Just text giving – just what the sector ordered?

Just text giving by Vodafone allows charities to create their own SMS code then publicise it to make texting donations for any charity direct from your phone fast and simple. It’s a great idea as it builds on the modern need for everything to happen instantly and it’s ultra-simple which prevents a short attention span getting in the way of good intentions.

However, this first version by Vodafone does have some significant limitations for charities. The two major areas for concern are a) a maximum donation amount of £10 and b) the lack of data the charity gets from each donation, which prevents them from re-contacting the donors in the way they would using other media channels.
For a large proportion of charities their average cash donation is in excess of £10 so using this in isolation could mean they would lose money. It also suggests that this approach isn’t a stand-alone income generator but more of an additional income channel. Furthermore, the issue of ‘bill shock’ may mean that the donation amount has to be limited for now. However, the minimum could conceivably increase as the methods involved in the scheme and awareness of the scheme increase.

The re-contacting issue, however, looks like a trickier problem due to opt in regulations and data protection between operators and the charities themselves. The lack of a method to re-contact donors means people can’t be followed up after their initial donation and limits further potential warm income for the charity.

Having said that it has some very real benefits – Its simplicity allows charities to engage with a younger audience, which is something most are very keen to do more of. It also provides high levels of awareness to smaller charities with simple brand strategies, saves charities the cost of building web material such as dedicated landing pages and microsites and it reduces call centre operator costs that would otherwise be needed at off-peak periods.

So, all in all, I feel that ’Just text giving’ is a large step in the right direction and as long as its simplicity doesn’t erode or prevent charity loyalty I think it will develop into a useful tool that can, and indeed should be, used by all charities.

Bodhi Morrison
Head of Digital