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Haiti Relief - Easy Way to Help!
Posted on Jan 25, 2010 by The Woodlands of College Station
Just a simple text can donate $10! Text the word “Haiti” to 90999 and the charge will show up on your next cell phone bill!
“Donating to Haiti relief as easy as texting.
So, who knew you could provide medical treatment, water or food to Haiti earthquake victims just by sending a text message from a cell phone?
Apparently, a whole lot of people, thanks to appeals on Web sites ranging from the White House blog to the social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.
The American Red Cross has raised more than $8 million for earthquake relief from people sending text messages, according to the White House.
“It doesn’t really surprise me that people would jump into the idea,” said Lynda Nicely of West Allis, who texted a donation to the Red Cross from her LG enV phone. Verizon Wireless will add the cost to her bill.
Nicely, a public relations professional who sometimes volunteers for the Red Cross, The Women’s Center in Waukesha and other causes, said she usually donates time rather than money to organizations. But television images of suffering Haitians prompted her to pull out her phone.
Philip Crawford of Madison, founder of Foreclosure- Alarm.com, pulled out his iPhone and made a Red Cross donation Wednesday after he saw a friend tweet a version of a message that’s been flying around Twitter: “Text ‘Haiti’ to 90999 to donate. 100% of your $10 donation passes thru to @RedCross for Haiti relief. Your cell carrier keeps nothing.”
“The ease of donating is what prompted me to do it,” Crawford said.
Wisconsin, which has about 1.9% of the nation’s population, has given about 1% of donations sent via text, according to mGive, the company that has deals with major cell phone carriers to collect the donated money.
Charities and donors say the explosion in the number of smart cell phones in recent years along with heavy media coverage of the earthquake and a major viral campaign have given the charities a boost.
Oxfam America has raised $2.7 million from text donations, according to USA Today. The entertainer Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation claims it has raised $2 million in $5-per-text chunks, though watchdogs have raised concerns about money the charity has spent on Jean’s travel and promotional expenses.
Companies such as mGive, which processes the text messages for the Red Cross and other charities such as Doctors Without Borders, have deals with major cellular carriers to add the amount of the contribution to each customer’s cell phone bill.
mGive usually charges a setup fee to charities and takes a portion of each donation for its operations, but the company said it will pass on the entire $10 for Red Cross donations. The nation’s four major cellular carriers – Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, said they won’t apply their normal text messaging fees to Haiti donations.
Donations via text were coming in to the Red Cross at a rate of about $200,000 per hour, according to the Red Cross.
That far outpaces the total of $400,000 raised for Hurricane Katrina victims in text messaging campaigns, according to media reports.
“The message is so easy,” said Wendy Harman, the social media manager for the American Red Cross. Harman helped distribute instructions for texting through the Red Cross’ Facebook and Twitter pages.
Critics have raised concerns about how quickly money donated by cell phone will get to the charities. It usually takes more than 60 days for mGive to cut a check to charities.
But Harman said the Red Cross is keeping track of how much money has been donated and has the resources to purchase the needed supplies even before a check is sent. mGive is also working to speed the turnaround time for Haiti donations.
People can contribute to the Red Cross by texting “HAITI” to the number 90999. If you do, $10 gets added to your cell phone bill and sent to the aid organization.
Other groups using text messages to collect money for Haiti include the Clinton Foundation Haiti Relief Fund (“HAITI” to 20222 for a $10 donation), the International Rescue Committee (“HAITI” to 25383 for a $5 gift.) and Doctors Without Borders (“DOB” to “90999” to give $5.)"
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