Saxton to revive SMS donation campaign

Fundraising | 16 Jul 2008

Outgoing Institute of Fundraising chair Joe Saxton has been asked by his successor, Paul Amadi, to launch an investigation into fundraising by text message.

Saxton’s brief is to establish what the barriers are to more charities using the mechanism, and how the Institute might help to overcome these.

He plans to create a coalition of charities which will both fund a campaign and draw up a business plan, the basis of which will be decided upon after thorough research. Fundraising by SMS has long been considered a missed opportunity because mobile usage is so ubiquitous nowadays. Latest figures from the Mobile Data Association show that over one billion texts are sent every week, with volumes growing by 40 per cent year-on-year.

But there are several problems preventing UK fundraisers from making greater use of SMS, not least of which is the fact that a large chunk of each donation is taken in fees. VAT and operator commission can amount to 55p on a £1.50 gift, making the cost of offering this service to donors prohibitively high.

Two years ago, the Institute commenced a campaign to persuade the operators to slash their fees, but gave up when it failed to score an early win. Now Saxton is to pick it up again. “

There is a lot of homework to be done. We need to establish what the public thinks would be a reasonable fee, what fundraisers think would work, as well as the views of the phone companies and regulators,” he said.

It is hoped the coalition will be ready by the end of the year. Email joe.saxton@nfpsynergy.net for more.

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