19 January 2010 | Author: D. Warburton Search Copywriter

Text donations raise millions for Haiti

Text fundraising is experiencing rapid growth, with donations to the Red Cross sent by SMS accounting for around half of the total funds raised.

The American Red Cross launched its fundraising campaign mere hours after the earthquake hit Haiti last Tuesday. The organisation offered the typical cheque or credit card options for donations, as well as the option to send a short text message that would add the cost of a donation to the user's phone bill.

News of the campaign spread rapidly through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and PRI reports that most mobile carriers waived the standard text message fee for those texting their donations to the cause.

MobileActive.org director Katrin Verclas praised the text fundraising service for its immediacy and ease of use, stating: "They text, and in this case the key word 'Haiti,' to a short code which is a five-digit number. And then they will be asked essentially to confirm the $5 or $10 dollar contribution.

"And then at the end of the month when they receive their bill, there will be a charge in the amount of $5 or $10 dollars that the customer pays as part of their regular phone bill."

Ms Verclas believes that US aid groups are now catching up with those in the UK and elsewhere, which previously benefited from SMS donations in the wake of the Indian Ocean tsunami that hit five years ago. She explained: "In the aftermath of the tsunami ... UK, Spanish, Italian aid organizations raised millions.

"I think in Spain it was $5.9 million dollars in 24 hours after the tsunami, all raised by SMS. US aid organizations were, in 2004, absolutely not on the bandwagon ... and they're now waking up. Which is good, it's about time."

Text fundraising is certainly taking off at a rapid pace, with TechCrunch reporting a rise from $5 million (approx £3 million) last week to more than $20 million (approx £12.2 million) yesterday. Mobile users can also donate by SMS to a number of other aid organisations working to help the victims of the disaster.

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