Everything Everywhere, the mobile communication behemoth created in the merging of Orange and T-Mobile, has suspended fees for text donations and announced a review of its text-to-donate service following an Institute of Fundraising push for the fees to be dropped.

A statement from Everything Everywhere released after the Institute issued a letter encouraging organisational members to lobby for the mobile company to cut all charges, said that the company stood by its record on text donations, but will be suspending fees on donations made to non-partner charities while it undertakes a review of the text-to-donate service.

Everything Everywhere said that for the “vast majority” of donations made on its network it currently does not pass on administration costs or charge fees. These are donations which are made to its charity partners, which include Comic and Sport Relief, Unicef and the Royal British Legion.

A statement from the company said:  “Everything Everywhere makes no profit from the text-to-donate service, passing on 100 per cent of donations to the vast majority of charities using this service – totalling more than £7m in the past year for UK charitable organisations.”

The review will look at “making the service even better for more charities, including a simple gift aid mechanism for customers”.
 
Louise Richards, director of policy and campaigns for the Institute of Fundraising, said that the organisation welcomed the suspension of fees, but added “a suspension isn’t the same as ending fees”.

“We recognise that they are doing good things,” she said, but urged the company to guarantee that fees will not be reinstated once the review is complete.

The Institute will be in conversation with Everything Everywhere during the progress of the review, advocating that the permanent dropping of all charges will be of great value to charities.