But the site said it will make no money from this appeal ‘due to the level of infrastructure required to maintain these pages, not to mention the donation we’ve made’.