Quit smoking, raise money: a short (online fundraising) story. Chapter 1

Last week I got this email from Elie, one of our web developers here at Justgiving:

After Rasha suggested I do the same as Ben did a while back, I've set up a fundraising page about me quitting smoking… and if I fail to do so in my lifetime, I shall double the amount made in donations through that page.

So here it is:

www.justgiving.com/eliegrumpyquitsmoking

Many thanks for your donations.

Elie

I know that he likes a good smoke, and he didn’t have to involve any charity aspect in his decision, so I thought, yes, I’ll give you some money for that - especially after reading the personal message on his page.

So I went through the usual Justgiving donation process that I’ve been through many times before. I got a thank-you from Elie and a receipt email including a thank-you from the charity.

And I’m happy to admit that I felt pretty good with myself for supporting him and the charity – well, you do, don’t you?

That’s the whole point.

A bit later that day, I had a quick look at the page to see the progress, and already £100 had been donated. This was on a Monday, so I knew that the whole £100 would be paid to the charity on the Friday.

That made me think - ten people probably spending around 3 minutes of their time had meant a charity would have £100 in their bank account, within a week, to spend on their cause.

Amazing, isn’t it?

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At the time of writing, Elie (left) had raised £232 (plus Gift Aid of nearly £60) on his fundraising page.

You can see the latest figure on the widget below:

Plus, look out for an interview with Elie on the blog tomorrow, when he'll explain a bit more about why he's fundraising and what he's learnt.

**Update - here's the interview**