SMS a huge success for Comic Relief

Texting was a big hit on Red Nose Day

This year’s Comic Relief charity fundraising generated £7.8m of donations purely through the use of text messages.

An SMS-based donation channel was set up by Mobile Interactive Group in collaboration with supplier Buongiorno for Red Nose Day 2009. Mobile phone users simply had to send a one-word text message to a particular number and automatically donated £5 or £1 to the charity, deducted through their normal call payment route.

In addition, mobile operators waved their normal fees, and the Treasury agreed to make the donations VAT free, so every penny went to Comic Relief. In total, some 4.75 million mobile transactions were completed.

“The extraordinary commitment of the mobile industry to this year’s campaign has been astonishing, helping us to raise a staggering £7.8m through mobile text donations - an outstanding success,” said Comic Relief trustee Emma Freud.

Overall, Red Nose Day has so far generated more than £59m for the charity.