I returned from my summer hols this morning to find a Christmas card on my desk. But not any old card. This card was from the luminous tycoon-turned-philanthropist Alec Reed – and it contained a gift voucher for £25.  

This wasn’t any old gift voucher, either. According to the card, the cash could be sent as a donation to any of the 4,500 charities listed on Alec’s new website, the Big Give. So I logged on, and sent my donation to Children’s Hospice South West – one of the best-performing small charities on our database. All £25, I am told, will reach the hospice: there’s no cut taken for processing or admin.

This is a phenomenally good idea.

Alec has sent one of these £25 vouchers to 10,000 companies across the land, and they provide a brilliant incentive for those who receive them to take giving seriously. Giving so many people a ‘free’ charity donation is a fantastic way of engaging them with the charity world.

The Big Give website also provides a really useful listing of charities and their work, and, though it’s aimed at millionaire philanthropists, there’s no reason why everyone can’t use it. So far as introductions to the charity world go, it’s a pretty good one.

Alec could have given his £250,000 as a lump-sum donation to any old charity. But, by splitting up the gift and letting other people choose where the cash ends up, he’s done more than just give a single charity a boost. He’s helped a lot of other people take giving more seriously. And that’s where – I think – the real value of this scheme lies.
 

 

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