Donating to charities via SMS text message?

david72

I have some PAYG mobile phone credit that I need to use up before porting to a different network. It seemed to be the case a few years ago that it was quite common for many charities to solicit donations by sending them an SMS message which would donate a certain sum from your phone account. However, I have looked at the websites of the charities I usually support and none of them seem to do this (nowadays, they all sadly seem far too keen to shackle you to a monthly(!) direct debit under their control, whereas an annual standing order under my control (to vary depending on how well-off (or not) I'm feeling) is my usual preference).

Does anyone know of any charities which still allow you to donate by text message? Sustainability/wildlife/health issue charities would be my preference. Thanks for any suggestions!

Savvy_Sue

Toilets at motorway service stations are usually a good place to look for these ... https://www.actionaid.org.uk/ is the one I've seen most recently.

However, the giving by text isn't mentioned on their website, so it could be worth contacting them or any of your previous beneficiaries to ask if you can use this method.

MatyMoo

I’m a charity trustee and we use text donations. 

Norman_Castle

https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-lm&q=text+donations+to+charity

sienew

In these times I think the Trussell Trust is a good option.

https://www.trusselltrust.org/get-involved/ways-to-give/make-a-one-off-donation/

Text TRUSSELL plus the amount 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 10 to 70085

david72

Thanks, the Trussell Trust is a good suggestion. Unfortunately, I got an error reply back when trying to donate (as I also did from quite a few of the numbers I found for some other charities when doing a web search). I don't know if maybe some of the donation back end systems aren't set up to work with all MVNOs, or if maybe in some other cases those charities have abandoned SMS donations (some web pages I found had the feel of having been forgotten about, but not unpublished, although they no longer seemed to be linked from the main donation section on their websites)?

The only SMS donations that I have found so far and have been able to make successfully have been to Cancer Research and the British Heart Foundation, but I'd rather share my remaining balance around as widely as I can…

Savvy_Sue

Definitely worth a call to Trussell Trust to see if they can accept this kind of donation, or see if you can track down your local Foodbank. I know you'd be able to donate to ours via our church, I think you'd be able to make it a restricted donation, but that does become slightly more complicated than you'd hope. 

Vortigern

Yorkshire Air Ambulance

To make a donation, text ‘YAA’ to 70085

followed by the amount that you would like to donate (£5, £10, £20)

flaneurs_lobster

david72 said:

Unfortunately, I got an error reply back when trying to donate (as I also did from quite a few of the numbers I found for some other charities when doing a web search). 

Don't know if you also found this list online but just in case it helps

https://www.portnumber.co.uk/charities

david72

Thanks, I did find that page, but for most of the numbers listed there, I couldn't find them listed on the respective charities' own web sites, which made me think that it was probably rather out of date, and I didn't want to text any absolete numbers in case I still got billed but the money just went into the processor's pockets and not to the charity.

I have managed to spend the remaining balance now - thanks, everyone, for your suggestions.

The_Widdy

Yorkshire Children's Trust have a text message service, text YCT and send to 70085 to donate a fiver a month. Its on their homepage if you need to check the validity.