/24-7PressRelease/ - LONDON, UK, June 29, 2008 - We all know it's better to give than receive, but often it simply feels too much like hard work. Despite everybody's best intentions, UK charities are losing out because their supporters cannot find time to complete direct debit mandates, post cheques, organise bank transfers or set up standing orders.
A solution developed for The Wonderful Foundation (www.wonderful.org) by Zimo Communications Ltd tackles this problem with an innovative and free service for charities - fully automated telephone and SMS donation lines.
The Wonderful Foundation takes care of regulatory requirements; offer guidance on how to promote the services; provide facilities for Gift Aid and transfer funds directly to charities' bank accounts. The whole process is so simple, the Foundation calls them wonderful numbers.
The system's simplicity belies a powerful technical solution which completely automates the process. Organisations are validated online using Charity Commission data making sign-up extremely streamlined. Once the charity's wonderful number has been assigned, a bespoke audio greeting is produced and the number is activated. The charity's supporters are able to donate by dialing a number. Should they wish to apply Gift Aid, brief details are collected via an IVR menu facility. All call recordings and statistics are automatically emailed to the charity for HMRC and Charity Commission auditing purposes.
The Wonderful Foundation is a non-profit organisation established to simplify giving. Form-filling can create a very effective barrier between our good intentions and the organisations we wish to support.
Frustrated by the difficulties of collecting donations after participating in a number of charity running events, the founders searched for a simple solution.
The answer?
By allowing people to dial a fully-automated donation service, The Wonderful Foundation handles micro donations in a very efficient way - both for the charity and its supporters.
As a powerful independent buying group, The Wonderful Foundation will:
• create a streamlined and simple sign-up process;
• ensure that the service remains free of charge;
• maximise and harmonise outpayments from fixed and mobile communications providers (CPs) for all charities, regardless of their size;
• extend provision to voluntary organisations, educational institutions and others in the third sector.
The benefits of fully-automated telephone donation lines are particularly relevant for smaller charities which might otherwise be denied access to this technology (often precluded by lack of expertise and/or budgetary constraints).
Towards the end of 2007, representatives of The Wonderful Foundation met the Director of Policy and Innovation at PhonepayPlus (PPP) to discuss the concept of a free donation service for UK charities. It became clear that the industry regulator is also very keen to promote the benefits of donation lines to charities and we were invited to the PPP seminar organised specifically for the sector at Bates, Wells & Braithwaite in March.
By acting as the PPP Service Provider on behalf of charities signing up to the free service, The Wonderful Foundation removes much of the regulatory burden and allows charities to concentrate on promotion of their wonderful number online, in email signatures, letters and business cards, on flyers and brochures, on outdoor media, TV and radio or at fundraising events.
What makes a number wonderful?
• Telephone donation lines provide a very effective tool for charities of all sizes to accept micro donations, since no credit card, cheque or bank transactions need to be processed.
• Minimal effort is required on the part of the charities' supporters, who simply dial a number and listen to a brief custom message thanking them for their donations.
• The charity receives a single monthly payment from The Wonderful Foundation, rather than processing multiple transactions from individual supporters.
• Provision for Gift Aid is handled by The Wonderful Foundation through a simple telephone Interactive Voice Response (IVR) menu option.
• The process is streamlined and straightforward. The Wonderful Foundation also provides guidance on promotion, revenue maximisation and compliance with relevant regulations.
Further information is available from http://www.wonderful.org
About Zimo Communications Limited
Zimo is a Communications Provider which operates a Public Electronic Communications Network (PECN). Established in 2005, the company is an active member of the Federation of Communication Services and a founder member of the Intelligent Number Working Group. Zimo is also an accredited member of the Safebuy Assurance Scheme.
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