RSM 2000 acquires text donation business Vir2
Howard Lake | 10 February 2016 | News
Direct debit and card payment service provider RSM 2000 Ltd has acquired charity text donation specialist Vir2. The purchase means RSM 2000 is the first combined fully regulated and compliant payment service provider and charity text donation service.
The purchase of Vir2 includes all its business activities, staff and brand.
Vir2 has been providing SMS services for charities since 2005 and its founder Roger Craven campaigned for the introduction of VAT free text donations. He also represented the interests of the charity sector on the board of the Mobile Data Association which was the trade body which wrote the rules for text donation.
Vir2 offers text services to hundreds of charities, large and small, and have supported prominent text donation campaigns including Stephen Sutton’s “#thumbsupforstephen” for Teenage Cancer Trust.
Nigel Walters, Managing Director of RSM 2000, said:
“Donors naturally expect charities to accept payments in whatever way is most convenient to the donor. We want to simplify the lives of our fundraising clients. We can now offer every form of electronic payment a charity needs with one set of contacts to provide help and support.”
Roger Craven, founder of Vir2, added:
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“RSM 2000 are experts in providing secure payment systems. SMS suppliers don’t have to be registered as payment institutions or be PCI Tier 1 compliant, but RSM 2000’s accreditations represent the gold standard and anything less is rapidly becoming an untenable position for charities.”
The acquisition comes amid increasing concerns about the risk of reputational damage to charities from supplier relationships, which have featured in several media investigations over the past year. Craven points out RSM 2000 are registered with the Financial Conduct Authority for Payment Services, and Consumer Credit activities, and are PCI Tier 1 compliant too.
Craven will continue to work with the business.
RSM 2000 offers charity rates for card processing and provides special direct debit services for charities. It also plans to market is combined payment and SMS services to businesses.
Image: mobile payment in sterling by Welf Aaron on Shutterstock.com
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.