OTTAWA – Videotron is partnering with the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada (MGFC), a move that will allow its customers to support registered charities through the organization’s text-to-donate initiatives.
Videotron’s wireless customers can now text a specific keyword to an assigned five-digit number to donate either $5 or $10, depending on the charity’s call-to-action and type of campaign. The amount donated by text will be charged to the donor’s wireless phone bill, and is billed as a tax-exempt transaction. Videotron will then remit 100% of the funds collected from mobile donations to the MGFC, who in turn remits the full amount directly to the registered charity.
“Videotron is very pleased that this partnership can end up helping so many causes and so many Canadians,” said Marie Ginette Lepage, mobile marketing and product development general manager, in Tuesday’s announcement. “We today live a life of choices, and with these kinds of partnerships, we are able to offer support, as well as touch and help so many people.”
The MGFC was founded in 2009 in collaboration with the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association to provide the organizational layer, operational guidelines, and technical infrastructure for registered charities and donors to use the power and convenience of mobile technology. Mobile giving campaigns are also supported by Bell, Fido, Koodo, Rogers, Solo, Telus, Virgin Mobile and Wind Mobile.
“On behalf of the Mobile Giving Foundation Canada, I extend our appreciation to Videotron for their efforts in providing this new mobile channel for their customers to support their favourite causes,” added Bernard Lord, MGFC chair and CWTA president. “Canadians have overwhelmingly embraced the power of mobile giving, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for more than 100 registered charities in the past year alone.”
