Charity payback - Next phase of discussions

Hi everyone, As Sandy mentioned over on the charity payback thread last week, and as part of the Social Purpose pieces of work that I'm leading on, it has...

riajoy · 2020-03-18T17:56:39+00:00

Hi everyone, As Sandy mentioned over on the charity payback thread last week, and as part of the Social Purpose pieces of work that I'm leading on, it has...

Charity payback - Next phase of discussions

wagstaffes

peterdbsc you make some very good points. There has to be an element of compromise here, and, the Neighbourly proposal does seem to be an elegant solution, definitely worth giving a 12 month trial.
If giffgaff want member buy-in there probably does need to be some kind of feedback/poll, but, maybe this should be after the trial, as we won't really know which we prefer until we actually try it.
I too support part donations, but, I guess that will need to evolve later due to the technical work involved.

jesi23

wagstaffes I too support part donations, but, I guess that will need to evolve later due to the technical work involved

Perhaps the trial with ‘Neighbourly’ is designed to take pressure off the process itself so that energy/time might be released to allow maybe a 50/50 split of payback between charity and ‘cash’ (PayPal) or credit … _{_🤡}

peterdbsc

wagstaffes
That's a good idea (poll after 12 month trial).

roxy_r

Morning everyone, thanks for the feedback. Ria and I will catch up on the thread and reply soon.

Hope you are all keeping safe and healthy during this time 🙂

wagstaffes

roxy_r with the current virus situation and financial hardships that many will suffer, I was thinking that maybe, just for this round of payback donations, we should abandon nominating and voting altogether, and just give the lot to a national food bank charity/charities instead. What do you think?

shabazmoqsud

roxy_r @riajoy im sorry dont agree with this idea of involving a 3rd party in the charity payback process seems like in every decision giffgaff are no longer involving the members there is no real member consultation decisions are made by giffgaff and its a like it or lump answer to the members

kath72

Just to note many large companies donate through neighbourly (Aldi, marks and Spencer, Coca Cola etc)

giffgaff has always stood out to be different ... I wouldn’t like our donations to become just a drop in the ocean and not impacting smaller causes close to our hearts in a big way.

riajoy

kath72 Hey Kath, thats correct, but none of them have worked with their customer/member base in doing so, allowing them access to the platform to nominate their own charities. So far they have been mainly B2B, what we have discussed with them is opening up their platform for our members to input too. So despite big brands using them (which proves trust), our approach would be evolving their existing proposition to ensure that members are still at the heart.

kath72

wagstaffes
I think that would need to be voted on 😂😂

roxy_r

Afternoon folks, I had a chance to have a proper read over the comments, thanks for sharing your thoughts, very good points raised.
As a reminder as to why we put this forward with a third party, because at the moment the infrastructure we have for payback will not be able to be changed quickly and because we've seen that you wanted something done soon we thought it would be a good idea to get some help in order to present a solution that could be implemented quickly.

@ujo55 in therms of the survey, that will still go ahead as planned, the work Ria did to put this together was in addition to the work already in progress. It will include a lot of the feedback we have seen on the previous thread and if we have time to add a few more from here . I believe small vs big charities and evenly distributing funds is already in there, I will have to double check and if we can add it without delaying the survey being sent out we will.

We could run this as a trial if that is what would give you a better idea reading it being the right solution for us . I see comments for and against it so I am hoping the survey would give us more insights we can share and therefore help us move in the right direction because you are right, there are a lot more members that donate but might not see this threads to share their view.

wagstaffes roxy_r with the current virus situation and financial hardships that many will suffer, I was thinking that maybe, just for this round of payback donations, we should abandon nominating and voting altogether, and just give the lot to a national food bank charity/charities instead. What do you think?

Thanks wagstaffes , I will put that forward to the rest of the business and see if it would be something we can do. 🙂

riajoy

wagstaffes This is a really thoughtful and relevant idea. We should explore this more within this thread to see what other members think.

riajoy

shabazmoqsud Hey! To clarify, no decision has been made for charity payback, this is an option put forward so that we could see how you all feel.

georgecooksey24

riajoy keep up the good work

z201205

People in hardship in these worrying times may want the payback so that they can buy goodybags. Especially if it could be paid before the due date.

jaymailsays

roxy_r Neighbourly brings in the piece of the puzzle that we are missing

Not much has been said about the 'Neighbourly' competitors, who didn't quite make the cut Roxy.

Who were they and why were they not able to persuade giffgaff that they were up to the job?

I did notice that at least one of Neighbourly's sponsored charities is based and provides advice, exclusively outside the UK.

z201205 People in hardship in these worrying times may want the payback so that they can buy goodybags. Especially if it could be paid before the due date.

That seems to be a possibility and up for consideration according to Alex's post.
https://community.giffgaff.com/d/33093116-exceptional-circumstances/20

riajoy

jaymailsays Hey! There were plenty of options explored, none of which had the online capabilities that Neighbourly have though. None would allow our members to nominate their own charities at scale whilst also vetting them and delivering back impact reports on how charities have actually benefitted (All of which felt essential going into any conversation we had).

If you have come across anything that you would like to put forward then we would definitely explore further, please feel free to add suggestions in here.

ujo55

riajoy
Of course the suggestion of donating the money a national food bank is very relevant at this time.
But their are many other charities also in desperate need of help ,supporting homeless, mental health to name but 2. Were there a charity supporting NHS workers I would support that.
I can't help feeling that the donation destination should be based upon the wishes of the wider membership not the suggestion, however good and valid and well meaning, of a single member, even if it is an idea I could easily vote for.
I believe giffgaff should contine to respect the wishes of the wider membership

wagstaffes

riajoy jaymailsays peterdbsc
Thank you for your kind support. I really hope we can make this happen.

ujo55

riajoy
@roxy_r
I hope you are both keeping well.
I know it is a difficult time for everyone but it would be good and appriciated to have some feedback on this thread rather than once again discussions being abandoned by community staff.

If we follow the normal practice, then the nomination thread along with the payback timeline should be up within the next couple of weeks, this would surely be the time also to proceed with the long awaited survey to establish how the wider membership would like the charity payback process to develop, as we have many good options to consider.
I believe in the absence of any concensus to do otherwise we should for the upcoming period follow the same procedure as was adopted in December, far from ideal but that is where we are I believe.

jaymailsays

ujo55 Of course the suggestion of donating the money a national food bank is very relevant at this time.

It is the poorest in society that use food banks and it goes without saying that referred claimants may suffer from various other problems, whether mental health or homelessness or substance abuse, or a combination.

What is certain is that without nutritious food (whatever their other problems) claimants may become susceptible to new health issues, which could overwhelm the nhs in these anxious times.

The advantage of charities, like the Trussel Trust providing food (nationally) over money, aid or vouchers is that hopefully the food finds its way into the mouths of the hungry.

Food is the ultimate currency.

peterdbsc

jaymailsays
I believe that most people needing food banks nowadays are not in the categories you've noted but are working families who can't make ends meet. This can be for a variety of reasons, including the low wage gig economy, delays to benefit payments, divorce etc.
The lock down is going to swell these numbers significantly, so I think the suggestion of giving all the money to national food bank charity should be considered seriously. That might also perhaps include the Salvation Army which had helped many people for many years and is very well established and respected.
For avoidance of doubt, I am not connected with the sally army.

jaymailsays

peterdbsc
Few would disagree with you that working families are suffering.