The simple act of text messaging the word "Haiti" to the phone number 90999 is making a profound difference transcending well beyond that small effort.
Exactly one week after the Jan. 12, 2010, earthquake that devastated Haiti, the American Red Cross reported it had received more than $22 million in U.S. text-message donations through that campaign.
Beyond the sweeping charitable kindness being demonstrated, the earthquake relief text effort also illuminates the widespread magnitude and adoption of mobile phones these days: the donations generated through the campaign far outpace the previous record for emergency relief, when $400,000 was collected by the Red Cross for Hurricane Katrina in late 2005.
The $22 million is roughly one-fifth of the $112 million the American Red Cross reported it had raised a week after the quake.
Unprecedented For A Text Campaign
"It's truly an unprecedented amount for a text campaign," said American Red Cross spokesman Roger Lowe noted in a Washington Post blog.
Verizon Wireless spokesman Jeffrey Nelson called the campaign "the largest outpouring of charitable support by texting in history -- by far." Nelson also noted that in all of 2009, all mobile giving via texting totaled just under $4 million for the year.
Anyone with a mobile phone and an account with a major wireless carrier who texts the phrase "Haiti" to that 90999 number donates $10 to the Red Cross, which is in turn charged directly to the donor's cellphone bill.
All four major wireless carriers in the United States -- Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile -- are participating in the program.
In the case of the Red Cross, the texted donations are being handled by a company called mGive which started its campaign in a joint effort with the State Department and the Red Cross the night the earthquake struck. Awareness took off after the White House mentioned it in its blog and social networking sites Twitter and Facebook also helped spread the word.
"Mobile giving is currently outpacing the early days of online giving," proclaimed Tony Aiello, CEO of mGive, in a New York Times article.
It is believed that hundreds of thousands of people have donated to various organizations using their cellphones. According to charitable organizations, mobile phone technology enables them to tap into new sources of giving -- particularly due to the convenience of it all.
"The beauty of this is young people who don't give will give because it's so easy," Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy commented to the New York Times. "They hit a few buttons and they can show off, and it's the cooler and hipper way than getting out your credit card or whipping out a check like your parents do."
Other charitable organizations that are receiving $5 and $10 donations through text messaging include the Yele Haiti foundation (founded by musician and native Haitian Wyclef Jean); Save the Children; the International Rescue Committee; the International Medical Corps; and the Clinton Foundation Haiti Relief Fund. All of them have their own text-message words and codes for donations to their organizations.
While it's been pointed out that it takes time for charitable donations to be routed from U.S. wireless carriers to the relief effort until cellphone users pay their bills, here, wireless carriers have also stepped to the plate to provide immediate support.
Verizon Wireless announced on January 15 that it had transmitted nearly $3 million in immediate donations directly to the Red Cross. "Time is of the essence," said Verizon Wireless president and CEO Lowell McAdam. "It makes sense for us to toss aside our normal financial processes to get money where it can do the most good, in the fastest way possible." Sprint also announced it made a similar trasnmission.
Beyond Text Donations
While text-messaging contributions are helping the cause in Haiti, other mobile phone initiatives are also making a considerable difference.
The Thomson Retuers Foundation, example, has launched what it is calling a first-of-its kind free disaster-information service for the people of Haiti. The service allows survivors of the earthquake to receive critical information by text message directly to their phones, free of charge.
Carriers Verizon, T-Mobile and Cricket are among those to have waived call charges between the U.S. and Haiti to enable customers to check on loved ones. Sprint has waived customer text-messaging fees to and from Haiti.
Additionally, T-Mobile says it has taken steps to assist with the restoration of the wireless communications infrastructure in Haiti. The company says it is donating wireless equipment including generators and phones.
And ITU, a United Nations agency for information and communication technology issues, says it is deploying 40 satellite terminals immediately in Haiti to help re-establish wireless communications there.
ITU is setting up a Qualcomm Deployable Base Station (QDBS), a cellular system designed to enable vital wireless communications aimed at strengthening response and recovery mechanisms in a disaster zone. It has allocated $1 million for the initiative.
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