From 27 May 2010 Vodacom Red Alert enables Prepaid, Top Up and Contract clients to make donations free of charge via SMS or USSD number to large-scale local and international humanitarian disaster relief efforts.

Published: 2010/05/27

Sometimes natural disasters and emergencies happen on such a scale that the usual coping mechanisms are inadequate.  During such times humanitarian agencies require additional funds to help them respond quickly and effectively.  Vodacom Red Alert national and international appeals are reserved for such circumstances.

If you are a Prepaid client your donation SMS’s are configured to debit R10 from your account, and if you are a Contract client, you will be billed R10 for the SMS.  You can also donate R5, R10 or R20 when accessing RED ALERT via the USSD string.

Follow these simple steps to make your donation:

Vodacom Red Alert	International Campaign	Local Campaign
SMS	“Give” to 38207 to donate R10.	“Aid” to 38416 to donate R10.
USSD	Dial *120*4483# and follow the prompts to donate R5, R10 or R20.	Dial *120*243# and follow the prompts to donate R5, R10 or R20.

Vodacom does not charge any fee for facilitating your donation(s), which means that 100% of the money you donate will go directly to the participating disaster relief organization and thereby reach the people left in distress following emergencies and disasters.  Once they have received a request for support from the Relief Organization, Vodacom promises to endeavour to have the donation channels (SMS, USSD) available within 48 hours.

With Vodacom Red Alert you can make as many donations as your resources allow.  All donations to Red Alert are VAT exempt and therefore you will not be charged VAT on donations.  You can follow updates on how funds are used to provide relief by visiting www.vodacomfoundation.org .

NOTE:  only Vodacom clients can make donations via Red Alert.

Due to the small amounts of the donations and the administration required issuing Tax certificates, Vodacom will not issue Tax certificates for donations received.  If you want to donate money directly to The SA Red Cross Society, you can liaise with them directly regarding Tax certificates.

The Vodacom Foundation runs this service as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities.  Vodacom has no financial gain from facilitating the Red Alert service.

For further assistance or to query donations, you can:

• call Vodacom Customer Care on 111 (FREE from a Vodacom cellphone) or 082 111 from any other phone (standard rates will appy);
• e-mail Vodacomfoundation@vodacom.co.za;
• visit www.vodacomfoundation.org .