JustGiving has launched an iPhone application to help fundraisers increase the number of donations ahead of this weekend’s London Marathon.

The app can be downloaded free-of-charge from the Apple store and allows fundraisers to update their fundraising pages with text and photos, while instant notifications of new donations can also be sent straight to the phone.

JustGiving community team member Heather Bird said that the company expects the application will help boost fundraisers’ total incomes, particularly ahead of the London Marathon.

However not all civil society organisations are happy with Apple’s current rules regarding apps with ‘donate’ buttons.
The Bullying UK chief executive and social media expert, John Carnell, has had the third version of his application rejected by the application creation website, AppMakr.

The website which is responsible for submitting applications onto Apple states that Apple now requires “sufficient amounts of content to appeal to a broad audience”.

This is to prevent applications from being created solely to promote a business venture.

Speaking to Civil Society, Jonathan Waddingham, digital strategist for JustGiving, said: “There isn’t the facility to make a donation in our app, so we haven’t come across the problem that the Bullying UK app has.

“I don’t think Apple has a problem with donations on apps per se, but they have no way of knowing that an app in the store is related to a registered charity. So, if they wanted to give a special rate for charities, they would have to put procedures in place to ensure the app was from a charity.”