A COMMUNITY group is hoping a new website will make it easier for charities and organisations to get more funding.

Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action has come up with the idea of collecting the details of thousands of groups, advertising their needs to funders in one place.

It comes after manager of OCVA Trevor Barton said some not-for-profit groups in the county struggled to find new ways of bringing in cash.

The site would work like Amazon in that someone could search not just for the charity, but for the type of service it offered or by its location using different filters.

Mr Barton said each charity’s page would have details of what it did, what it needed and how the funding could help in a description about it.

Potential backers could then judge them and then decide whether or not to make an investment.

Mr Barton, who said charity 360 Giving told them their tool was the first of its kind in the UK, added: “The idea came from a number of different sources but it started with the chief executive of Oxfordshire Community And Voluntary Action Kathy Shaw and Oxfordshire Community Foundation director Jayne Woodley.

“Jayne pointed out that there are a lot of funders in Oxfordshire but they are not finding each other.

“It started a week ago and we have had 20 people sign up already and there are more than 1,000 groups that will automatically be included because they were in our public directory.

“We do not believe it has been done to the level we are doing it.

“We know that there a couple of projects that have done similar things but what nobody has done before is collect all that knowledge with local funders.”

It is hoped by OCVA that the tool will be available for funders to use in summer next year after collecting the online database by October this year.

The group also estimates the online tool could feature more than 4,000 groups when it debuts and will invite both registered and non-registered charities to join.

Banbury Food for Charities, which help transport unwanted fresh food from supermarkets and deliver them to charities, has already submitted its details to the scheme.

Trustee for the charity and councillor Kieron Mallon said he believed the scheme would work as an online “one stop shop” for charities and groups.

Mr Mallon added: “I think charities are usually best placed to provide and deliver a lot of services that people need and to have a one stop shop to find charities in our area is a very good idea.”

Director of group Asylum Welcome Kate Smart, who has also submitted the charity’s details to the scheme, praised OCVA for inviting it to join.

She said: “It sounds like a great initiative, we are very grateful.”

* Charities and groups can submit their details at ocva.org.uk.