The Co-operative Bank announces sponsorship with charity giving platform Wonderful.org

The Co-operative Bank has announced plans to be the main sponsor of charity giving platform the Wonderful Organisation; an online fundraising platform that ensures 100 per cent of money raised, and all Gift Aid, goes directly to the charity it's intended for.

The Co-operative Bank is committed to supporting local communities and provides a wide range of bespoke banking services for charities, community groups, voluntary organisations and social enterprises. The bank's sponsorship helps the Wonderful Organisation to ensure money being donated and raised by supporters goes directly to doing good as every penny counts for causes and charities across the UK.

The Wonderful Organisation gives both registered charities and fundraisers the opportunity to add details of their event to the website that can then be shared so that family, friends and colleagues can donate easily. Each month, the website transfers all funds raised through the activities of fundraisers to charities' bank accounts, making no deductions whatsoever.

In February last year, the Wonderful Organisation received a resounding endorsement from Money Saving Expert who placed Wonderful at #1 in its fundraising comparison table with the following comment:

"In terms of maxing your cash, you can't beat Wonderful.org. It doesn't charge any service or processing fees to charities, meaning 100% of your donation goes directly to doing good."

Sean Gilchrist, Chief Digital Officer at The Co-operative Bank, said: "It's great to be supporting the Wonderful Organisation a digital start-up based in Manchester who are committed to give 100 per cent of all fundraising and donations to the causes that are listed on its platform.

"Our sponsorship also brings the potential opportunity for us to share our skills and expertise with a digital local business in Manchester and we can also explore volunteering opportunities that would benefit the platform and the many charities and fundraisers who use it.

"We are the UK's only high street bank with a customer-led Ethical Policy and we continually work to uphold the values that we share with our customers. Supporting the work of the Wonderful Organisation is a great way to put our values and ethics into action and we look forward to the opportunities that working with Wonderful will bring."

Kieron James, founder of Wonderful.org comments; "We're delighted to welcome The Co-operative Bank as our main sponsor. The sponsorship will help us in our aim of raising millions more pounds for charities throughout the UK. The ethical values we share make The Co-operative Bank a very strong fit for our fee-free fundraising platform.

"We believe the charities that fundraisers are supporting should receive every penny from their efforts. We also believe that Gift Aid should be directed in full to the charities rather than the operators of fundraising platforms. Which is exactly what we do.

"We're a philanthropic organisation and it's important to us that we recognise the huge efforts of fundraisers to maximise their fundraising potential for charities. We recognise the selfless commitment made by fundraisers who train for months to run marathons, take part in swims, treks and triathlons, face their fears by jumping out of aeroplanes or don their lycra for a zumbathon. By harnessing the latest technology, we're ensuring that our new platform has the capabilities to cater to the ever growing demand for fee-free fundraising."