Justgiving trials SMS giving for London Marathon

Howard Lake | 7 April 2005 | News

Online fundraising service Justgiving is helping Help the Hospices to fundraise via SMS or text giving at the London Marathon.

Justgiving is working with Help the Hospices, the London Marathon’s Official Charity 2005, to trial text donations on and around race day. Spectators on the course or at home can make a donation of £3 by simply texting GIV to 83338. Standard operator charges apply.

The campaign aims to attract spontaneous donations from the thousands of race spectators, and appeal to younger donors who use text messaging regularly to buy products or participate in television voting.

Sam Rider, Head of National Campaigns at Help the Hospices, said: “We are giving spectators an extra opportunity to recognise the endeavours of our runners by sending a text donation. Everyone who is inspired by the efforts of the competitors can make a valuable contribution themselves, there and then, without breaking into a sweat!”

After the trial, Justgiving intends to roll out the service to all its charity clients and enable each to set up a text message appeal in a matter of hours, with no set-up costs.

James Grieve, marketing manager at Justgiving, said: “Text donations allow people to give spontaneously on the move. Whether they are responding to an appeal on television, on a billboard, at a rock concert or sporting event, they can donate immediately by sending a text.”

He sees SMS giving as supplementary to other methods of giving, and therefore an additional revenue stream.

Justgiving is an official partner of the Flora London Marathon for the fourth consecutive year. More than 8,000 runners have created online fundraising pages on Justgiving for 2005, raising more than £4 million two weeks before the race has even taken place.

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.