The Institute welcomes the Mobile Data Association’s announcement of a framework agreement for charity text donations whereby the donation element of an SMS is passed VAT-free through to the charitable organisation.
This important change means that, for registered charities, charitable donations sent to a dedicated short code will have the VAT waived.
The IoF’s outgoing Chair, Joe Saxton, was asked to lead a campaign to make text giving more effective for fundraising. The first part of Joe’s strategy was to remove the VAT element from text giving, which is now underway thanks to his hard work.
Joe is congratulated on his success, and it’s heartening to see the sort of arrangement that until now has only been available to Comic Relief, on offer to all charities.
There is still progress to be made on SMS texting, however. The Institute now hopes to see a greater percentage of the donation going to the cause and not being swallowed up in mobile phone charges. If more dedicated charity short codes were established, then it will be easier for operators to set up different tariff level for donations.
