Battersea launches new text donation service with rehoming alerts

23 Jul 2019 News

Battersea has introduced a new text donation offer for supporters which allows people to be notified when animals find a home. 

For each alert supporters receive they will donate 25p through their phone bill. A trial period began yesterday (Monday 22 July) and if it is successful, Battersea will role the programme out permanently.

The recipient chooses whether they want to know about dogs or cats. They also select which Battersea centre to get updates from and can create a cap on the number of alerts they are sent. Once a person reaches their maximum spend they will not receive alerts until the following week.

Due to large volumes of animals being rehomed at weekends, alerts are only going to be sent Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm. 

This means that the rehoming alerts are indicative of rehoming activity, but do not capture the total numbers of animals rehomed.

Of the 25p donation, 21p goes directly to Battersea. The remaining 4p is spent on the SMS donation platform used to communicate. This includes the service itself and maintenance that is required to ensure that the charity are sending accurate information.

Battersea was founded in 1860, and has cared for more than 3.1 million animals. It accepts any breed of animal, at any age, including dogs or cats with serious medical and behavioural problems.

'Immediate way to see the difference the charity is making' 

Head of public fundraising, Jo Stone, said: “The people who sign up for our rehoming alerts will receive text messages whenever a Battersea dog or a cat is rehomed. We introduced this service as it’s a great mechanism for supporters to give to us in a new way, through their mobile phones.”

She added: “The rehoming alerts are an immediate way for people to see something tangible come from their donation. Every time they receive a text, they will get a reminder of how their donation is helping Battersea animals.

“The great thing about this way of giving is that anyone can do it, as long as they have a mobile phone (smart or non-smart phone). When they sign up, we ask donors to select their maximum weekly cap which they can change at any point, ensuring they are always in control of how much they donate.”

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