August 19, 2003
Ringtones raise money for schools
Mobile technology developer iTouch has joined forces with MySchool, a South African loyalty program developed for schools, to offer ringtones, picture messages, logos and screensavers to their learners, while earning them cash at the same time.
For each download requested by a student, a portion of the fee is paid over to the learning organisation. Each school has its own ID code to make sure the money goes where it should.
Within minutes of launching the programme at the University of the Western Cape, over 1 000 minutes of calls to download ringtones had been clocked, according to ITWeb .
This is the second time I've heard of fund raising through ringtone revenues, the first being a campaign in the Philippines, to benefit a half-way house and counseling center for female victims and survivors of violence. cf Downloading ringtones to raise money .
And in in June 2001, for nationwide "Red Nose Day" in Australia, to help raise money for research into Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Australian telecommunications giant Telstra offered its clients -- not a ringtone -- but a Red Nose logo and donated US$0.95 to SIDS Australia for each logo that was downloaded.
For more on fund raising with cell phones, check out textually.org's SMS and Charities category.
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