mobile giving foundation

Early yesterday evening, the American Red Cross announced it had received more than $5 Million in texts, $10 at a time. That means more than 500,000 people from all over America have texted "HAITI" to 90999. Although they are still raising much more through other forms ($35 million so far in total), this is a record for the organization and for mobile giving. Previously, the Red Cross's most successful mobile giving campaign was in 2008, when they raised $200,000 in response to the hurricane season. Other groups, including Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti and the Clinton Foundation, are also accepting text donations. It's amazing to see how people are responding to this crisis through various forms of giving, and I wonder what this will mean for future mobile campaigns. In addition, Ushahidi has adapted its mobile mapping technology to assist in the relief efforts. As of this morning, 425 reports have been posted through voice, text and video to help find and map urgent needs, threats, survivor information and response.

We have talked on this blog about how 2010 might be the year of mobile, when adoption and technology catch up with other parts of the world and we begin using our cell phones in new and innovative ways. I wonder if this Haiti response is any indication of what's to come. As we learn more about these efforts and the numbers behind them, the public may have more questions and reactions that could help improve the mobile giving process.

This will lead to increased comfort (and therefore use of) mobile giving, disaster response platforms and other budding technology. I'm sure there are thousands of people who are being compelled to give via text for the first time because of this crisis. People who were unsure about giving at football games or while watching American Idol may have been pushed over the hump by what is happening in Haiti. Odds are, they had a good experience. They received a confirmation text message, it will show up as $10 (and just $10) on their bill, and they will feel even more comfortable doing it again next time.

There will be pressure on the entities involved in mobile giving campaigns. Over the past few days, I've seen people in my Twitter stream pose questions about what the mobile service providers would be donating and how much money actually goes to the beneficiary. As the amount of money given to Haiti through text grows, there could be more questions about who, if anyone, is gaining from this. Through the Mobile Giving Foundation, 100% of donations will go to the organization you choose. Neither the Mobile Giving Foundation nor Verizon, At&T or whoever keeps you connected will take anything off the top. BUT the Mobile Giving website also states that they charge "back costs for short-code costs, reporting and messaging charges directly to the nonprofit organizations or their supporting service providers on a post-donation basis."

I've not been able to find out how much money we are talking about here, but a Seattle Times article last year cited the amount as 10 cents per transaction. If I'm reading this right, 100% of mobile donations may go to the organization, but the organization has to pay mobile marketing companies like mGive to be able to receive these donations. There may be special arrangements made around this campaign for Haiti, but people are going to want to know what these charges are. Undoubtedly, providing this mobile donation service costs money, so mGive and organizations have to charge something to be able to continue providing this service, but this might be the perfect CSR opportunity for a major service provider like Verizon or AT&T. If I were them, I might drop the commercials about the maps for a commercial about how they are funding organizations like mGive and the Mobile Giving Foundation so nonprofits don't have to pay anything to receive mobile donations.

In addition, while service providers are not taking anything off the top of these donations, they are still charging whatever service fee you agreed to when you signed up for your plan. Let's say your plan charges 10 cents per text sent and received. When you consider that you send one text and receive up to three (I did) to confirm your donation, Verizon is making 40 cents on your donation. I think as we realize how much money that adds up to, there will be calls for service providers to either waive all fees on mobile donations or to donate that money.

There also may unfortunately be a little bit of backlash. The fine print says that when you donate $10 by texting "HAITI" to 90999, you are also agreeing to receive up to four texts per month from the Red Cross. While unsubscribing is easy enough (just text "STOP" to 90999), I'm sure the vast majority of people do not know these texts are coming and may get annoyed with text solicitations pretty quickly.

Did you use mobile giving for the first time in response to Haiti? What was your experience and what are your questions?

For a few years now, I've been hearing people talk about how mobile will hold the next big wave of innovation here in the US. The exception to most technological advances, we are behind many developing nations in mobile. In Africa, for example, it is already being used for microlending, reporting violence and human rights abuses, crowdsourcing crisis information and HIV/AIDS prevention. Organizations like FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi are leading the way in using mobile for social good, and the UN is delivering food aid to refugees via text message.

Because so many people in the US have access to computers, mobile hasn't been a priority, but the convenience and utility of being able to give, bank, report, research and organize on the go may finally be dawning on us.

For a while now, we've been able to leverage the immediacy of being able to donate instantly to a cause that moves you through text to give campaigns. And with the help of the Mobile Giving Foundation, mobile giving is improving with respect to the range of organizations that can set up mobile giving campaigns and the percentage of the donation that actually reaches the nonprofit. Last year Alicia Keys demonstrated the power of mobile giving when she raised $450,000 for Keep a Child Alive from 90,000 mobile donors through one appeal on American Idol, and Ben Stiller has recently launched a series of hilarious Stillerstrong videos to raise money through mobile giving for a school in Haiti. For more about mobile giving, see extremely helpful articles by Joanne Fritz and Katrin Verclas.

When people ask what the next *big* thing in social media will be, the quickly growing, and moderately addictive, Foursquare is often the answer. Unlike Twitter and Facebook, it really only makes sense to use Foursquare on your phone because the purpose of the social media tool is to share with friends where you are out and about in your city and trade tips on deals, favorite dishes or places to watch the game. While I'm still getting into the habit of checking in when I go out, this game-meets-information-sharing platform has lots of potential. Once the reportedly coming-soon blackberry application is widely released, Foursquare will likely be widely used for not only impromptu happy hours, but also volunteering and community organizing.

Holiday bargain hunting has also proven an opportunity for new mobile applications. According to a Deloitte survey, one in five holiday shoppers says they are using their mobile phones to shop this year. The New York Times reports that "of those, 45 percent said they would use their phone to research prices, 32 percent said they would use it to find coupons or read reviews and 25 percent said they would make purchases from their phones."

There are a slue of applications that have been created for mobile-enhanced shopping, including one called ShopSavvy actually allows users to scan the barcode on an item and automatically search for the lowest price available near them. (Is it just me, or is that amazing?) And companies like Amazon and eBay, who says its mobile shoppers are spending $500 million this year, are trying to make it easier for customers to shop using their phones. Just as mobile is helping smart shoppers, applications are also being created to help retailers get smart about mobile. For example, Yowza uses GPS locations to send shoppers coupons for stores within walking distance of their location.

Although this may not be quite the heyday of mobile in the US yet, Foursquare will release a BlackBerry app and become widely adopted next year, and retailers will learn from the mobile use of consumers this holiday season. With all of this activity in mobile (finally) heating up, it seems like 2010 could be a big year. What do you hope to see in mobile innovation and adoption next year?