“Wugging” on the web could generate cash windfall for UK charities

Wugging (web use giving) could create a massive windfall for good causes without costing web users a penny, according to research released today by Everyclick.com.
A new survey by YouGov reveals that lack of time is the main reason people give for not raising money for charity (45 per cent), but nearly a third said they would be encouraged to raise more money for charity if this could be integrated in to their daily life.

Wugging allows anyone on the web to raise money for charity simply by doing something they do every day – using a search engine. On average in the UK there are 22.8m web searches per day; 949,000 per hour; 15,800 per minute and 264 per second1. If just 10 per cent of those web users in the UK switched to Everyclick.com for their search, it
would generate £172,000 for UK charities per day2, without costing them a penny or taking a moment more of their time.


Polly Gowers, co-founder of Everyclick.com, believes wugging has the potential to become a major new source of income for charities.
She says: “Wugging is win:win – web users generate money for causes they care about without it costing them anything in terms of time or money, and charities get a valuable source of funding. If you’re a web user who cares about good causes, it’s time to become a wugger!”

Everyclick.com works like any other search engine, allowing users to search for information, news and images but users can specify which of the UK’s 170,000 charities they would like to support through their clicks. Everyclick.com then makes monthly payments to every registered charity. 12 per cent of the British public questioned by YouGov currently give to charities online, but only 1 per cent do this on a daily basis.

Commenting on this Polly says: “Our research reveals people genuinely wish they could do more for charity yet only one in ten (12 per cent) are giving online. 91 per cent3 of Internet users make use of a search engine, if we could encourage all these individuals to become wuggers, by using Everyclick.com, funding for registered charities of all sizes would increase dramatically, all through the click of a mouse.”

Launched in June 2005 Everyclick.com is now the eighth largest search engine and one of the busiest charity websites in the UK. The site has more than 1,350,000 unique uses, has yielded over 8 million page impressions and has over 67,000 registered uses.

- Ends -
Notes to Editors:
For media enquiries, photography or interview requests please contact
everyclick@geronimocommunications.com or call 020 7299 8751.

Everyclick.com
* Everyclick.com is a search engine that has been purpose built to automatically donate 50% of
its revenue to charity
* Launched in June 2005, it has to date 67,220 registered uses and 955 corporate uses
* Everyclick.com is a Hitwise Top 10 Award winner, winner of the Netimperative “Best Start Up
of the Year” Award and is ranked as the eighth most visited search engine in the UK
* Polly Gowers, CEO winner of Triodos Bank sponsored “Entrepreneur of the Year” at the Women in Ethical Business Awards 2007
* The site is free to join and free to use, there is no cost to the use or the charity
* All search results are powered by Ask.com
* A special agreement with Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) everyclick.com enables uses to support any of the UK’s 170, 000 charities. The money is allocated by intelligent software and is distributed to charities every month by CAF
Research
* All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc
* Total sample size was 2,141 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 17th and 20th
August 2007. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

1 Internet Statistics Compendium - E-consultancy January 2007
2 Internet Statistics Compendium - E-consultancy January 2007 states that the paid search market was
worth a total of £1.26 billion in 2006. 10% of this market is £126,000,000 yielding £63,000,000 annually therefore £172,000 daily for charities through Everyclick.com
3 Office for National Statistics