Charities participating in the service include Barnardo's, Help the Aged, Marie Curie Cancer Care, Samaritans, Save the Children and many others. Charities do not pay any upfront fees or other charges to be part of the service - charities are selected, and approached for their agreement, by Give It to provide choice for users and to continue to develop different gift lists.

Give It pass 100% of donations made through the service to the charities, and use the Gift Aid that can be reclaimed on a large proportion of these donations to cover the costs of the service. When we reach a point where we spend less than the Gift Aid generated, we will manage our not-for-profit nature by returning the unused portion of this Gift Aid, along with 100% of the original donation, to participating charities. Our not-for-profit set-up has meant that we are often described as a 'social enterprise'.

Business vision

To change the face of wedding list usage in the UK.

Business aims

Our key aims as an organisation are as follows:

To generate incremental charitable donations for a broad group of UK registered charities.

To operate to a high level of fund-raising efficiency through providing a selection of online 'gift' and other services.

To operate as a fully trading company on a non-profit making basis within the 'retail/service' industry rather than the 'charitable/fund-raising' sector our aim is to 'compete' with other service providers rather than other fund-raising options.

Business philosophies and beliefs

We can make a difference.

Business Values

Open, efficient, moving forward

Business mission

To grow charity wedding list usage by promoting the concept as a viable alternative for marrying couples.

Business Information

Date established:: December 2003
Contact details: Andy Hickey andy@giveit.co.uk +44 (0)7974 088 938
Business structure Help Basic business structures under UK law include: sole trader, partnership, private company limited by shares, private company limited by guarantee, community interest company, public limited company, private unlimited company, and franchise.: Company limited by shares
Address of company headquarters: Albans, St. Francis Close, Buntingford, Herts, SG9 9SH
Countries of operations: UK-based
Countries where goods and/or services are sold: Worldwide (internet-only business)
Size of workforce: 0
Financial year Help The 12 months used as a company's accounting period. This may or may not be a calendar year.: 1st January to 31st December
Market capitalisation Help The market value of a public company's issued share capital, i.e. the number of shares multiplied by the current price of those shares on the stock market. For private companies, 'company value', estimated by the book value of all assets or by using comparable companies, is a more appropriate term. This information is not compulsory.: Company is not-for-profit and cannot pay dividends on profits/shares. 2 x GBP 1 shares have been issued
Turnover (last financial year) Help Income that the business receives from its normal business activities, usually from the sale of goods and services to customers. Also known as total revenue, total sales or the top line.: GBP 29,000 (turnover of company rather than generation of funds for charities)
Profit (last financial year) Help Gross profit is the total turnover minus cost of sales. Net profit is the turnover minus all expenses, including payroll and tax. Businesses are asked to state gross profit, net profit or both. This field can be left blank.: GBP zero. In 2008 we operated at 'break even' for the first time. Prior years involved annual 'losses' where we spent more than our turnover and invested the difference e.g. 2006 spend of GBP 39,000, from GBP 29,000 operational turnover plus GBP 10,000 in
Details of owners: Andrew Hickey - 50% - 1 share Amanda Christine Wilson - 50% - 1 share
Directors' other business interests Help Businesses are asked to list other directorships held by their directors and company secretary: None.

Goods and Services

Give It operate a number of on-line charitable gift list services, including The Alternative Wedding List, The Green Wedding List and The African Wedding List, along with Scottish and London versions as well.

All these wedding list services feature gift lists containing donations to a variety of different charities.

We also operate Gifts4Good, a service for buying 'one-off' virtual gifts to participating charities and which also has a 'wish list' facility.

Our key users are marrying couples, as well as those celebrating birthdays, retirements, etc, or anyone looking for a virtual charity gift for someone else's celebration (birthdays, Christmas, etc).

Users register for a list and select a group of charities. Their friends and family log onto their gift list and select one, or more, of the donations to charity featured. Donations are wrapped up like gifts so users can see what a particular donation could fund for each charity meaning users get to see how far their money goes.

Individual charities have, over the last few years, launched a number of 'virtual gift' services. Our services (launched before most of these existed) differ in that they offer gifts of donations to a variety of charities and that they are primarily targeted at the 'non-recipient' of gifts, rather than the 'giver'.

Business Responses

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Corporate Governance

Does your company have a corporate governance statement appropriate to the organisation?

Question developed with Manifest

Rationale for question

Corporate governance combines both protocols and structures by which an organisation is directed, operated and controlled. A company's corporate governance structure specifies the distribution of rights and responsibilities of the board, its managers, shareholders and other stakeholders.

Corporate governance may appear to be a complex and technical matter, but it is really about the basics of the business organisation. It establishes corporate accountability and transparency, and sets out directors' duties with regard to properly and honestly managing the business.

Poor corporate governance has resulted in major corporate failures. Probably the most high-profile case - amongst several in recent years - was that of Enron in 2001. Enron had grown very rapidly to become one of the world's largest companies, but collapsed when it emerged that a handful of senior executives had colluded in perpetrating massive fraud. (Read a brief description of the Enron fraud here on Wikipedia.)

Corporate collapses can have critical adverse effects on other businesses, cost jobs, wipe out investments and empty pension funds that employees depend on in retirement.

Every company, irrespective of size or sector, requires clear lines of communication, responsibility and accountability. All companies will have systems and processes of management, but smaller companies may have less formal methods.

Defining Terms

'A corporate governance statement appropriate to the organisation' is a statement detailing a company's approach to corporate governance and an adequate overview of the systems and processes it has in place to ensure the proper and honest management of its operations. Good practice is to make such statements publicly available. An adequate overview will depend on the size and complexity of the organisation.

A 'public company' is a company whose shares can be bought and sold by the general public through a recognised stock exchange.

Primary and Secondary answer requirements

ANSWERING YES

PUBLIC companies must:

describe the regulatory environment in which they operate, e.g., any legal requirements pertaining to governance structure;
provide an adequate overview of the methods by which the business is governed; and
state where their corporate governance statement is published.

PUBLIC companies may:

provide a hyperlink to the statement, if available.

PRIVATE companies must:

provide an adequate overview of the methods by which the business is governed, including information about clear channels of communication, the role of directors, and systems by which appropriate checks, balances and auditing can be carried out.

PRIVATE companies may:

provide evidence of the publication of the governance statement.

ANSWERING NO

All companies must:

state whether they are a public or private company; and
explain why they do not or cannot answer YES to this question and list any mitigating circumstances or any other reasons that apply.

All companies may:

indicate any relevant practices and policies, even if they do not fully address the specifications for answering YES; and
mention any future plans.

DON'T KNOW is not a permissible answer to this question.

NOT APPLICABLE is not a permissible answer to this question.

NO ANSWER YET is only permissible under extraordinary circumstances and then for only a limited period.

Give It

YES

The key elements of how our business is governed are as follows:
We are a not-for-profit company with two directors, one of whom is engaged in all of the day-to-day operation of the organisation. Both are involved in all ongoing financial matters.

Our relationships with the charities that we generate funds for are controlled by agreements in place with each one (in a format set out by the Institute of Fundraising, modified for our operation), which formalise our obligations to them in terms of transfer of funds, marketing, communication, financial transparency etc.

We operate 'open-book accounting' with our participating charities. They see details of all income generated and all funds expended on a monthly basis and also individually receive details of each and every donation made through the service to them in a format that allows for independent audit (e.g. by users/others). Our accounts are audited annually by an independent accountant.

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