Edinburgh-based ticketing platform debuts charity initiative

An ethical Edinburgh-based ticketing platform has launched a charity initiative, transforming booking fees into a force for good, as it looks to donate a six-figure sum to charity by the end of next year.

Phil Shaw-Stewart leads the firm, which was set up in 2013. Picture: Paul Heyes.

The innovation enables event organisers to select a charity to which Citizen Ticket will donate half the booking fee from each ticket sold. Citizen Ticket said independent arts festival Hidden Door (starting in May) will be the first Scottish organisation to use the feature, having recently chosen the Edinburgh firm as its main ticketing provider.

Its move to the platform will contribute to Citizen Ticket’s target of raising and donating £100,000 to charity by the end of 2020, and follows its first major donation of £1,900 to mental health charity Pips, in conjunction with NI Science Festival.

Citizen Ticket co-founder Phil Shaw-Stewart said: “Our decision to incorporate charitable donations into our booking fees has been a ‘no-brainer’ for us. As individuals, all of our team members have a strong social conscious, and this is reflected throughout our company and objectives.”

The firm says it is rapidly expanding across the UK, having been set up in 2013 in response to the “numerous” problems it saw in the event ticketing sector. In 2017 it launched its blockchain technology, BitTicket, and delivered the very first real-world event with tickets backed by the blockchain.