BBC Children in Need uses OpenMarket to handle mobile donations
Howard Lake | 5 December 2013 | News
BBC Children in Need, which this year achieved a record fundraising total, is using OpenMarket’s Mobile Engagement Platform to raise funds via premium SMS. It began handling donations from the beginning of the appeal on 7 October 2013, and will continue to accept them until midnight on 31 January 2014.
This year donors had the choice of three charity donation SMS short codes, giving them the option of donation £1, £5 or £10 via text. Donors are charged the amount of their donation, plus the standard network message charge. For donors with text messages included in their mobile phone plans, the message charge is deducted from their allowance.
As well as providing the donation handling system, OpenMarket also advised BBC Children in Need on best practice for end user experience for mobile donations made via text message.
[quote align=”left” color=”#999999″]3, O2, EE, Virgin, and Vodafone have all waived their charges[/quote]
UK mobile operators 3, O2, EE, Virgin, and Vodafone have all waived their charges in order to allow BBC Children in Need to receive the full amount donated by mobile. HM Treasury has also confirmed that UK operators should not charge VAT on these text-based donations.
Over £4m donated via mobile
UK donors have so far given over £4 million via mobile to BBC Children in Need in this record-breaking year.
Adrian Sarosi, Director of Marketing and Business Development at OpenMarket EMEA, commented:
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“At times, the OpenMarket platform processed sustained bursts of over 400 donations a second – which shows the power of the mobile channel as well as the stability of our platform”.
The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is also using the OpenMarket Mobile Engagement Platform to power mobile premium SMS (PSMS) fundraising for its Philippines Typhoon Appeal in the UK. The DEC Philippines appeal launched on 12 November and has so far received more than £1 million in premium SMS donations from the UK public.
[message_box title=”How to give by mobile” color=”blue”]Any UK donor can donate £10 to BBC Children in need via SMS on their mobile by texting DONATE to 70710 until midnight on January 31 2014. Terms and conditions apply. Texts cost £10 plus the standard network charges and donors must be 16 or over and have the bill payers’ permission.[/message_box]
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.