A ‘swap shop’ for Leith that can do great things for charity too!

Simon Pailin is one the people behind JumbleAID. We thought it was a fantastic idea, so we asked him to write a guest post for our blog to explain how it works. Here it is:

By Simon Pailin – JumbleAID.com

Greener Leith are doing a fantastic job for the local community and as a guest blogger I’d like to introduce JumbleAID to you all to see if it ticks the right boxes to help with your cause.

JumbleAID is a new ‘FREE to use’ fundraising website that enables anyone with an unwanted item to find a new home for it, thus keeping it out of landfill, and, in the process, converting it into valuable funds for their chosen charity.

JumbleAID’s mission is to ‘Keep stuff out of landfill and help charities at the same time’. It was born out of frustration with the throwaway society and a genuine wish to unlock the second and third hand value of unwanted stuff for the good of the community.

Although JumbleAID is a national organisation it can be used very effectively on a local level because of the clever searching facilities it has within the site.

JumbleAID creates a community that is all about giving and care for the environment and because nobody can list an item for personal or commercial gain and also because no item is taken totally for free, it cuts out any profiteering and opportunism found within sites such as ebay, Freecycle and Freegle.

How does it work?

Very similar to the ebay process, funds are raised by ‘Gifting’ unwanted stuff online and people make a donation in return for the items. The whole process is administered through the Jumble aid site and all money is securely collected and distributed to charities by Charities Trust – a not-for-profit charity specialising in the collection and distribution of charity funds. Their fees are fixed at a flat 4% to cover transaction charges and Gift Aid administration (the Gift Aid process has been approved by HMRC).

Not a penny of any donation goes to JumbleAID. JumbleAID sustains itself through advertising revenues on the site and selected sponsorship agreements.

So how could JumbleAID be used by the people of Leith?

As a community everyone within the Leith district who shares the views of and aims of Greener Leith could use JumbleAID to find new homes for unwanted stuff – it could be anything from a TV to a truck-load of top soil, from an old computer to a unwanted Christmas gift. There’s a new home out there for just about anything!

The person who gifts the item selects the charity to benefit (so it could be Greener Leith who you select to benefit, if you want to raise money to improve your local neighbourhood) - or a national charity such as Marie Curie Cancer Care. The choice is down to the "gifter."

When it comes to searching for stuff on the site you can select items near to any postcode so that it keeps the JumbleMILES down and keeps the items within the community. You can also search by different supported charities.

The word is starting to spread

The site is now starting to gain awareness through PR, social networking, search engine optimisation and ‘Group Schemes’ where an organisation uses the site to involve their members in community fundraising.

Promotion is starting to build with over 300 charities having contacted the site to register their interest and founding charity partners starting to spread the word in a whole range of communications.

The site is also developing a growing following with Local Authorities who, as advocates, are starting to recommend JumbleAID to the communities they serve as a worthwhile and responsible way of finding new homes for unwanted stuff and keeping it out of landfill.

Please have a look at the site and let us know what you all think and start listing your unwanted stuff today – it may well help someone in your community tomorrow!

Contact: Simon Pailin – JumbleAID Email simon@jumbleaid.com Tel 01422 820787

If you've got stuff you'd like to get rid of why not become a 'gifter' on JumbleAID and help Greener Leith in the process? To get started you need to register on the JumbleAID website at www.jumbleaid.com. When you go through the registration process, be sure to select Greener Leith as a favourite charity. Please also join the Greener Leith group using the code: JA0020 as this will allow us all to see how much money we've raised. If this all seems to technical we may be able to post unwanted items to JumbleAID for you. Please do get in touch if you'd like our help.