Many people are currently criticising the UK charity fundraising system since, undoubtedly, it has become outdated and quite complicated considering the rules that govern other public sectors like public funds, health insurances and social services. The current approach of the UK fundraisers has been said by most of the community to be not that satisfying since most of the work is conducted throughout old and harder to use methods.

Currently everyone that gives money for charity receives a written declaration and the information about the funds received are mostly contained in paper too. Surveys have shown that most of the charity companies are up for a change -an online resource would significantly increase the efficiency of the charity moneyraising and will simplify the whole process of the organisations of submitting the financial information required at the end of each financial year. On the other hand, ordinary people are getting annoyed by the constant process of door knocking and long fruitless conversations with volunteers. They claim that to be nothing personal -it is the waste of time that bothers people and the waste of resource on such an activity. Most of these people are ready to receive email notifications which, as these people say, would have the same impact on them. If official and trusted, the advertisement can be even more efficient and attract more people that the outdoors volunteers. Additionaly, most of the people manage their finances online and if they give money online to a charity organisation, they will have the chance to avoid paper storage and just to add the payment to their online bank statements and accounts.

It is essential for the charity organisations to review and take into account the people’s opinion in order increase the efficienccy of the fundraising and provide opportunities for more and more people in need.

Enigin have come and looked at our energy output and usage and optimised it. They have taken into account not only what we use in terms of energy, but how we use it and with what importance levels. It is one thing to walk in and tell you to turn your monitor off at lunchtime – Enigin did so much more than that. They actually looked at the bigger picture of what was going on. They examined the structural use of energy, and they did it with an eye not only from the environment, but also from our personal expenditure. As most of the volunteers will tell you it is one thing to do a good deed once of, but if it isn’t sustainable, then it will never last in the long term.

Enigin ensured that the changes that they implemented were designed in order to save us money in the long term as well as make our usage more ethically sound. We can now say that we are running more in line with modern ethical standards, and actually we can sustain it because they’ve actually cut our costs by something between 30% - 40%, though we won’t be able to give an actual figure until a year has gone past and we can look at it properly.
Anyway, a thanks to Ian over at Enigin, you did a good job. For the first time in my life, I’m looking forward to seeing the bills come through the door so that I can see the difference it has made.

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Update 11/30/09

I just wanted to give everybody an update on the status of our energy savings scheme with Enigin. Since we first hooked up with them in June we have been having a great success in our endeavour to help conserve energy, and we have gotten the bills in to prove it as well! Over the last five months we have seen our energy bills drop consistently, and we are now at a savings of about 30% compared to last year! When we started on this path I thought that saving 10% was pretty optimistic, but I was continually impressed with how the team at Enigin seemed to get our entire company involved and excited about energy savings. All I can say is thanks again Ian, it’s amazing what you have done for us!

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Update 07/12/09

I had a big chat with the guys over at Enigin the other day about light bulbs. You don’t really think that light bulbs would make a big difference in our lives, but with the government trying to phase out the old incandescent ones, I was quite curious as to why.

Anyway, they told me some pretty shocking facts about light bulbs, and where great about helping me find ways to reduce the costs that they cause. Incandescent light bulbs only spend 10% of their energy on light, and the other 90% is just given off in heat! Which means that not only are you wasting energy on light but you are also having to spend more money on air conditioning in the summer. I just wanted to say thanks to Enigin for all the helpful tips they have given us here at chasing dreams, you really are amazing!

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Enigin Update 12/14/09
I have decided what is wrong with the world today, and it can be summed up in the simple phrase of laziness. It is not that hard to replace every light bulb in the house with an energy efficient one, but it is so easy to say ‘I’ll do it next weekend,’ which means it never gets done. Or by doing something as simple as changing your bank statements from online to paper, but once again, it is the easiest thing to put off and say ‘I will just do that at the end of the week when I go through all of my papers.’ I don’t know when it was that we became so lazy as a race, but I have a feeling that in coincided with the advent of gadgets and computers that use up all of this energy that we are desperately trying to save. I am just as guilty as the next person, don’t get me wrong all I am saying is that it would be really nice if we could all just put in a little bit more effort and be a little bit less lazy.

The whole website should be up and running again soon. Apologise for the extended delay.