By Arijit, founder of OneDonate
On a quiet Saturday morning in early 2025, I was watching TV with my 11-year-old daughter when the usual charity adverts came on — different causes, different stories, but always the same message: donate, make a difference. She turned to me and asked whether we donated to any charity. I felt proud telling her yes, every month, for the past ten years. She smiled. Then she asked the question that changed everything: “What about the other charities?”
That one sentence stayed with me, because she was right. We support one charity faithfully — but what about the hundreds, thousands, of incredible organisations doing vital work across the UK? When I started explaining what many donors already know, I heard myself saying it out loud for the first time: supporting multiple charities isn’t always simple. Different websites, different logins, different direct debits, different confirmation emails. Giving — surprisingly — isn’t as easy as it should be.
When I shared that conversation with my co-founders, Subhankar Denria and Uttaran Chaudhuri, we kept coming back to the same question: what if it could be? What if one trusted space could connect donors, corporates and charities without all the friction? That was the moment OneDonate was born.
Built to remove friction, not impact
OneDonate is a UK donation platform designed to help charities raise more funds while making it genuinely easier for donors and corporates to support the causes that matter to them. More than a year on, we’re gaining real traction — with charities, CICs and community trusts already onboarded — because our mission has never wavered: make giving easier, more transparent, and more meaningful, and remove every unnecessary obstacle along the way.
We know that in today’s financial climate, signing up for another platform without a guaranteed return is a real concern for charities, so we removed that barrier entirely. There are no setup fees, no subscription fees, no mandatory platform charges. Donors can optionally choose to cover third-party processing costs, but the principle is straightforward — your donations should work for your cause, not disappear into overheads.
Onboarding is a simple three-step process, because momentum matters. We also recognise that technology can feel like a hurdle for many organisations, so our team personally supports charities through the process, making sure you’re live, visible and fundraising without stress.
For donors, OneDonate is a one-stop shop to discover, support and track charities with ease — no clunky forms, no unnecessary barriers. Integrated Stripe payments mean reconciliation is straightforward and secure, giving finance teams the clarity and confidence they need. And by bringing verified UK charities and community organisations together in one trusted environment, we’re increasing discoverability and strengthening credibility. When donors know they’re giving somewhere secure and verified, confidence grows, and so does generosity.
Charities also told us something that really stuck: when you remove friction, donors give more frequently and more generously. So we built campaign functionality directly into the platform, allowing organisations to run multiple campaigns simultaneously — whether for specific projects or general fundraising — accepting both restricted and unrestricted donations with ease.
A leap of faith
After 21 years in a conventional career, I took the leap that many founders take, because my daughter’s question simply wouldn’t leave me. Connecting with ACEVO members, sharing insights and learning from sector leaders has been an enormously enriching part of that journey for the whole OneDonate team. And the belief that drives us remains simple: when giving is easy, people give more — and when people give more, charities can do more. At OneDonate, we remove obstacles, not outcomes.