# Vodafone gives charities 100% of text donations

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/07/09/vodafone-gives-charities-100-text-donations/
- Published: 2010-07-09T11:34:47+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

Vodafone this week became the first mobile operator in the UK to pass on 100% of
all charity donations made via SMS. UK charities will now receive the full amount
donated by Vodafone customers when they give £1 or more via a five digit ‘short 
code’ number which starts with 70.

Libby Pritchard, Head of Corporate Responsibility and Reputation at Vodafone UK,
said: “Customers find donating via SMS an easy and simple way of supporting charitable
causes. Now they can do so knowing that every penny they donate will go to the charity
of their choice”.

John Low, Chief Executive of the [Charities Aid Foundation](http://www.cafonline.org),
welcomed the development, saying: “This is terrific news. It is very generous of
Vodafone to commit to processing donations for free. Donating by text is popular
because it is instant and easy for donors but in the past high charges have put 
donors and charities off. Charities will celebrate this announcement.”

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Michael Carlin, Managing Director of [instaGiv](http://www.instagiv.co.uk), a mobile
donation solutions provider which exhibited at the Institute of Fundraising’s National
Convention this week, agreed that this was “wonderful news”. He said: “All operators
are now passing 90% + of text donations on to the charities and we hope that Vodafone
have set the new benchmark. With the exponential growth and ease of text messaging
and direct access to 66m UK mobile phones, donating by text is now a viable fundraising
mechanism for charities of all sizes”.

There is no change to Vodafone’s SMS rates: customers will continue to pay their
standard rate for the SMS to make the donation.

The news prompted a call from Irish fundraising consultant and blogger Conor Byrne
for Vodafone Ireland and indeed all Irish mobile networks to match the 100% figure(
[100% donations from 100% of networks](http://conorbyrne.wordpress.com/2010/07/07/100-donations-from-100-of-networks)).

www.vodafone.co.uk

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