[1]PayPal [1] and leading Canadian companies announced two new ways for Canadians to use the power of smartphones and social media to quickly and simply send charity donations or raise money for their favourite causes.
The new version of the PayPal Mobile 2.5 [2] released today on iTunes allows customers to send charity 
[3]donations to 17 highly-regarded, national Canadian non-profit organizations directly from their iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. Donations can be funded from a PayPal account balance, bank balance or credit card. PayPal worked with Artez Interactive [3], a Toronto-based online fundraising solutions provider to make the donate feature possible.
“Canada is a caring society and Canadians are very technologically savvy,” says Darrell MacMullin, General Manager, PayPal Canada. “By bringing these two powerful qualities together and making charitable giving and fundraising simpler on the digital platforms Canadians use every day, PayPal hopes to help charities find new ways of raising money.”
[4]
The use of smartphones to buy products and services from online retailers, known as mobile commerce, has exploded in recent years. PayPal customers completed $25 million in mobile purchases in 2008. In 2009, the figure jumped to $141 million. In 2010, PayPal expects to process more than $500 million in mobile transactions.
Part of that growth has been fueled by the rapid adoption of smartphones in Canada. According to an IDC report in January 2010, smartphone penetration among businesses and consumers in Canada is about 25 per cent, but is growing at a rate of 30 per cent year over year. In Canada, the growing number of advanced networks is expected to continue to drive smartphone adoption.
“Customers are comfortable using smartphones for all kinds of professional and personal needs, so making it easier for Canadians to give to charities that way is important,” said Philip King, President and CEO, Artez Interactive. “For charities, mobile giving is a new channel; one that allows people to give quickly and simply and one that may help reach new, younger audiences who don’t respond as readily to traditional fundraising campaigns.”
“When disasters occur it’s important to reach as many donors as possible and make it simple to donate,” said Almin Surani, Chief Information Officer, Canadian Red Cross. “People sometimes have every intention of sending a donation, but it’s not always top of mind. The PayPal mobile app makes donating fast, simple and immediate.”
Nationally recognized Canadian non-profit organizations which are included in the PayPal Mobile 2.5 for iPhone include:
– Canadian Red Cross [5]
– SickKids Foundation [6]
– Centre for Addiction and Mental Health [7] (CAMH) Foundation
– UNICEF Canada [8]
– Kids Help Phone [9]
– WWF-Canada [10]
– Habitat For Humanity Canada [11]
– David Suzuki Foundation [12]
– Canadian Mental Health Association [13]
– Canadian Cancer Society [14]
– The Salvation Army [15]
– ALS Society of Canada [16] (Lou Gehrig’s disease)
– Alzheimer Society of Canada [17]
– Canadian National Institute for the Blind [18]
– Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada [19]
– Toronto Maple Leaf Sports Team Up Foundation [20]
– Plan Canada [21]
PayPal is also pleased to announce availability of the new FundRazr [22] application from ConnectionPoint Systems [23] of Vancouver. FundRazr capitalizes on the power and security of PayPal X, and helps people doing fundraising magnify the pool of potential donors by broadcasting appeals from within Facebook to their social network.
[23]
“There’s enormous value in leveraging PayPal and Facebook to enable social networking communities to fundraise for causes they’re passionate about,” said Daryl Hatton, ConnectionPoint founder & CEO. “Our collaboration with PayPal delivers today’s most innovative online fundraising and sets the stage for launching a spectrum of social media fundraising tools.”
[24]
Uniquely, FundRazr allows anyone to create engaging, professional-quality fundraising campaigns containing such rich media as photos, sound and video. Available free on FundRazr’s website [22] or Facebook page [25], the application is quickly added to a Facebook user’s profile. Easy sharing with others via email, Facebook News Feed or Twitter drives rapid build-up of community support and donations.