Canadian Mobile Giving for Haiti Relief
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
The Mobile Giving Foundation Canada, a non‑profit organization and pioneer of mobile giving dedicated to helping other non-profits raise funds through the mobile channel in Canada, has announced that donations made via mobile phones for Haiti Earthquake Relief in Canada have surpassed $500,000 across all the short codes managed by the Ottawa-based organization.
MGF Canada has enabled mobile giving campaigns with some of Canada’s largest national non-profit organizations. MGF Canada and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association work with Canadian wireless service providers to enable the 100% pass-through of funds raised by all the mobile campaigns that it manages.
By texting a keyword to a designated short code via a mobile phone, a micro-donation of $5 or $10 can be made to aid the millions of people affected by the devastating earthquake. The entire donation goes to the recipient charity, and the donation appears as a charge on a donor’s carrier bill. Donors also receive information about how to obtain an official income tax receipt.
“The response for Haiti earthquake relief in Canada has been terrific, having raised more money in its first few days than the entire first year of mobile giving in the U.S. in 2008,” says Jim Manis, chairman and CEO of the Mobile Giving Foundation. “Given that MGF Canada only launched three months ago, the fact that Canadian operators were able to implement our mobile platform on their networks this quickly makes this number all the more impressive.”
“Mobile giving has proven to be the fastest and easiest way for the general public to donate to a worthy cause and make a difference,” says Bernard Lord, CWTA President & CEO. “Experience has shown us that the mobile channel empowers Canadians to donate more readily in small amounts and eliminate most barriers to giving.”
February 3rd, 2010 at 23:49 @034
The Haiti relief effort has really demonstrated mobile technology’s ability to generate a response for important social issues. New technologies like mobile and digital out-of-home will likely begin taking a greater role in companies’ charitable programs due to their proven record of raising awareness for social issues like this. DOOH for example, is commonly recognized for the Amber Alerts often shown on digital billboards. Since consumers have already seen and participated in public messaging services like this, it’s likely DOOH Networks, as well as mobile, will be increasingly used by private organizations to promote social issues and charity campaigns. For further discussion of similar DOOH topics and developments check out A2aMEDIA’s blog here: http://www.a2amedia.com.