For the first time this year, members of the public can text a £1 or £5 donation to Comic Relief, knowing that every penny will go to the charity. The new initiative has been made possible by a generous gesture by the mobile industry and the support of the Treasury. The UKs mobile network operators have agreed to waive their usual charges to ensure that a £1 or £5 text means a £1 or £5 donation to Comic Relief, while the Treasury has confirmed that, because of this, no VAT will be charged on these donations. 
The £5 text number (66609) opened on 2 March, while Radio 1 listeners have been able to send a £1 text using the Shortcode 88808 since 27 February, to sponsor the celebrity team on the Red Nose Climb up Mt. Kilimanjaro. Both donation lines close at midnight on 31 March 2009.
£5 could buy a mosquito net to help prevent potentially fatal bites that cause malaria – a disease that kills a child every 30 seconds across Africa. A donation of £1 could pay for a hot meal for a young homeless person in the UK when they go to a drop-in centre to get vital support and assistance.
“The spirit of the entire mobile industry has taken our breath away, says Comic Relief Trustee, Emma Freud. “We believe receiving every penny from texts donated by the public will make the most remarkable difference – helping us to transform and save literally thousands of lives. An astonishing £190,000 was donated via the £1 text donation line on the first day it opened on Radio 1, and in that week it raised nearly £800,000. We have high hopes for the £5 text line on Red Nose Day. This stuff works!”
Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms, adds:
The Government is fully behind the very important work of Comic Relief. Thats why Im delighted to confirm that no VAT will be charged on donations, so every penny donated will go straight to Comic Relief.
The network operators have also been queuing up to pledge their support for the charity. Sue Hammett, Community Investment Manager at Orange UK, says: “Orange has just launched a new community strategy and what better way to kick start it, (than) by waiving our charity rate associated with text donations to Comic Relief. We know our customers are great supporters of Comic Relief, so we wanted to make sure we supported them and this great charity.”