donation

Fonix and JustGiving partner

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Fonix and JustGiving partner to introduce SMS donations to thousands of UK charities

London, September 18, 2024

Fonix, a leading mobile payments and interactive services company, is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with JustGiving, the UK’s leading online fundraising platform. This collaboration is set to transform charitable giving by integrating seamless SMS donation technology, making it easier than ever for individuals to support causes they care about.

Through this partnership, Fonix and JustGiving are enabling donors to support their favourite charities through quick and secure mobile payments.  Leveraging Fonix’s cutting-edge technology, JustGiving users can now make donations directly via SMS, offering a fast and convenient way to contribute, whether at home or on the go, no credit or debit card required.

This partnership also empowers charities with a powerful new tool to engage with supporters and drive donations. By expanding payment options to include SMS donations, charities can reach a wider audience and significantly enhance the impact of their fundraising efforts.

According to the Annual Market Review for Phone-Paid Services 2023–2024, £38.6 million was raised through phone-paid services in the UK during the last financial year. Since 2014, Fonix has processed £333 million in SMS donations. Offering this capability to JustGiving’s 20,000 UK charity partners represents an opportunity to make a marked increase to these figures.

Oliver Shaw-Latimer, Senior Director of Payments and Innovation at JustGiving, commented: “We’re pleased to partner with Fonix to enhance the ways our charities can accept donations in the UK. Their market-leading messaging and payment technology will enable us to optimise a key aspect of charity fundraising and audience engagement. JustGiving is committed to making giving as easy and accessible as possible. This partnership allows us to offer our users a fast, secure, and convenient way to donate through their mobile devices, helping us continue our mission of connecting people with the causes they care about.”

Rob Weisz, CEO of Fonix, added: “JustGiving has been a pivotal force in charity fundraising for over two decades and remains one of the most recognised platforms for both charities and donors. This partnership will allow JustGiving’s charity partners to leverage Fonix’s mobile payment technology to offer text donations in the UK – a crucial donation method given its simplicity and widespread use. Having raised over £330 million through text donations to date, we’re excited to continue supporting fantastic causes alongside JustGiving.”

This partnership comes at a perfect time, with JustGiving announcing a record £550 million raised for nearly 20,000 UK charities through their platform in 2023, and more than 950,000 JustGiving fundraising pages set up – a 9% increase from 2022.

Fonix has a proven track record with charities of all sizes across the UK, including Comic Relief, Children in Need, Socceraid, Stand Up To Cancer, and many more. Their text donation technology enables charities to reach a broader audience, with some organisations seeing as much as 80% of donations coming through mobile. Fonix’s innovative techniques maximise donations, value, and Gift Aid declarations.

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 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.”

Dynamic Mobile Billing playing its part in Movember 2018

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Dynamic Mobile Billing (DMB) is delighted to be partnering with Spoke Interactive and The Sun on their annual Movember fundraising initiative.  DMB’s billing platform will be used for The Sun’s charity ‘Spot the Ball’ competition during Movember, which launches today, 12th November, running for one month.

The Movember Foundation is a leading charity changing the face of men’s health; addressing some of the biggest health issues faced by men: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health and suicide prevention. It’s not just about raising money, but crucially, also awareness for all the dads, brothers, sons and mates in your life. For more information about this fantastic charity please visit: Movember.com

Tom Hines, Media Services Director of Spoke-Interactive comments, “We are delighted to be to be partnering with the Sun and Movember in developing this format for such a good cause.  It’s great to take a traditional game and adapt it with a new mobile giving format that can raise money for the charity in this way.”

DMB’s platform allows consumers to enter the Spot the Ball Charity Competition free of charge, with a voluntary £1.50 donation by text. There is also the option to add a Gift Aid contribution from the UK government, taking just a few seconds.

Kevin Dawson, CEO of DMB says “We are thrilled to be associated with, and providing the mobile platform for such a well-established, high profile and global-reaching initiative like Movember.  To be that link in the chain, enabling donations and vital funds to be raised for such a good cause is something DMB is extremely proud of”

Fonix partners with Soccer Aid for Unicef, allowing viewers to donate to the charity via SMS

Posted on by Andrea Putnam-Moorcroft

Fonix, the tech company for acquiring and engaging consumers through their mobile phones, has announced today that it will be providing a mobile donation mechanic for Soccer Aid for Unicef, the biennial British charity football match which raises money in aid of UNICEF UK.

The game kicks off at Old Trafford on 10th June, and both the England and World XI teams include a host of impressive celebrities – including Usain Bolt, Sir Mo Farah, Gordon Ramsay, Michael Owen and Jamie Redknapp.

Fonix will be providing a mobile payment mechanic to the charity, allowing viewers to give to the charity via SMS in £10 and for the first time, £20 amounts. Fonix will also be managing Gift Aid donations, by sending reminders to donors to add Gift Aid as well as building a dedicated microsite for them to make a Gift Aid declaration.

The UK government will match every £1 donated by the public through its UK Aid Match scheme, doubling the difference for children in danger around the world.

Fiona Robertson, Head of Charity Projects at ITV said “We chose to work with Fonix on Soccer Aid for Unicef because we know that they have extensive experience running large-scale mobile charity campaigns.”

“Mobile billing has been incredibly effective with regards to donating to charity. Consumers clearly like to make payments via SMS, and for Soccer Aid for Unicef it will certainly have a positive impact upon conversions and the overall amount raised.”

Stephen George, Business Development Director at Fonix, said “Soccer Aid for Unicef is such a fantastic campaign. We’re so pleased to be introducing the £20 price point this year, as it clearly demonstrates that consumers want to give more to charity by mobile. Most importantly, we can’t wait to watch the game!”

Suzanne Ryder Richardson, Program Lead at UNICEF UK said “We know the public really get behind Soccer Aid for Unicef and that it’s a tremendously popular show, particularly with the fantastic line-up that it has. Encouraging viewers to donate to the charity is easy when there’s a frictionless payment mechanic that simply allows them to text to donate – it makes so much difference.

“Equally, the Gift Aid reminders and the landing page for collecting Gift Aid will increase the overall amount donated and this can only be good news for Unicef”.

International Development Secretary, Penny Mordaunt, said: “We are excited to be involved once again this year in what promises to be the biggest Soccer Aid for Unicef to date. The UK government will match public donations pound-for-pound, meaning that, together, we can double the difference for children around the world.”

The international friendly match will take place at Old Trafford on Sunday 10th June, just four days before the FIFA World Cup in Russia begins. Tickets are on sale now and the game will be broadcast live on ITV. Kick-off is scheduled for 20:00 BST.

Soccer Aid for Unicef is the original England vs. Soccer Aid World XI charity match. It was launched and co-founded in 2006 by Unicef UK Ambassador Robbie Williams and Jonathan Wilkes and has previously featured A-list stars such as Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Mike Myers and Niall Horan, plus footballing royalty including Maradona, ZinedineZidane, Luis Figo and Ronaldinho.

Unicef, the world’s leading organisation for children, has joined forces with ITV to make the pro-celebrity football match bigger and better than ever, with more potential to raise money and vital support for children in danger. Soccer Aid for Unicef is produced by Initial, part of Endemol Shine UK, for ITV.

100% of all public donations to Soccer Aid for Unicef will be doubled by the UK government, up to a total of £5 million through its UK Aid Match scheme, and will go towards supporting the vital work protecting children around the world. So far £24 million has already been raised through Soccer Aid over the last 12 years.

Visit socceraid.org.uk to find out more and follow @SoccerAid on Twitter and Instagram, ‘Soccer Aid’ on Facebook and use the hashtag #SoccerAid for regular player and match updates.