Disasters Emergency Committee

What Disasters Emergency Committee does

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is a UK-registered charity (No. 1062638) and company limited by guarantee (No. 3356526) that coordinates national fundraising appeals at times of major overseas humanitarian disasters. Founded in 1963 and headquartered in London with a permanent secretariat of 46 staff, the DEC operates as an umbrella body for 15 leading UK aid charities — Action Against Hunger, ActionAid, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, International Rescue Committee, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Plan International, Save the Children, Tearfund, and World Vision — and has launched 80 appeals since inception, raising £2.5 billion in cumulative donations. Governance sits with a board of trustees comprising the chief executives of all 15 member charities plus six independent trustees.

The DEC's core "product" is the coordinated humanitarian appeal: a media-amplified fundraising campaign launched when scale, member capacity, and likely public support thresholds are met, with funds directed to member charities based on their field capacity. Distribution is omnichannel: an online donation portal (Stripe, Braintree, PayPal, Ryft), SMS text-to-donate via Fonix to shortcodes 70150/70727/70676, phone lines through Angel/Spoke, postal donations via Woods Valldata, in-app donations via NatWest Group and Revolut, JustGiving pages, Meta donate buttons, Nectar point conversion, legacy giving, and Post Office counters. Demand generation runs through the Rapid Response Network — national broadcasters (BBC and others) and corporate partners including BT, NatWest, Revolut, Yoto, and Nectar.

The revenue model is donation-based. The three income streams are (1) public donations raised via appeals, (2) UK Government Aid Match which doubles qualifying public donations pound-for-pound up to per-appeal caps (e.g., £2M for Venezuela, £10M for Coronavirus, £5M for Philippines Typhoon), and (3) corporate partnership revenue via platform provision, matching, and promotional support. Operations are supported by a martech stack of Salesforce (CRM), Zendesk (support), Dotdigital (engagement), Google Analytics, HotJar, OneTrust, and Meta Pixel — with Xapien AI used for donor due diligence. Saleh Saeed is the current Chief Executive.

Name

Disasters Emergency Committee

Legal name

Disasters Emergency Committee

Website

https://dec.org.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1963

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is a UK charity coalition of 15 leading aid agencies that coordinates national fundraising appeals for overseas humanitarian disasters, channelling public donations and UK Aid Match funds through its members for crisis response.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Humanitarian Aid Fundraising

NAICS

Emergency and Other Relief Services (624230), Community Food and Housing, and Emergency and Other Relief Services (6242)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Disaster Recovery, Reconstruction & Resilience Programs (BPAGAAAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Humanitarian Logistics, Supply Chain & Air/Sea/Land Relief Transport (BPAGAAAI)

Keywords

• Humanitarian fundraising
• Disaster relief coordination
• Charity coalition appeals
• Emergency aid donations
• UK Aid Match

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Public Donations: The DEC raises funds from the UK general public through national fundraising appeals launched during major humanitarian crises. Donations are collected via online portals, phone, post, SMS, and third-party platforms such as JustGiving and Meta (Facebook).
2. Government Aid Match: The UK Government matches public donations pound-for-pound up to specified limits through its UK Aid Match scheme. For the Venezuela Earthquake Appeal, the government matched up to £2 million. For the Coronavirus Appeal, £10 million was matched. For the Philippines Typhoon, £5 million was matched.
3. Corporate Partnerships: The DEC works with corporate partners in its Rapid Response Network, including BT (which provided its MyDonate platform), NatWest Group, Revolut, Yoto, Nectar/Crowdfunder, and others who provide platforms, matching schemes, or promotional support.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels8 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is a UK-based coalition of 15 leading aid charities that coordinates national humanitarian fundraising appeals at times of major overseas disasters. It launches time-bound appeals, pools donations from the UK public, and channels the funds to its member charities for on-the-ground delivery of shelter, food, water, medical care, and sanitation in disaster-affected countries.

Product overview

The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is a coalition of 15 leading UK aid charities that coordinates rapid humanitarian fundraising appeals at times of overseas disasters. The DEC operates as a unified humanitarian response platform rather than a single product, pooling resources of its member charities (Action Against Hunger, ActionAid, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, International Rescue Committee, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Plan International, Save the Children, Tearfund, and World Vision). The core product is the coordinated fundraising appeal mechanism, which includes multiple active appeals (currently Venezuela Earthquake Appeal, Myanmar Earthquake Appeal, Middle East Humanitarian Appeal) and a portfolio of closed appeals. The DEC offers donors multiple giving channels including online donations, text-to-donate SMS (via Fonix), phone donations, postal donations, corporate banking app integration (NatWest, Revolut), and JustGiving fundraising pages. The organisation uses various third-party technology platforms for donation processing (Stripe, Braintree, PayPal), CRM (Salesforce), marketing (Dotdigital, Meta), analytics (Google Analytics, HotJar), and AI-powered due diligence (Xapien).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Venezuela Earthquake Appeal Emergency fundraising appeal launched after two devastating earthquakes in Venezuela, providing humanitarian aid including shelter, food, water, medical care and sanitation through DEC member charities.
• Myanmar Earthquake Appeal Emergency fundraising appeal supporting people rebuilding their lives after the Myanmar earthquake, funding community groups and floating farm rehabilitation.
• Middle East Humanitarian Appeal Ongoing humanitarian appeal supporting people affected by conflict across Gaza, Lebanon, the West Bank and Syria, providing shelter, food and basic supplies.
• Turkey-Syria Earthquake Appeal Emergency fundraising appeal following the February 2023 earthquakes in Turkey and Syria that killed tens of thousands and destroyed buildings across the region.
• Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal Fundraising appeal following the 2022 escalation of conflict in Ukraine, supporting affected communities with short-term and longer-term assistance both in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.
• Pakistan Floods Appeal Fundraising appeal in response to the historic 2022 Pakistan floods, providing assistance to affected communities including strengthening resilience to future climate-based disasters.
• Afghanistan Crisis Appeal Emergency fundraising appeal launched December 2021 following economic collapse, conflict and drought in Afghanistan that left millions facing acute hunger. Raised £50 million.
• Coronavirus Appeal Fundraising appeal to help vulnerable communities in eight countries survive the Covid-19 pandemic, raising £62 million across Afghanistan, Bangladesh, DR Congo, India, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
• Philippines Typhoon Appeal Fundraising appeal following Typhoon Haiyan in 2013, which raised £96 million, reached 1.4 million people with life-saving aid, helped restore 380,000 livelihoods, and rebuilt or repaired 40,000 homes.
• Gaza Crisis Appeal 2014 Fundraising appeal following the 2014 Gaza conflict, raising nearly £19 million (including £2 million UK Aid Match) to reach 360,000 people with life-saving support.
• Online Donation Platform Digital donation processing through dec.org.uk accepting online payments via credit/debit cards and PayPal for all active appeals.
• Text-to-Donate (SMS) Service SMS donation service allowing UK residents to text a keyword to 70150, 70727 or 70676 to donate £10 per text to active DEC appeals; operated by Fonix PLC with mobile operator charges waived.
• Phone Donation Service Telephone donation line allowing supporters to donate by calling designated appeal-specific numbers; processed via Angel call centre, Spoke and Cashflows.
• JustGiving Fundraising Platform Integration Integration with JustGiving platform enabling supporters to create personal fundraising pages for DEC appeals and route donations to the DEC.
• Corporate Banking App Donations Partnership with NatWest Group and Revolut banking apps enabling users to donate directly to active DEC appeals from within their banking applications.
• Rewards Points Donations Partnership with NatWest MyRewards and Nectar points programme (via Crowdfunder) allowing supporters to convert loyalty points into donations to DEC appeals.

Quantifiable outcome

• £2.5 billion raised since 1963 across 80 appeals, saving countless lives and rebuilding communities
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration28 records

AI capability6 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, minor and flagship.

• BT (British Telecom)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerBT is a long-term partner of the DEC, providing its MyDonate giving platform to process donations. BT also hosted a celebrity telethon at BT Tower for the Philippines Typhoon Appeal and deployed its Emergency Response Team (ERT) to provide satellite communications support in the Philippines.
• NatWest GroupcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerNatWest Group has partnered with the DEC to enable donations through its banking app. NatWest also offers MyRewards points that can be donated to the DEC.
• RevolutcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerRevolut has partnered with the DEC to enable donations through its banking app to active appeals.
• Nectar / CrowdfunderminorGTM or Marketing PartnerDEC has partnered with Nectar (via Crowdfunder) enabling supporters to donate their Nectar points to DEC appeals from January 2022.
• YotominorGTM or Marketing PartnerYoto released a digital card titled 'Songs From Ukraine' in October 2022 with donations from sales going to the DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal to aid families affected by the Ukrainian war.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationStripe processes online credit/debit card donations for the DEC. Part of the DEC's suite of payment platform providers including Ryft, Braintree (PayPal, Barclaycard SmartPay).
• SalesforcecoreTechnology or IntegrationSalesforce is used as the DEC's central database and marketing platform for managing supporter relationships and communications.
• Fonix PLCcoreTechnology or IntegrationFonix PLC provides the SMS text-to-donate service for the DEC. Users text a keyword to 70150 (Venezuela), 70727 (Myanmar), or 70676 (Middle East) to donate £10 per text.
• JustGivingcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorJustGiving is used by supporters to create personal fundraising pages for DEC appeals. Donations made through JustGiving are received by the DEC.
• Meta (Facebook and Instagram)coreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorMeta (Facebook) is used for fundraising through donate buttons on DEC pages. The DEC also uses Meta Pixel for ad tracking. The DEC may receive donations made through Meta's fundraising tools.
• ZendeskcoreTechnology or IntegrationZendesk is used for customer service enquiries and supporter care ticketing. The DEC Help Centre at dechelp.zendesk.com handles donation enquiries and general queries.
• DotdigitalcoreTechnology or IntegrationDotdigital is used as the DEC's customer engagement platform for email marketing and communications automation.
• 15 DEC Member Charities (Action Against Hunger, ActionAid, Age International, British Red Cross, CAFOD, CARE International, Christian Aid, Concern Worldwide, International Rescue Committee, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Plan International, Save the Children, Tearfund, World Vision)flagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe DEC brings together 15 leading UK aid charities to raise funds quickly at times of humanitarian crisis overseas. Donations go to member agencies based on each member's ability to deliver aid where it is needed. DEC charities work with local partners in disaster zones to deliver emergency shelter, food, water, medical care, and sanitation. The DEC is governed by a board including chief executives of all members plus six independent trustees.
• CAF (Charities Aid Foundation)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCAF donations are accepted by the DEC, allowing CAF account holders to donate to active appeals.

Scale indicators11 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Market position

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/decappeal
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCnPJzdQ8XWDDOiWX9Ck1e6Q
• Facebookfacebook.com/DisastersEmergencyCommittee
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/1257642
• Instagraminstagram.com/disastersemergencycommittee

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Disasters Emergency Committee