WIN Plc: We won't take commission on charity texts

Mobile messaging service provider, WIN, has woken up and smelt the coffee.

Have a read of this press release I just received:

Charities could be set to benefit from a campaign to erase commission charges on mobile text message donations. Currently, any mobile user who donates to charity via text message can see up to 30 per cent of their donation lost in network and third party delivery charges.

WIN plc, a leading provider of interactive mobile entertainment and information services, is looking to lead the campaign by announcing today that it will take no commission from any charity shortcode transaction that it handles via its distribution platform.

Graham Rivers, CEO of WIN plc, said: “Charities need to get the full amount without the middlemen – and we are one of them – taking a cut. WIN would like industry players, aggregators, and mobile operators to join us and help this become a reality.

“The UK Government has been known to waive the VAT on text donations to charity. A concerted move by all players to ensure charities get the full gift will also create more confidence in consumers and hopefully lead to a greater number of donations being made via text message. We need to create a win-win situation for the public and the charities.”

If you’re a charity, this is brilliant news.

If you’re a mobile messaging provider, should you be matching this move?

What, though, happens with the percentage of revenue eaten up by the mobile operator? I’m not clear if the operator is going to waive their portion — that’s the largest part of the 30% that’s lost.

I think it’s a good move for the charity sector.

But I think it’s rather late.

It’s ridiculously late, actually.

Now and again, outcry from the national press in the UK has caused the mobile operators (and sometimes the messaging providers) to waive their revenue shares in special cases — for example, the Tsunami appeal.

But right now if you’re a ‘bog standard charity’ (and, it’s a shame to use that description) but, frankly, if you’re not sexy and you’re not hot, then at least 30% of any text donations are gobbled up.

For no good reason.

It certainly doesn’t ‘cost’ 30% to manage and process.

Donating to charity by text could have been a real, real go-er. But it’s yet another total unmitigated fluck-up by the just-don’t-get-it or just-don’t-care industry.

Perhaps Win’s move might change this.

In the meantime, when is someone going to create a Charity application for the iPhone that uses micropayments to enable folk to donate to the charity of their choice by just flipping up the app on their device and hitting ‘donate’?