Donio wants to change the way crowdfunding works

Donio’s biggest and best known success so far has been their fundraising drive to support the Czech Technical University in producing much needed ventilators — in just 19 hours, Donio raised over half a million Euro. The success prompted an infamous response from the Minister of Interior Jan Hamáček, who tweeted the following response to a question about whether the production of ventilators should be financed by the state: “While the government should provide support for ventilator production, for now it looks like crowdfunding will suffice.” Before the government could make a single move, the funds had already been deposited into the university’s bank account.

Anyone can set up a fundraising initiative at Donio.cz for just about anything:

• Is your town lacking money to build a children’s playground? Try raising funds from those who live in the area.
• Is your neighbour a single mum who has found herself in financial straits? Help her out by setting up a fundraising page.
• Does your band need support to finance the recording of its next album? Ask your fans to help.
• Do you want to support overstretched healthcare workers? Organise a fundraiser and help them with something they need. (You might be inspired by Tom Moore, the then 99-year-old WWII veteran who committed to walk the length of his garden one hundred times before his 100th birthday, with the goal of raising 1,000 pounds for British healthcare workers. His fundraising effort became an internet sensation, resulting in more than 33 million pounds raised for the UK National Health Service.)

One hundred per cent of the funds you raise will be deposited in your account. Donio does not take a commission; what’s more, they even cover the cost of bank fees. The project is financed through voluntary ‘gifts’ from donors. Each donor is asked to consider whether in addition to their donation they would like to support the ongoing development of the platform.

Can a well-designed fundraising platform result in a bottom-up philanthropy revolution? Donio’s founder David Procházka is convinced it can. “I imagine that in a few years’ time, Donio will help raise hundreds of millions of Czech crowns per month in Czechia alone.”

David’s dream is to encourage each of us to make it a habit to donate money to a good cause. Instead of worrying about what new sports shoes we might buy, why not think about who could benefit from our support? How about helping someone out each Monday morning?

Donio came to Miton’s attention last autumn with the help of Tomáš Hodboď (in the photo above, David Procházka is on the left and Tomáš on the right). “Donio is not a project that you evaluate with standard investment criteria. We want to support and sustain the central idea that fundraising organisers will always get 100% of the funds raised,” says Tomáš Hodboď. “We want the whole team to focus on getting the platform to support the highest number of fundraising initiatives possible, to help as many people as possible.”

“We’ve helped David to put together an extremely talented team that is driven by the vision that bottom-up philanthropy needs fundamental change. When we add our experience from e-commerce, and the process of building online products, I’m convinced we can achieve something big in this area. Even beyond Czechia,” adds Tomáš Hodboď.

Donio in numbers

• Over 1.6 million Euro raised to date (initial goal for 2020 was close to 750,000 Euro)
• More than 50,000 donors
• The largest gifts to date have been to the tune of 1 million Czech crowns (approx. 37,000 Euro); the smallest gift amount is 10 crowns (less than one Euro)
• The most common gift amount is 300 crowns (11 Euro)

Miton has invested millions of Czech crowns, and we are prepared to continue to support Donio, which we see as a great initiative with a huge social impact.