BT is hoping to expand the online giving market via the launch of its web fundraising offering myDonate, which joins the growing number of online marketplaces such as JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving, but is the first to offer the service for free.

myDonate will enable charities to fundraise through the platform and atttract regular and one-off gifts in the tradition of JustGiving, promising to funnel 100% of donations to charities.

Unlike JustGiving which charges a £15 monthly fee to charities and takes 5% commission, or Virgin Money Giving which involves a £100 set-up fee and a 2% commission, myDonate will only charge charities credit card processing fees charged at a lower or equal rate to its competitors.

“BT will eat all of those costs,” said Ian Livingston, chief executive of BTat the launch on Wednesday.

Five charities have worked with BT to develop the site, and a further 10 have joined BTas launch partners.

Paul Amadi, director of fundraising at NSPCC, one of the charities involved in development, praised myDonate as “BT’s gift to the sector” and said it will make giving online easier, more accessible and more prevalent.

myDonate’s launch into the online sponsorship/fundraising arena makes it a crowded marketplace, following the launch of Virgin Money Giving last year. But BTsaid its intention is to grow the marketplace, rather than shift donors from site to site.

Donna Young, BT CSR programme director, said competition in any market is good and grows the market.

Last year the total amount donated to charity by adults in the UK was estimated to be £10.6bn, but only 7% of that was online, according to the Charities Aid Foundation.

Technology guru and founder of Blueprint Research and Design Lucy Bernholz said she felt that ultimately there will be consolidation among these platforms as there already has been in USA. “The business model for these platforms as standalones is tough,” she said.

Young said that the offering forms part of BT’s long term commitment to the charity sector.

BT will be promoting myDonate throughout the summer with a ‘Festival of Fundraising’ which will involve the service being touted at summer festivals, among other places. But Young said that it would be charities that will drive it.

David Cosham, chief executive of KidsOut, another of the development partners, said his charity would continue to use JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving, but will be heavily encouraging its own supporters to use the BTservice in order to get the maximum donation out of the giving.