that a company does not just exist to make money. It exists to serve its constituents - customers, employees, shareholders and the wider community - in a balanced way. This means that we at JustGiving do not run the company to maximise profits.
Instead, we focus on providing an outstanding service to our customers, a rewarding place to work for our employees and a fair return to our investors. As a result of this, JustGiving has become a profitable company, and continues to thrive today.
But what does it mean in practice? Here is an example. In 2008, we started discussions with HMRC on the question of whether or not our charity members should have to pay VAT on our 5% fee. Three years on, we finally obtained a ruling that they should not. It cost us large sums of money and a lot of time. It also means that, from January 2011, JustGiving is unable to offset the VAT we are charged by suppliers, increasing our operating costs by about 8%. We did this because it was the right thing to do for our charities, and we won't be passing on this increase.
Every day we ask ourselves: how can we serve you better? How can we expand giving further? We believe that it is this relentless focus on service that generates long-lasting success for our users, our charity members and, ultimately, our company. Our CEO, Zarine Kharas, spoke about our values in depth in her acceptance speech for the RSA's Albert Medal in 2009. Take a moment to watch it, and send her your thoughts.
JustGiving's CEO Zarine Kharas' speech at the RSA's Albert Medal event from JustGiving on Vimeo.