A 12 month text giving trial will involve 15 charities, with UNICEF Australia and World Vision the first to launch text giving campaigns. The campaigns will allow anyone to donate to a cause by simply sending an SMS.

“Text giving is such a fantastic way to leverage telco technology and reach to help Australian charities raise funds,” said Renee Bowker, CEO of the Telco Together Foundation.

“In addition to giving existing supporters a new way to give, our research suggests that this channel can unlock donations from new and younger supporters, which is a great outcome for charities.”

Text giving is one of the fastest and most convenient ways to give and it has proven itself to be a highly successful fundraising channel for charities overseas in countries such as the US, Canada and the UK.

So, how does it work?

From 1 October 2015, participating charities will include an SMS ‘call to action’, (e.g. “Text ‘GIVE’ to 19 xx xxxx to donate $5”), in their campaign materials. Each charity will use their own key word and unique phone number, and each SMS sent under the pilot will cost $5 (GST free).

From the donor’s perspective, all that’s required is texting the charity’s ‘key word’ to the phone number provided, and a $5 donation will be charged to their mobile phone bill or show up in their usage history.

Each donation is tax deductible and donors will receive a free ‘thank you’ SMS, which constitutes a valid tax receipt. There will be no charges to the donor in addition to the $5 donation. To donate $10, donors can send two texts, and so on.