Meet the businessman behind The Wonderful Organisation

Manchester-based businessman Kieron James launched fund-raising platform The Wonderful Organisation in 2016.

The platform gives 100% of donations directly to supported charities and aims to offer fundraisers an alternative to platforms that charge charities, generate profit and make deductions to cover costs.

The platform is now raising awareness for its inaugural Wonderful Week event, which is a week focused on fundraising, taking place from September 2-10, 2017.

Wonderful Week has already gained support from former England, Manchester United and Everton footballer Phil Neville and his wife Julie. The couple will be encouraging participants to join the virtual fundraising event, encouraging people to clock up the miles or bake a cake all in the name of their own chosen charity and with the guarantee that all donations will go to the intended cause.

We spoke to Kieron to find out more about Wonderful.org and how people can get involved in Wonderful Week…

What is The Wonderful Organisation?
“Wonderful is a non-profit organisation that was established with the purpose of providing those who are taking part in fundraisers, like the Great North Run, London Marathon etc, giving all the proceeds to their chosen charities and deducting nothing whatsoever.

“That is the difference between what we do and what the likes of JustGiving do. We are funded entirely by corporate sponsors. If someone donates £10 for you to run in a marathon, then that £10 will go to the charity, as well as the gift aid.”

When and why did you set the platform up?
“I did the New York marathon last year and that is what kickstarted Wonderful, so we have been up and running for almost a year now. All of our funding goes towards covering card processing fee, so we do not have an advertising budget, so we rely on people to help us get the word out, but we hope to bring on more corporate sponsors as we progress.

“I first set up Wonderful after first hand heartbreak. I took part in an event some time ago, raised a lot of money for charity, but it wasn’t until after that I realised that a proportion of the money I had raised had not reached the charity, and that frustrated me enormously. These are causes that close to people’s hearts and it does frustrate people.

“My official role in my day job is now chairman, so although I still work in telecoms, I take more of a backseat nowadays and that frees me up to do the Wonderful stuff.”

What is Wonderful Week?
“It is all about fundraising. You can do anything you want, from setting yourself a challenge like running 50 miles during the week or taking part in an organised event. You simply set up your fundraising page and get people involved and raise money for your chosen charity during the week.”

What support has Wonderful Week had?
“The wonderful week has been a really great idea and the support from Phil and Julie Neville has been fantastic.

“Katie Archibald will also be taking part in the initiative with her entire team, as they are fundraising for The Christie. We are also going to announce more celebrities before the event begins.

“A huge amount of charities are supporting us too, including Cancer Research and Mind and many more local ones. We don’t charge the charities to be involved and it is completely free for them.”