10. Everyday Hero

Founders: Nathan Betteridge, Paul Wenck and Michael Kearney

Revenue: $2.5 million

Started: 2007

Head Office: Queensland

Employees: 20

Industry: IT & Technology

Website: https://www.everydayhero.com.au

Everyday Hero’s founders realised from experience in the UK market that the not-for-profit sector in Australia was badly lagging behind when it came to online donations.

Many charities couldn’t afford the software that allowed donors to contribute their funds to a cause. Everyday Hero was set up in order to connect charities and donors, while giving charities the control over their online gift giving pages.

“Nathan (Betteridge) had a cause-related retail strategy and I brought the donation side of it on board,” says co-founder Paul Wenck. “This allowed us to aggregate clients and gave us a larger network of charities to promote to businesses like Coles and Woolworths.”

“What we’ve done is create the ability for charities to create their own websites that they control. Without us, the cost would be prohibitive to them. Charities can control their relationship with supporters.”

The system by offering charities different packages to access – for example, for $5,000, a charity can get access to Everyday Hero’s software, with an annual $1,235 annual fee. EveryDay Hero also gets a transaction fee, ranging from around 6% down to 4%, depending on the deal.

In return, charities have their own donation sites which accept multiple payment options and provide donors with updates such as video content.

Wenck says that trust was initially an issue, as well as over-zealous state regulatory bodies, but the business is now flying. Everyday Hero has more than 1,000 clients in Australia, has already entered the UK and is set to launch itself into the US and Scandinavian marketplaces.

“Our ambition is now to grow into the corporate sector, where there are higher margins,” says Wenck. “The good thing about the business is that we can pick up the model and drop it into a new market lock, stock and barrel.”