The Big Issue Foundation

The Big Issue Foundation’s core ethos is self help. They offer support to homeless and socially excluded people who seek to gain control of their lives and help them move off the streets and into a home and a job.

“We traditionally used Standing Orders for regular donations and we decided that it was time to use direct debits as a more easy and efficient way of getting people to give regularly” says Anthony North, Fundraising Manager at the Big Issue.

“We used Rapidata to help us secure our direct debit Service User Number and set up the systems to manage and report payments. Rapidata organised the whole thing on our behalf, the set-up could not have been smoother. When we asked our supporters to transfer to direct debits a good proportion of them actually increased the value of their gift. We knew that we were not always claiming gift aid correctly but now we use direct debit, the paper trail is so much easier to manage and get right. In the past, when we were using standing orders, 15 to 20% of people saying yes to regular giving never actually followed through. With direct debit we had a far better conversion rate.”