RaiseNow fundraising platform under fire for rejecting Swiss People’s Party

RaiseNow says it only works with political organisations that align with its values. Keystone / Christian Beutler

Last year's decision by RaiseNow, a Swiss online fundraising and payment platform, to refuse to offer payment solutions to the right-wing Swiss People’s Party continue to stir controversy.

The online company, which offers tools mainly designed for NGOs and non-profit associations to improve their fundraising capabilities, says it only works with political organisations that align with its values.

RaiseNow, whose services are recommended by several Swiss banks, offers software for receiving payments online. But on its website, the company clearly states that its services are reserved for organisations that support its environmental and diversity-related values.External link

“We do not expect all organisations to share our convictions, which is why we exercise our constitutional right to work only with customers and partners who share the values we defend,” the company says in its cooperation guidelines.

The platform has accepted partnerships with the Centre Party and the centrist Liberal Green Party, but not with the People’s Party or the Federal Democratic Union, an ultra-conservative Christian party.

Accusations of discrimination

RaiseNow’s head of sales, Maxime Bouckaert, defended the company’s stance in an interview with Swiss public radio, RTS, on Monday.

“We’re a company that focuses on having a societal impact, and our employees are motivated by this objective,” he explained.

But Nicolas Kolly, a People’s Party member, is unconvinced. The Fribourg politician accuses the company of discriminating on the basis of political beliefs.

“If this company refused to work with a minority of the population because of their religion or sexual orientation – Muslims or homosexuals, for example – everyone would rightly find that scandalous. What RaiseNow is doing is the same thing. I find this situation extremely serious,” he said.

Swiss Post urge to intervene

Kolly sees the issue as even more problematic given that RaiseNow is partly owned by Swiss Post, which in turn is fully owned by the Swiss federal authorities. He raised the issue with the federal government, but the Federal Council replied that it could not intervene.External link

RaiseNow’s stance has also raised concerns among political opponents of the People’s Party, including Baptiste Hurni of the left-wing Social Democratic Party.

“From a legal point of view, there’s not much to complain about,” he said. “But culturally, Switzerland thrives on dialogue across political divides. I don’t support excluding people – even if they’re Swiss People’s Party members, who are certainly not my political allies.”

Hurni urged Swiss Post, if it has not already done so, “to recall the principles that govern it in its role as a shareholder”. Christian Levrat, head of Swiss Post, declined to respond to requests for comment from RTS.

Translated from French using DeepL/amva/sb