How storytelling empowers charities
ChariTales is a new initiative in the nonprofit world. This innovative community app was created by and for charities. Through the app, nonprofits can easily share stories, receive donations, and recruit volunteers. We spoke with founders Judith van den Hoeven and Ella Reizevoort about their mission to support charitable organizations.
About this case study
- Sector: Non-profit
- Product: Enabling iDEAL payments for charities
- Challenge: Receiving donations within an app
- Web Software: Custom development (Buckaroo API)
Most commonly used payment methods
An Alternative to Costly Fundraising
“From our network, we heard that especially private fundraising has become expensive in today’s climate. Traditional channels like direct mail, email marketing, and telemarketing — and even social media — are becoming less viable for charities. These are often costly channels, and the time and financial resources invested in them are not being earned back.
We also noticed the importance of engaging volunteers, and that a lot of effort goes into volunteer recruitment. Volunteers are essential, because they often contribute financially in indirect ways.
With ChariTales, we offer a great alternative. Charities can post content and set up their own space free of charge. Only when someone makes a donation is a small fee charged to help fund the app,” explains Ella. “Our goal is not to include as many charities as possible in the app, but to truly activate the ones that are in it — so they can share as many stories as possible. The strength of charities lies in their stories,” Ella continues. The charities themselves help grow the user base, but ChariTales also contributes to acquiring new users.”
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Excellent customer service
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Transparent pricing
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40+ popular payment methods
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An App for Every Charity
Every charity would love to have its own app, but that’s not always feasible. Developing and maintaining a custom app takes time and money — resources that not every nonprofit has access to. Thanks to ChariTales, however, there are new possibilities. While it’s not a fully standalone app, it provides an environment you can log into within an app — with the same functionality. The first time a user logs in, they select the charity of their choice. From then on, whenever they open the app, they’ll see information only from that selected charity.
The Powerful Stories of the Skin Heroes
One of the charities already using the app is the National Skin Foundation. They recently launched the campaign “Skin Heroes”. The main goal of sharing the Skin Heroes stories is to promote acceptance of skin that looks different. In the “Skin Heroes” campaign, people living with specific skin conditions share their stories. These valuable stories deserve to be preserved properly. To do this, the foundation is looking for companies willing to fund the documentation — combined with a donation to the cause.
For the Skin Foundation, the Skin Heroes are important ambassadors. They are essential to amplifying the National Skin Foundation’s mission. By sharing these stories, the organization hopes to attract more corporate partners and sponsors.
The app perfectly aligns with the foundation’s goal of storytelling and spreading the message of the Skin Foundation — particularly the Skin Heroes campaign. A link has been added in the app to recruit new Skin Heroes, and a donation module has also been activated.
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Towards an optimal payment strategy
"We often saw your name mentioned alongside charities"
For handling donations, ChariTales uses Buckaroo's payment services. “When we were looking for a partner to help manage our payments, we reached out to several companies. We noticed that communication with the other providers was difficult — in some cases, we didn’t get any personal contact at all. Everything was digital, which made us drop out. We were already familiar with Buckaroo and had good experiences. In the case of ChariTales, due to the complexity of the initiative, it was helpful that we could quickly connect and discuss things.”
“The fact that Buckaroo already serves many other charities and foundations was another reason for choosing you. We often saw your name mentioned alongside good causes. The communication is great, and being based in Utrecht is also a practical benefit for us,” says Ella.
Judith van den Hoeven and Ella Reizevoort - ChariTales
iDEAL as a Secure Foundation
To process donations, ChariTales offers iDEAL. It works perfectly as a foundation for donation payments, as it’s the most popular payment method in the Netherlands. Additionally, it’s convenient that iDEAL is a guaranteed payment method, meaning transactions cannot be reversed. This makes it a lower-risk option and significantly reduces administrative work.
Looking ahead, there is a strong desire to implement recurring payments. This is more advantageous for charities and also gives donors the feeling that they are more closely connected to the cause they support.
Want to Receive Donations Easily?
Finally, the founders hope that the app will be used by as many charities as possible. All nonprofit organizations with ANBI status — large or small — are welcome to join. Do you run a charity and want an easy way to share content and receive donations? Then get to know ChariTales.
Get started with Buckaroo
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Excellent customer service
Help when you need it -
Clear rates
Only pay for successful transactions -
40+ popular payment methods
We help you choose the right payment methods
