I saw something yesterday that I’d never thought of. In response to the earthquake in Haiti, non profits are collecting relief donations through the convenience of text messaging.
1. Text “haiti” to 90999
According to the American Red Cross website, “Send a $10 donation to the Red Cross, through an effort backed by the U.S. State Department. Funds will go to support American Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.”
2. Text “Yele” to 501501
According to http://www.yele.org, when you text this charity, it “will automatically donate $5 to the Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund (it will be charged to your cell phone bill).” Yele is “a grassroots movement that builds global awareness for Haiti while helping to transform the country through programs in education, sports, the arts and environment.”
You, too, can utilize this technology for your church or ministry.
After doing a little bit of googling, I stumbled across several services that will allow you to receive donations through text messaging. Basically, folks texting to your charity’s keyword will approve a dollar amount to be added to their cell phone bill. These companies then receive payment from the cell phone company and send your organization a check.
After sifting through them, finding out many were overseas, one stood out among the others. I believe this is the same company who is helping with the Red Cross text donations.
mGive
Website: http://www.mGive.com
“mGive allows your organization to raise money through text message donations. Supporters of your cause send a text message to your keyword & short code and their $5 or $10 donation is applied to their cell phone bill.”
Check it out.
Is your church or ministry using this technology? Are you interested in trying it out? Is there a need? What do you think?
That is pretty cool thanks for sharing this tip i was wondering how everyone was doing this.
I wonder if you can do this for merch sales instead of credit cards
Some how it wouldn’t seem that worshipful to flash a “Text Tithe to 50505 to give $10 to your church from your pew”
Seems more applicable for non-profits trying to do viral campaigns.
Jamie:
Just to flesh this conversation out more, what would make it any less worshipful that pulling out a checkbook and licking an envelope?
mgive seems to have a great product, but I don’t know how many churches would be justified in spending the $399/mo. (for 12 months!) to use it. We would be better to just write a check for $4,800, right?
I love the concept of doing a “text to give” campaign, but like Will said, it’s expensive. And a year long contract? I don’t know about your church, but most of the things we would use text to give on last a few weeks to a few months.