Fonix’s innovation processes £12.9m for BBC Children in Need’s 2018 Appeal via text donations

12th December 2018, London – Fonix, the mobile payments and messaging specialist, has announced today that it processed £12.9 million in mobile donations for BBC Children in Need.

BBC Children in Need is the BBC’s UK charity, raising money for disadvantaged children and young people around the country. Fonix has worked with the charity since 2014, providing a mobile payment mechanic which allows the public to donate via SMS, seamlessly charging the costs to their mobile phone bills.

This year, Fonix and BBC Children in Need collaborated to introduce the first ever £30 price point (alongside the traditional price points of £20, £10 and £5). This was introduced for the Children in Need Rocks concert with great success, and implemented on the live annual Appeal Show which aired on 16th November.

BBC Children in Need also ran multiple text-to-donate competitions for the first time, including the chance to see Bruce Springsteen on Broadway which featured on the Chris Evans Breakfast Show. A one-off voluntary donation of £10 was made to BBC Children in Need, but the public were able to opt out by replying CANCEL to their entry confirmation text within 60 minutes.

Clare Charles, Director of Media and Charity for Fonix, commented “We’re proud to have worked with BBC Children in Need this year. Since 2014 we’ve worked with the charity to refine and improve the mobile donation process.

“It’s clear that the public are willing to donate larger amounts via text-to-donate, and allowing them to do this by introducing the £30 price point has been great for raising money for such a good cause.”

Karen Bass, Chief Operating Officer at BBC Children in Need said “Mobile is such an important channel for maximising donations, helping us to raise as much money as possible to support disadvantaged children and young people around the UK. Donating by text is a quick and simple way for people to help change young lives. We’re grateful to Fonix for enabling this and to all of our generous supporters whose donations will go on to make such a difference.”

Fonix to provide the mobile payment mechanic for Stand Up to Cancer

On the 21st September Fonix announced that it will be providing the mobile payment mechanic for Stand Up To Cancer 2017. Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4, which funds game-changing research to ultimately save more lives.

Fonix will be working with Cancer Research UK to provide a text-to-donate platform, enabling donors to send a text message to donate either £5, £10 or £20, which will be charged to their mobile phone bills.

Fonix will be launching the mechanic with Stand Up To Cancer’s Great Canoe Challenge on Monday 25th September. The challenge will see a handful of inspiring supporters, who have all been affected by cancer, row five marathons in five days. The team will set off from Chester on Monday 25 September, and will finish the challenge at the Alberts Docks in Liverpool on Friday 29 September. The team will be accompanied by some famous faces each day to help them reach the finish line.

Stand Up To Cancer has also partnered with Fonix’s client Bauer Media to broadcast radio shows across their portfolio of stations in the UK, and both the on-screen and radio programmes will be supported by Fonix’s text-to-donate mechanic.

Clare Charles, Client Director for Media and Charity at Fonix, said “We love working with forward-thinking charities that value the importance of mobile within the sector. Cancer Research UK clearly recognises the growing consumer trust in mobile payments and the simplicity of text-to-donate. We’re looking forward to seeing the results and the difference that it makes to the Stand Up To Cancer campaign.”

Ana Maria Flores, Senior Programme Manager for Stand Up To Cancer at Cancer Research UK, said: “We know that our supporters are increasingly keen to give via their mobile phones. In 2016, 80% of donations to Stand Up To Cancer were text donations. It is important to us that we use the most reliable, robust and user-friendly mechanic possible to cater to this growing demand. Fonix’s experience within the charity sector and continual success with text-to-donate made the partnership an obvious choice.”

 

 

 

About Stand Up To Cancer (UK)
  •       Stand Up To Cancer is a joint national fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4
  •       The campaign returns this autumn with a variety of fundraising activities and a series of special programming on Channel 4
  •       Launched in the UK in 2012, Stand Up To Cancer funds game-changing research that accelerates new cancer treatments and tests to UK patients, and across the world, to ultimately save more lives
  •       More than £38 million has been raised in the UK to date and over 40 trials and projects have been funded, that will involve more than 10,000 cancer patients
  •       Research projects include the development of the ‘chemo-package’ to deliver treatment at the best time for the patient; testing arsenic as a weapon to make cancer self-cannibalise; using viruses to seek and destroy cancer cells while boosting the immune system, and much, much more!
  •       Stars such as Naomi Campbell, Noel Gallagher, Nicole Scherzinger, Pharrell Williams, Tom Hardy, Gillian Anderson, Britney Spears, Idris Elba, Andy Murray, Bradley Cooper, Taylor Swift, Martin Freeman, Jamie Oliver, Kathy Burke, Miranda Hart, Paul O’Grady, Richard Ayoade, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jack O’Connell, Lily James, Rosamund Pike, Sophie Turner, Stephen Graham, Toby Jones and Will Poulter are just some of the talent who have supported Stand Up To Cancer

 

 

To find out more about fundraising activities visit Standuptocancer.org.uk or channel4.co.uk/SU2C or follow them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram