TORONTO – Tuesday marked the 10th anniversary of the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada (MGFC).
Incorporated in 2009, MGFC was established by key members of Canada's wireless industry, working in partnership with the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), to create a means through which Canadians could make donations to registered charities through their mobile device.
This is why Canadians can, for example, text $10 to a certain number to help raise money for natural disasters or other needs and have it tacked onto their wireless bill.
"Canadians are generous and supportive of worthy causes, and they also embrace technology. Merging philanthropy with the power of mobile technology expands the pool of contributors, and has offered Canadians new ways to connect with causes they care about," said Robert Ghiz, CWTA president and CEO in a press release.
MGFC facilitates the text donations through its own platform, collects 100% of funds generated through mobile giving campaigns from wireless carriers, and then distributes the collected funds to the designated charities.
The idea was originally conceived by Jim Manis, founder of MGFC's U.S. sister organization, the Mobile Foundation – and Bell and Rogers were the first operators to partner with MGFC in 2009, enabling donations via text message to be charged as tax-exempt charitable gifts on customer wireless bills. Telus joined in January 2010, around the same time the Canadian Red Cross launched its emergency appeal campaign to support earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.
That emergency appeal campaign included a text-to-donate option, and across the three major operators, over $500,000 was donated via text message in January of that year alone. Since then, the majority of all wireless operators in Canada have partnered with MGFC, and nearly 700 unique registered charities across Canada have run charitable campaigns to raise more than $6.5 million through mobile donations, reads the release.
MGFC vets all registered charities which use the mobile channel, certifies all mobile giving programs, and provides industry-wide guidance for charitable causes.
