|
|
Submitted by Mike Grenville on Mon, 10 Jan 2005 16:40 |
Donors have been warned to take care when making donations and to check how much actually goes to the cause. The good news is that a growing number of mobile operators are launching dontaion programmes with all proceeds to the appeal.
In the UK the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) has said people should not be put off donating, but should be vigilant. Scotland Yard said it was investigating a number of websites set up following the Indian Ocean earthquake.
Premium Rate SMS Costs
Premium rate text messaging is an obvious way to collect donations but there again care needs to be exercised. There are a number of suppliers involved in the transmission and 'revenue sharing' of premium rate SMS such as the mobile operator and the aggregator. Most charity donation services will still have to pay these fees with the result only a small part of the donation may reach the intended recipient.
In the far east, the press has been drawing donors attention to operator charges on donations.
In the UK the The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) appeal has been supported by all the UK mobile operators. As well as the operators, the aggregator, WIN has also waived its charges for the appeal. Together with the VAT waiver from the government, this means that in this case 100% of the money donated goes to the appeal.
By texting “DONATE†to 83321 UK mobiles can give £ 1.50 to DEC.
"This appeal has highlighted the need for some ground rules" said Mike Short, VP at O2 and Chairman of the The Mobile Data Association (MDA) . "We need to look at how to classify appeals and where to draw the line for future appeals. Consumers need to be sure that all the costs are free and how the tax element will be treated" he said.
French Millions
In France mobile operators have also waived their charges for the SMS ASIE campaign. As a single relief organisation has not been set up there, texters can choose between the Croix-Rouge, (Red Cross), Secours populaire and Secours Catholique.
So far over 3 million Euros have been raised from the 1 euro messages all of which goes to the relief funds.
French mobiles can make a donation of 1 Euro can be made by texting the word ASIE and sending it to 80 222 for the Croix-Rouge, (Red Cross) 80 333 for Secours populaire and 80 444 Secours Catholique.
Down Under Donations
In Australia operators have also joined together with aggregator Legion Interactive so that all donations go to World Vision on behalf of Australian relief efforts.
Running until 11th January, donors can give either $2, $5 or $10 Australian dollars by SMS by texting the word UNITE to specific short codes appropriate to the value.
The companies involved are: Telstra; Optus; Vodafone; 3; Orange; Virgin Mobile; AAPT; Primus Telecom; Austar; SimPlus; m8 telecom; B Digital; DigiPlus; and People Telecom. Legion Interactive is providing the total aggregation and set-up of the premium SMS number service for all carriers involved in the Australia Unites initiative. http://www.legioninteractive.com.au/reachout.htm
US Starts Too
In the US Verizon Wireless post-pay customers from today can send a message to the address 4CARE (42273) using the key word “gift.†They will receive a reply message asking them to confirm a donation to CARE of $5.00 (five dollars) www.careusa.org
"Verizon Wireless customers send more than 1 billion text messages per month, and we’re glad we’ve put this technology to use for such an important cause,†said Denny Strigl, president and CEO of Verizon Wireless.
Non-profit organization dedicated to providing new fundraising techniques for charities the Wireless Giving Association, www.wirelessgiving.organd m-Qube are providing support to Verizon Wireless for this program.
Its All Greek
In Greece more than 2 million Euros have been collected through text-messaging, with SMS participants contributing one Euro to tsumani disaster relief every time they sent a text message to a special 4-digit short code.
The messages were stumulated by a two-day tele-marathon show, organized by the Public Television (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation, ERT S.A.)
The whole operation has been organized by ATLANTIS Group, an independent mobile and web services provider (official partner to Public Television for SMS services), with the support of the four mobile operators (COSMOTE, Vodafone, TIM,Q-Telecom) in Greece.
Many people sent more than on emessage to donate: while 58% sent 1 SMS, 20% sent 2 SMS, 16% between 2 and 6 SMS, and 6% sent more than 6 SMS messages.
In Italy reports suggest that so far 26.62 million SMSs each worth EUR 1 have been sent while in Brunei with only a total population of 365,000 text message donations have reached $60,463.
|
