A new mobile fundraising platform was launched last week alongside a new ITV Christmas digital fundraising campaign, Text Santa and a call by Give as Your Live to turn our online Christmas purchases into donations.

To integrate text donations with other fundraising and social media, Blackbaud Europe has introduced a new platform that enables text giving as well as mobile phone communication between charities and donors via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Blackbaud Europe’s commercial director, Mark Grisdale says: “So far, mobile fundraising has been the modern equivalent of the collection tin – anonymous with no chance for continued engagement.”

The new platform allows two-way communications, enabling donors to receive news alerts, join petitions, ask for further information or respond to emergency appeals by mobile phone.

Meanwhile, ITV has launched a ‘Text Santa’ campaign ahead of the Christmas season. Two TV events will be held as part of the campaign, which will raise money for nine charities including Great Ormond Street Hospital, Crisis and Samaritans. Viewers will be asked to give to the nine charities by text donation as well as more traditional methods.

Give as You Live is calling on shoppers to purchase presents via its shopping portal and turn the estimated £6.8bn which will be spent on Christmas this year into millions of pounds for charity. Give as You Live says that if all online Christmas present shopping was done via its portal, £170m would be raised for charity.

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