charity

The Big Night In Appeal raised more than £10.3m via mobile donations

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Fonix has announced today that more than £10.3m has been processed in mobile donations for The Big Night In Appeal.

The three-hour show took place on 23rd April and saw BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief join forces for the first time. The £10.3m processed through text donations helped contribute to the £27.3m raised on the night of the Appeal. Funds raised will be split equally between BBC Children in Need and Comic Relief and will go on to support vital local charities and projects in the UK who are providing essential help to those most in need.

The show promoted text-to-donate, allowing donors to donate via text at a range of price points: £5, £10, £20 and £30. Three competitions were also promoted on the night including the David Walliams prize draw, Little Mix prize draw and a chance to win a Morgan car. The Morgan prize draw was the top competition for the night and was sourced by Fonix.

Donations for the competitions were charged to the entrants mobile phone bill. Using Fonix’s delayed donation technology entrants had the choice to opt-out without being charged within 60 minutes of entering.

Clare Charles, Director of Media and Charity at Fonix, said: “It’s been such an honor to work with Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need for this great cause. It’s also amazing to see the impact of running competitions – the money donated was rather astonishing!”

Kerry Howard, Head of Operations Appeal for BBC Children in Need, said: We’re so thankful to Fonix for enabling mobile donations so quickly and to the generous public whose donations will go on to make such a difference. A huge amount of money has been raised to help projects around the country that are doing vital work to support people throughout the pandemic.”

Jules Thorne, Campaign Co-director at Comic Relief, said: “Thanks to Fonix’s support and the enormous generosity of the public, both our charities will now make sure that this desperately needed funding supports vulnerable people, as quickly and efficiently as possible.”

Fonix to power mobile donations for The Big Night In Appeal

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

23 April 2020, London – Fonix has announced that it will be providing the mobile payment mechanic for tonight’s Big Night In Appeal on BBC One.

Two of the BBC’s biggest charitable partners, Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need are coming together for the first time, for a night of live entertainment. The Big Night In will raise funds to help support vulnerable people across the UK who may be significantly affected by the current Covid-19 crisis.

Fonix will be working with Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need to provide a text-to-donate platform, enabling donors to send a text message to donate either £5, £10, £20 or £30 which will be charged to their mobile phone bills.

Clare Charles, Director for Media and Charity at Fonix, comments: “We’re so very proud to be working with Comic Relief and BBC Children in Need during these troubled times. We’re looking forward to seeing the results and the difference that it makes to people all across the UK.”

Jules Thorne, Campaign Co-director at Comic Relief, said:“The Big Night In is an amazing way for us as charities to join forces and show how much of an impact we can make on the lives of those who need our support. Fonix’s experience within the charity sector has been invaluable to helping us get up and running quickly with mobile donations for the campaign.”

Kerry Howard, Head of Operations Appeal for BBC Children in Need, said:“It’s in unprecedented times like these that it’s more important than ever to collaborate and look to support this situation in the best way we can; coming together with Comic Relief will help us achieve just that. Through the power of TV, mobile technology and the public’s generosity, it’s going to be a brilliant night for a great cause.”

The Big Night In will air tonight on BBC One on at 7pm.

The PSA is extending the implementation period

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Following publication of the PSA’s Statement on introducing new Special conditions for all subscription services, and the new Special conditions for Recurring Donation services, the PSA held an implementation workshop for industry members working in the charity space to raise any implementation-specific queries, ahead of the regulatory changes coming into force on 1 November 2019.

At the workshop it was identified that some charity print and broadcast advertisements that have already been produced for upcoming campaigns may not be compliant with the updated Special conditions for Recurring Donation services.

Following consideration of this issue, the PSA is extending the implementation date for Special conditions RDS6(d) and RDS7(c) for specific providers, which will now come into force on 6 January 2020. The PSA considers that this will enable those providing recurring donation services who intend to use the two-stage Mobile Originating Short Message Service to obtain consumer consent to charge, sufficient time to make the necessary changes to their television and print advertisements to ensure compliance with the new Special conditions. This represents an approximately nine-week extension to the previous implementation date of 1 November 2019.

Full details can be found from PSA

Fonix to power mobile donations across all of Cancer Research UK’s fundraising activity

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Fonix, the mobile messaging and payments specialist, today announced that it has extended its partnership with Cancer Research UK, one of the world’s leading cancer charities dedicated to saving lives through research.

Fonix first started working with Cancer Research UK in 2017 for the Stand Up To Cancer campaign, a joint national fundraiser from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4, seamlessly enabling mobile donations and Gift Aid. This continued in 2018 with Fonix successfully processing SMS donations to Stand Up To Cancer made during the live show on Channel 4 – significantly contributing to the record £24.6 million raised on the night.

This extended contract will see Fonix power the mobile donations across all of the charity’s fundraising activity, including Race for Life, other challenge events such as Shine Night Walk and the Great Hike and also as a direct response to indoor and outdoor print advertising.

Kathryn Toner, Head of Individual Giving at Cancer Research UK said: “With a proven track record across all high-profile charity campaigns, Fonix’s experience and expertise in the charity sector speaks for itself.

“Text to donate is a great fundraising mechanic for the charity as it is a quick and easy way that the public can donate to the charity and help us bring forward the day when all cancers are cured. Cancer Research UK receives no government funding for its life saving research and relies entirely on the generosity of the public. We’re always looking for new ways that the public can donate to the charity such as raising donations via competitions.”

Clare Charles, account director at Fonix added: “It’s been such a privilege to work with Cancer Research UK over the past two years and in this time we’ve seen how our shared passion for innovation has positively impacted the amount raised for such a good cause.

“The extended partnership was the obvious next step for Fonix and Cancer Research UK, and we look forward to driving mobile donations and seeing the results across all fundraising activity.”

Fonix powers mobile donations for Comic Relief for the 5th year running

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Mobile payments company Fonix has announced that this year it processed mobile donations for Comic Relief for the 5th year running, raising more than £10.6m via text-to-donate. Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day campaign is a biennial campaign hosted by the BBC, raising money to help people in the UK and across the world to live happier, healthier, safer lives.

This year’s campaign featured the live show, held on Friday 15th March, as well as a series of driver programmes. Each of these shows promoted text-to-donate, which allowed donors to donate via text at a range of price points: £5, £10, £20 and, for the first time for Comic Relief, £30 amounts for both the live show and the Kilimanjaro challenge during which 9 celebrities climbed Africa’s highest mountain. Donations were added to entrants’ mobile phone bills, allowing for a seamless, easy payment.

During the live show and the Kilimanjaro climb, the money raised from the £30 price point alone accounted for over 30% of the total raised via SMS.

Another new initiative for the 2019 campaign was the introduction of a competition which enabled viewers to donate or to opt-out of a donation whilst entering the competition. This was featured on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen and was the first time that the charity launched a competition to drive donations.

Entrants paid £5 to enter and be in with a chance of winning a unique dining experience, cooked for them by celebrity chefs. Using Fonix’s delayed donation technology, entrants had the opportunity to opt-out without being charged within 60 minutes of entering the competition.

Clare Charles, Account Director for Media and Charity at Fonix commented:

“We’re proud to have supported Comic Relief in powering mobile donations for the fifth year in a row.  We’ve come so far since 2014, as we now work with the charity to provide a total of four price points and we’re also constantly innovating to allow the charity to roll out new features. The delayed donation, for example, raised a tremendous £576,250 across four prize draws via text.”

Catherine Cottrell, Executive Director of Fundraising & Partnerships at Comic Relief added:

“It’s been exciting working with Fonix to offer new experiences and donation mechanisms to supporters and we are delighted that year’s campaign was such a success.”