Letshelp.ch - the digital donation platform for Switzerland

The new donation platform, letshelp.ch.The Swiss people are generous. Switzerland ranks among the most charitable nations in the world. According to Zewo statistics, aid organizations received approximately 1.7 billion Swiss francs in donations in 2014. Today, 99 percent of donations are collected through conventional payment channels such as postal and bank transfers—that is, not through donation platforms. With letshelp.ch Zewo, Swissfundraising, and Swisscom are now offering aid organizations the opportunity to present their campaigns online to a wide audience in an effective and simple way, without having to worry about maintaining the digital platform or handling administrative processes. Donors receive an overview of the fundraising projects of various aid organizations, can filter them by organization or topic, and make earmarked donations—anytime, anywhere, and using all common payment methods. «Together with Swisscom, we’re giving donors access to specific projects run by trustworthy and regularly audited aid organizations that meet our standards,» says Zewo Executive Director Martina Ziegerer. Swissfundraising, the professional association of fundraisers in Switzerland, is also supporting the new platform as a communications partner: «With letshelp.ch, Switzerland now has, for the first time, a donation platform with truly great potential for the participating aid organizations,» notes Swissfundraising Executive Director Roger Tinner.Commitment to Swiss CharitiesIn the first phase, letshelp.ch is open to all aid organizations that hold a Zewo seal of approval. This includes approximately 500 aid organizations in Switzerland. The following organizations have already published a project on letshelp.ch: ADRA, Caritas, CBM Christoffel Blindenmission, HEKS, Helvetas, Iamaneh, insieme, INTERTEAM, Medair, Save the Children, Swiss Red Cross, Sozialwerke Pfarrer Sieber, Pestalozzi Children’s Village Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages Switzerland Foundation, and Terre des Hommes. In the future, other aid organizations will also be able to have their compliance with Zewo standards verified. Only organizations that have successfully completed Zewo’s rigorous audit process will be granted access to the platform. This quality assurance sets letshelp.ch apart from other donation platforms. Swisscom developed letshelp.ch based on its crowdfunding platform and operates the donation platform. «letshelp.ch gives us the opportunity to combine our technical expertise with our long-standing commitment to aid organizations,» explains Stefan Nünlist, Head of Group Communications & Responsibility at Swisscom. The partner organization Zewo guarantees the quality of the organizations through its seal of approval and the audits and inspections it conducts. The aid organizations themselves are responsible for communicating about their projects. For the donations collected, letshelp.ch charges the aid organizations a fee that covers the platform’s operating costs. There are no costs for donors.