Small, London-based businesses are being invited to join the ‘1% club’ by Bill Cannon, the founder of IT consultancy Shepperton.com .

The idea behind the venture is to raise money for charity while creating a network of like-minded businesses that can benefit from using the 1% club in their marketing campaigns.

Members of the network, who will give 1% of their profits to charity, will be invited to regular networking events hosted by Cannon.

Cannon said: “The 1% Club is not only a fantastic way of raising funds for the charities close to our hearts, but it is a great networking tool for finding likeminded business people.”

“If just ten per cent of the SMEs in London came on board, we could hope to raise something like £360 million every year.”

Shepperton.com is the sponsor for Sound & Vision, a music heritage event held annually by Cancer Research UK, at the Abbey Road Studios.

The company has promised to donate 5% of its revenue every year to Cancer Research UK, starting in 2010.