We’re really excited to let you know that our new text donation service is now available to anyone fundraising on JustGiving. Thanks to our friends at Vodafone, donations can now be made to you with a simple text message. Guy Laurence, Vodafone’s chief executive, explains how the new service will help you raise even more money for the charities you care about.
Giving something back is serious business at Vodafone. The Vodafone Foundation has been investing in the community for nearly 20 years. We have been involved in many initiatives and made many donations.
However, a couple of years ago we moved away from ‘cheque giving’ and launched our own World of Difference programme. It was different, in that individuals in the community chose the charity they wanted to support and then we paid them to work there. It has been a great success and has already funded over a thousand people to work in a UK charity of their choice. However, even though it’s a massive programme, we still have ten times more applications than we can satisfy. Therefore, we joined forces with JustGiving to work on a plan whereby all charities in the UK could benefit from our technology.
Our vision was simple – allow all charities, however big or small, to raise money by text donations from all mobile users in the UK, including a simple mechanism to collect gift aid. The scheme has a number of advantages over cash collection. It appeals to the younger generation of donors, half of which do not donate to charity at all, 100% of the donation goes to the charity’s bank account and it allows for the collection of gift aid.
Just a few weeks on from launch, thousands of charities are on board and tens of thousands of pounds in donations are already flowing through the system – and this is just the start.
Now I’m excited to announce a new feature for JustTextGiving. Up until now only charities could register for a unique fundraising code. However, we know individuals also love to create their own fundraising campaigns. So from today, individual fundraisers with a page on JustGiving can have their own personal fundraising code, and ask friends and family for donations by text. This is automatically paid to the charity they have chosen.
In addition we are about to launch a TV campaign to raise awareness of how to use the service. Twinned with this, we have offered all charities that have registered with us free fundraising banners and posters to promote their charity.
And you can be sure we won’t stop there.
Best of luck with your fundraising,
Guy
To celebrate the launch of JustTextGiving, we are running a creative video competition. Just think of a fun and inventive way of fundraising with your text code. Will you print it out on your running vest? Or will you write it on your forehead for a week?! Let us know your crazy ideas by entering our video competition and be in with a chance to win a £500 donation! Find out more.
Tags: free text donations, justtextgiving, text donations, vodafone