Mobile donating

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mobile donating refers to donating to an organization through a mobile device. The primary means for mobile donating is through SMS. Mobile donating can also refer to consumers donating their old phones to a cause for recycling and reuse of the device.

[edit] SMS Donating

Mobile phone users can text to charities with mobile donating campaigns and have the donation tacked on to their cell phone bill, in increments ranging anywhere from $1 to $10 these are refered to as micro-donations. Organizations use Short codes and a keyword to distinguish their charity across carriers.

Example: Text ‘Alive’ to 90999^[1]

Currently in the US non-profits can either foster a deal with each individual cell phone carrier or work with the Mobile Giving Foundation who acts as a gate keeper for the mobile carriers to certify NPO’s and keep mobile donating standards. Currently only four companies have been approved as application providers by the Mobile Giving Foundation^[2]: Mobile Accord, Mobile Cause, Mobile Commons, Wireless Factory.

[edit] Examples

In the US there are only a handful of national mobile donating campaigns as of yet^[3]. Mobile giving campaigns have run in the US during the Hurricane Katrina disaster, and the Indonesian tsunami. Currently the United Way ^[4], Keep a Child Alive^[5] and the ASPCA ^[6] are all running mobile donation campaigns through mGive and Mobile Accord.