Our story

January 2012 www.thedonation.org.uk @The_DoNation

The DoNation is an innovative new tool set to revolutionise the way we tackle behaviour change.

It’s a sponsorship site that replaces cash with action. Our aim is to actively engage the population in living sustainably.

Why? Because there is so much that we can do right now to start making this planet a healthier, happier, more sustainable place for us to live, and it's madness that we're not doing it already.

42% of the UK’s carbon emissions are a result of individual’s actions, at home and in personal travel. Behaviour change has a fundamental role in developing a sustainable future. But it’s notoriously tricky.

we need to stop just talking and start doing.

The idea was born in 2009, when I was studying for an MSc Environmental Policy…

…and I decided to cycle from London to Morocco.

It was going to be a big

challenge.

But I saw it as an opportunity…

…to raise support for the cause I’m passionate about: the environment, sustainability.

But I didn’t feel comfortable asking friends for money. They were broke, and getting tired of endless fundraising requests.

More importantly, I realised that the environment needed their action more than their cash.

Fundraiser Sponsors

Charity

Cash

The traditional sponsorship model seemed pretty inef!cient…

Fundraiser Sponsors Action

…so we came up with a simpler, more effective solution.

We asked our friends to donate by

doing not by paying. 216 friends sponsored us, by

doing things like:

cycling to work

eating local seasonal food

or using reusable water bottles.

Whilst we saved two "ights by cycling from London to Morocco,

our sponsors saved the equivalent carbon to 84 "ights.

I realised that there was more in the idea than just our little ride, so went about scaling it up into The DoNation.

I started building The DoNation in early 2010, and the beta site launched in May 2011, with the help of funding from UnLtd and Tellus Mater Foundation…

…and a wealth of in kind support:

(and of course, our great advisory group)

Our impact since launching:

95 challenges have been registered, raising sponsorship for

everything from marathons and triathlons to

volunteering days and Christmas presents.

937 sponsors have made over

1,300 pledges, all together, they’ve…

eaten 6,800

veggie meals

cycled 40,000 km

(once around the world)

boiled

49,000 kettles with less water

walked up

61,000 "ights of stairs

and much more (that’s just four of our 24 DoActions)

In the process, they’ve saved 143 tCO2 as well as saving money, improving health, reducing pollution, cutting waste, and all sorts of other good things.

Yes, but how do you know people really do it?! Trust. It’s mainly down to honesty, but because the sponsors make their promise to a friend not to us, a faceless organisation, and because it’s displayed publicly for all their friends to see, there’s a much greater level of commitment. What’s more, we send them regular reminders, and at the end of the two month sponsorship period they have to return and con!rm how they got on.

And does doing something for two months really have much of an impact? Yes. Because two months has been shown to be long enough to form new habits, resulting in long term behaviour change.

And if you’re not asking for money, how on earth do you make any money?! Ah ha! That’s the interesting and exciting bit. That’s where our plans to scale and grow really kick in. We’re starting to develop subscription packs designed to help companies, schools, and other organisations to actively engage their employees, customers or students in sustainability. There are a couple of other revenue streams too, but I’ll save that for another time…

Our targets are to have 40,000 challenges and almost 600,000 pledges within three years, leading to 90,000 tCO2 savings. We hope to become the world’s number one non-!nancial sponsorship platform.

Contact details: Hermione Taylor

Tel: +44 7793155 044 @The_DoNation

hermione@thedonation.org.uk www.thedonation.org.uk