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Youth inclined towards text donations, but don't use it 1

Fundraising | Celina Ribeiro | 12 Nov 2008

A significant proportion of young people would like to donate to charity via SMS, but the majority say that current fees are so high they are put off, according to a new study.

More than one-third of people in the 25-34 age bracket, and just under a third aged between 16 and 24, reported that they would be likely to give to charity via SMS.

However, nfpSynergy, which conducted the survey, found that only 5 per cent of all respondents had used SMS to donate to charity in the previous month. And 58 per cent said the charges discouraged them from using SMS as a giving mechanism.

More than 1,000 respondents from a cross-section of society were questioned for the survey.

Joe Saxton, driver of ideas at nfpSynergy, said SMS was integral to "getting young people involved in the charitable giving process". Saxton is leading the Institute of Fundraising's push to understand the barriers to more widespread use of SMS in the sector, which is also supported by Charities Aid Foundation.

Saxton said the research would be used to lobby mobile phone companies to lower their charges.

"The prices they charge effectively stop there being a vibrant use of SMS by the charity community," said Saxton. "If the charges were lowered, more people would use it and that would more than make up for any loss in revenue per call."

About to start lobbying

But, Saxton told Charity News Alert, the campaign team has yet to put the case for reducing fees to the mobile phone operators.

"We haven't even tried to start the dialogue yet with the mobile operators. We are just on the cusp of trying to start that dialogue," he said. Before doing so, the coalition is looking to investigate current practices and challenges and develop a "theoretical model" for use of lower fees.

The coalition is now researching the use of SMS by 11 to 25-year-olds in light of the fact that young people are the most common users of the technology. It has also issued a call for charities to participate in an online survey which will help gauge the present situation and work to identify any innovative organisations which can be used as case studies to present as a way forward for SMS donations.

"I would like to think that in five years from now, we see text messaging as an integral way in how we communicate with younger people in particular. We are also looking at how we make text donations ‘gift-aidable'... We want to find out if anyone's found out ways around that," Saxton said.

The deadline for charities to respond to the survey closes on December 5.

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Directory: nfpSynergy | Charities Aid Foundation | Institute of Fundraising
Who's Who: Celina Ribeiro