FAQ: Donating by phone

People have been making donations by phone for nearly 100 years! Whilst it may seem that giving using your phone is a new idea, it's really an extension of a way of giving that started in 1923.

1923 - UK - the BBC carried out its first radio appeal for people to call in with pledges.

1949 - USA - the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation ran a televised fundraising marathon that marked the beginning of the fundraising genre known as telethons.

1966 - USA - the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon incorporated telephone banks, allowing viewers to call in pledges while the broadcast displayed a running total.

1960 - 1970s - The telethon becomes popular all around the world.

1984 - Netherlands - Een vor Afrika combined television and radio for african famine relief. People Who Care ran in Sweden and Tag Für Afrika ran in Germany in 1985.

1987 - France - the French Telethon supported the Association Francaise contre les Myopathies and research into muscular dystrophy and related genetic diseases.

2000 - movement towards professional telephone fundraising where donors would be called and asked to make a donation over the phone.

2010 - Haiti Earthquake Relief - The American Red Cross allowed donors to donate via SMS. For many people this was the first time they had donated by text.

2015 - UK - Cancer Research UK launched the world's first contactless donation points in four of their shops inviting people to donate £2 using either a contactless card or digital wallet.

2023 - UK - Exactly 100 years after the first telephone donation, Superspree launches the world's first cardless donation device, allowing donors the opportunity to give using their mobile phone.