Simon Davis, O2’s Head of Corporate Responsibility, talks about what O2 is doing to increase the amount of money charities receive.
In November last year O2 was the first UK network to pass on 90p for every £1 donated to charity, withholding 10p to cover network and third party costs. We’re now announcing that from 1 August we’re going to cover these costs ourselves and ensure that all registered UK charities receive 100 per cent of the text donations our customers make.
Charities eligible under the rules of HM Revenue & Customs are allocated a dedicated ‘short code’ for donations only. Any five-digit text message short code beginning ‘70’ is now automatically considered a charity code and becomes eligible for the 100% payout.
More and more of our customers are choosing to make text donations so I am pleased that by taking this step we are able to ensure that more money reaches their favourite charities.
If you would like to discover more about how O2 supports charities, communities and the environment, have a look at our latest Sustainability Report.
The report includes a focus on our new sustainability strategy and a number of videos highlighting our social and environmental activities. We’ve also invited Jonathon Porritt at Forum for the Future and Fiona Blacke at the National Youth Agency to comment on our performance and identify areas which we need to focus. We’re also interested in your views and ideas too so please leave me a comment below or email me at thinkbig@o2.com.
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