Blog 3...the article...sort of

Following several STOMPers' concerns about the administrative charges on MediaCorp's Sichuan Earthquake Charity Show phone donations, SingTel reveals several factors in charging the public 20 cents per call.In an email response to STOMP, a representative from SingTel said:"Donors who call a 1900 donation number pay an admin fee of 20 cents per call regardless of the amount donated. The fee includes the costs of operating the service and billing donors. "The amount collected does not go to SingTel alone. A portion is also payable to other telecommunications and mobile operators when their customers make donation calls."As a business, SingTel has to charge a fee for the Telepoll service. The fee comprises a fixed charge and a usage fee. The event organiser usually pays the fixed component. Event organisers have indicated a preference for donors to bear the usage or admin fee, so that the cost of organising their charity event does not increase for them."SingTel reviews all requests for donations and service fee waivers on a case-by-case basis. Much as it would like to, SingTel cannot possibly sponsor every charitable cause in Singapore. We have a responsibility to our shareholders to exercise prudence as well. "Our practice is to keep the functions of corporate philanthropy and service provision separate. For example, under SingTel's umbrella philanthropy programme, the SingTel Touching Lives Fund, we donated $2.4 million to charities last year. Since its launch in 2002, the Fund has raised a total of $12.7 million for 18 charities affiliated to the National Council of Social Service. "On May 15, SingTel announced that it would donate S$200,000 to help China’s relief and reconstruction efforts after the earthquake in the Sichuan province. SingTel, through our wholly owned subsidiary NCS which has operations in Chengdu, is working with the local authorities to help families and those affected by the earthquake. "As part of our efforts to help our Chinese customers in Singapore to keep close contact with their families back home, we have extended our prepaid promotion in view of the Szechuan earthquake. SingTel prepaid customers can call their relatives who are China Mobile subscribers using V019 IDD at a special flat rate of 8 cents per minute, all day everyday until June 15."The Sichuan Earthquake Charity Show was televised on MediaCorp Channel 8 on Sunday evening (May 25) to raise funds for the victims of the earthquake that shook China on May 12. The general public could call in via a 1900 hotline to contribute fixed donation amounts, or via a landline to contribute sums of more than $50.