New website will showcase charity projects in need of donations

By Kaye Wiggins, Third Sector Online, 28 January 2010

See the Difference, to be launched in March, will allow charities to upload videos of their work

A new website that shows charity fundraising videos and allows people to share them on other sites is expected to be launched on 23 March.

The website, which is called See the Difference, has been set up in the hope of raising nearly £500m for charities in its first five years.

Charities can upload videos to the site for free but will be charged 5 per cent commission on donations made by its users.

The site will hold a library of videos that show specific projects being run by charities and promise to tell donors exactly how their money has been spent.

The charities involved will have to undertake to spend donations on the projects shown in the videos, rather than using them as unrestricted funds.

The site's founders hope that videos posted on the site will be shared on other social networking sites such as Facebook to encourage more people to give.

Financial backers of the scheme include software giant Microsoft and donation website Virgin Money Giving.

Dominic Vallely, one of the founders of the website, said it was targeting under-50s and people who gave to charity sporadically.

He said he hoped the site would change the way people thought about charities.

"When fundraisers stop people in the street, they are interrupting their plans," he said. "But if friends share videos about the projects they have supported, it is fitting in with what people are already doing."