tangent4ronpaul
Banned
- Joined
- May 11, 2007
- Messages
- 21,101
The money bomb may have just gotten a face lift...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011404663.html
New technology speeds donations for Haiti relief efforts
New and easier ways to contribute have helped propel donations for Haiti earthquake relief efforts despite a weak economy, according to officials at a number of aid organizations, some of whom marveled at the volume of donations tweeted and texted from cellphones.
On Thursday, the American Red Cross had received more than $35 million since Tuesday night's earthquake, a record for the organization in a 48-hour period, an official said. That included more than $5 million through text messages, an amount that eclipsed the previous total for a campaign using that technology.
"I think it's an incredible story," said Rachel Wolff of World Vision, which had raised several million dollars. "It's unprecedented giving in a recession."
Other aid agencies said that they were not expecting to match the outpouring of contributions that followed large-scale disasters such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but that they were pleased with the volume so far. Some said that the number of gifts was higher but that the amounts were smaller, perhaps because of the economy or because charities have made it easy to give small donations of $5 or $10.
[...]
New technology has made giving easier than ever. Hundreds of thousands of people have donated by text-messaging. By texting a code word such as "Haiti" to a designated number, people can donate $5 or $10 that will be added to their phone bills.
A big chunk of GlobalGiving's donations came though Twitter. Oxfam America officials were surprised by the volume of money it received through Facebook.
Celebrities including Ashton Kutcher, Lenny Kravitz, Oprah Winfrey and Coldplay's lead singer, Chris Martin, urged people to give, with messages that spread through social networking sites.
The viral pace of donations via text showed no signs of slowing Thursday, said Jim Manus, chief executive of Mobile Giving, which announced that more than $4.5 million had been raised by that means alone as of Thursday evening.
Haitian American musician Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation, for example, was receiving 10,000 texts an hour. Large organizations such as the William J. Clinton Foundation were launching text campaigns late in the day.
[...]
The FBI and some watchdog groups warned donors to be careful of potential scams. Web sites popped up overnight, and false text-messaging codes proliferated. Web sites such as Charity Navigator offered lists of organizations with low overhead costs and a proven commitment to Haiti.
==
lessons learned:
paying for something via text message / phone call isn't new - but using to fund raise is interesting. This has been used to generate profit by some companies that ask you to text to vote on an issue or for a candidate.
Donation via tweet is new.
Facebook apparently has a donation mechanism now. Meetup incorporated a payment method a while ago too. It was set up to help pay for the group or buy tickets, not really high volume.
The power to fund raise is enhanced via viral messages on SNS sites. people forwarding messages and reaching more ppl than a a static site would. This flies in the face of what C4L does with is more about centralized control, single point of message distribution and keeping ppl in compartments based on state.
In a down economy, asking for smaller amounts results in more donations.
viral marketing and for that matter, donation websites can be spoofed. We will probably have to deal with this in the future.
these methods might be able to be expanded to signing petitions. consider a day with several national media appearances, not necessarily by the same person but across networks and in 24 hours doing a poll bomb or a petition bomb with the results on the appropriate reps/senators desks the next day.
-t
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR2010011404663.html
New technology speeds donations for Haiti relief efforts
New and easier ways to contribute have helped propel donations for Haiti earthquake relief efforts despite a weak economy, according to officials at a number of aid organizations, some of whom marveled at the volume of donations tweeted and texted from cellphones.
On Thursday, the American Red Cross had received more than $35 million since Tuesday night's earthquake, a record for the organization in a 48-hour period, an official said. That included more than $5 million through text messages, an amount that eclipsed the previous total for a campaign using that technology.
"I think it's an incredible story," said Rachel Wolff of World Vision, which had raised several million dollars. "It's unprecedented giving in a recession."
Other aid agencies said that they were not expecting to match the outpouring of contributions that followed large-scale disasters such as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but that they were pleased with the volume so far. Some said that the number of gifts was higher but that the amounts were smaller, perhaps because of the economy or because charities have made it easy to give small donations of $5 or $10.
[...]
New technology has made giving easier than ever. Hundreds of thousands of people have donated by text-messaging. By texting a code word such as "Haiti" to a designated number, people can donate $5 or $10 that will be added to their phone bills.
A big chunk of GlobalGiving's donations came though Twitter. Oxfam America officials were surprised by the volume of money it received through Facebook.
Celebrities including Ashton Kutcher, Lenny Kravitz, Oprah Winfrey and Coldplay's lead singer, Chris Martin, urged people to give, with messages that spread through social networking sites.
The viral pace of donations via text showed no signs of slowing Thursday, said Jim Manus, chief executive of Mobile Giving, which announced that more than $4.5 million had been raised by that means alone as of Thursday evening.
Haitian American musician Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation, for example, was receiving 10,000 texts an hour. Large organizations such as the William J. Clinton Foundation were launching text campaigns late in the day.
[...]
The FBI and some watchdog groups warned donors to be careful of potential scams. Web sites popped up overnight, and false text-messaging codes proliferated. Web sites such as Charity Navigator offered lists of organizations with low overhead costs and a proven commitment to Haiti.
==
lessons learned:
paying for something via text message / phone call isn't new - but using to fund raise is interesting. This has been used to generate profit by some companies that ask you to text to vote on an issue or for a candidate.
Donation via tweet is new.
Facebook apparently has a donation mechanism now. Meetup incorporated a payment method a while ago too. It was set up to help pay for the group or buy tickets, not really high volume.
The power to fund raise is enhanced via viral messages on SNS sites. people forwarding messages and reaching more ppl than a a static site would. This flies in the face of what C4L does with is more about centralized control, single point of message distribution and keeping ppl in compartments based on state.
In a down economy, asking for smaller amounts results in more donations.
viral marketing and for that matter, donation websites can be spoofed. We will probably have to deal with this in the future.
these methods might be able to be expanded to signing petitions. consider a day with several national media appearances, not necessarily by the same person but across networks and in 24 hours doing a poll bomb or a petition bomb with the results on the appropriate reps/senators desks the next day.
-t
