Press Association –
Tech-savvy Britons have donated a record £6 million to Philippines typhoon victims via tablets and smartphones.
The new method of donating has helped pushed the Disasters Emergency Committee’s (DEC) overall donation total to £65 million.
The DEC said when its appeal was launched over two weeks ago, more than £750,000 was raised via text messages alone in the first hour. In comparison, roughly £100,000 was raised during the same period for the East Africa crisis.
Further text donation surges followed, including during an England football fixture on November 15 and an appeal on X Factor.
The charity said the push towards mobile donations represents an overall trend towards electronic donations.
The DEC said £3.5 million donations have been through tablets, £1.3 million via texts and £5.7 million through PayPal, which included £1.75 from tablets and smart phones.
“It is now even easier to make a donation to DEC appeals wherever and whenever you want,” DEC Head of Fundraising Adil Husseini said.
“We have made sure there are a number of different ways to quickly and efficiently give money so that it can be raised as fast as possible and ensure that aid reaches people in desperate need right now.
“We have seen that sending text donations is increasingly popular, and offering people the choice to give via PayPal accounts has also made the process of donating via mobiles, tablets and computers much faster and hassle free for many.
“More than one million people have given money since the appeal began, and the public’s generous donations have helped enabled our member aid agencies to reach hundreds of thousands of people in the Philippines who have had their lives torn apart by this disaster.”
The DEC said a £25 donation would buy water purification tablets for 10 families for a month, £50 would feed a family for two weeks, while £100 would buy emergency shelter and bedding for one family.
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