Member Article

Tech-for-good startup boosts North East business support

North East venture capital firm Northstar Ventures is supporting entrepreneurs across the region via socially-driven, cashback platform GoRaise.

Newcastle-based startup GoRaise launched its platform towards the end of 2015 to facilitate fundraising activity among charities, individuals and organisations. Northstar is now using this platform to support the Northstar Foundation and encourage entrepreneurship in the North East.

The platform works by collecting ‘cash-back’ from online purchases, which are then donated to a particular cause or charity. The team at Northstar Ventures is using the platform to donate cash-back contributions to the Northstar Foundation. Donations are also being collected from any of the company’s purchases that can be made through GoRaise, for example when placing stationery orders or booking train tickets.

The Northstar Foundation was set up to benefit excluded and deprived communities in the North of England. In addition to a small number of annual charitable commitments, the Foundation delivers the £3.5m Fresh Ideas Fund (FIF), which aims to support voluntary, community and social enterprises in the North East and Cumbria. The FIF is focussed on supporting organisations that are looking to grow in size, improve long term sustainability and increase their social impact.

Rick Charnley, Investment Manager at Northstar Ventures said, “We believe that the best way to have a positive impact on our local community is to invest in organisations that are attempting to tackle social issues. Companies like GoRaise, that combine technological innovation with a social purpose, are the perfect example of how entrepreneurship can improve communities.

“We work with several tech-for-good start-ups as a company, but the fact that the GoRaise platform enables our team to ‘give back’ on an individual basis has given us a really positive boost. The donations that the Northstar Foundation receives will be used to support entrepreneurial projects that might normally struggle for funding.”

GoRaise raises money through affiliate programs, enabling charities and causes to raise money without asking donors to pay anything extra. The organisation is supported by major retailers including Booking.com, The Trainline, Argos, Wilko and eBay.

Paula Donnelly, Community Manager at GoRaise, said: “We realise online shopping is already a common behaviour among many people in the UK and we really believe that GoRaise perfectly complements the nation’s shopping habits and love for charity. The platform helps charities such as The Northstar Foundation raise money in a quick and easy way.”

“We’ve only been running about a year, but there are already over 77,000 causes registered on our website. We’re looking to expand and increase the amount of donations raised via GoRaise, and see more impact made in the region. We’ve recently recruited new members of staff to help with expansion.”

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