Mobile agency Incentivated has developed a text message donation system for cancer charity Macmillan Cancer Support that enables members of the public to make one-off donations via SMS, then complete a Gift Aid declaration via the mobile Internet, enabling Macmillan to claim an additional 28% from HM Revenue and Customs. This is a first for the charity industry.
Once the donation has been made, a WAP Push message is sent to the donor, inviting them to go online to a Macmillan-branded Mobile Internet Gift Aid form, where they can confirm that they are a taxpayer.
“Unfortunately charities often miss out on this extra income because it is too expensive to process the paperwork on small donations” says Incentivated managing director Jonathan Bass. “The mobile channel automates this process, and removes the need for manual processing on the part of the charity. The fact that the Gift Aid form is available on the mobile handset immediately after the text donation has been made means that drop-off should be less than asking someone to go online via their PC.”
The Macmillan service used Incentivated’s ‘iris’ online mobile marketing platform. Donations can be made by texting one of four keywords, SUPPORT, NURSE, HELP or MACMILLAN to a premium rate shortcode, 85222, which then deducts £3 from the donor’s mobile. If the donor owns a pay-as-you-go phone, the credit is deducted immediately. For contract customers, the amount appears on their next bill. Donors can donate as many times as they like, and the confirmation text message they receive after donating explains how they can opt out of future text messages.
Additionally, Macmillan is adopting Incentivated’s ‘Ticket/Brochure Request by SMS’ service. The charity will use it at the end of each campaign to collect further information from donors, including their postal address, in order to send relevant information about the charity and its activities. Upon receipt of a text message containing the donor’s house number and postcode, Incentivated can resolve the full postal address, with reference to the Post Office’s PAF (Postcode Address File).
“This is all about interacting with our donors and communicating with them in a way that they prefer” says Macmillan Direct Marketing Campaign Manager, Kevin Kuklinski. “Text is ideal for this. Offering text-to-donate and Gift Aid via WAP will help us connect with more donors and will hopefully play an increasing part in our fundraising activities.”