Text donations: the future of charitable giving?

By Kate McCarthy

The 2010 Text for Haiti campaign started a new means of giving back to charity, donating via text message.

Other charities have tried the same thing, without the same success, leaving people wondering if this type of donating is the future of charitable giving, or if the Haiti campaign was a one time sensation.

            According to the Pew Research Center, 75 percent of those who donated to the Text for Haiti campaign felt that it was a spur of the moment decision, with 50 percent donating immediately upon hearing about the campaign. That meant donors did little background investigation on where the money was going and how it was going to be used.

 These impulse donations may have been prompted by images on TV  showing the damage from the earthquake, said Stonehill College Communications Professor Angela Paradise.

 “Visuals are incredibly powerful, especially when they show real life devastation. When they show people in trouble, especially young people, that can really open people up and get them to donate,” Paradise said.

Being able to text a donation is also innovative, she said.

 “At that time we had all of these visuals and sound clips that pulled at people’s heart strings. Combined with the ease of texting to donate really attributed to the success of the campaign,” Paradise said.

Meg Lewis, a Stonehill sophomore, and some of her family members, were among the 75 percent of first time mobile donors who gave to the Haiti campaign. The images played a major role in Lewis’ decision to give.

“I think that the commercial that gave you the number to text showed really jarring images, so I felt persuaded to text,” Lewis said.

Lewis said texting donations could be the future for charities.

 “Our society is based on things that are easy to get to and very accessible. Donating to charity the old fashioned way, actually sending in money, is just less convenient than being able to text a number,” Lewis said.

 However, some think it can only work in a crisis.

“When people really need the help, like in a natural disaster, I feel like that’s when people will text. But I don’t think everyday type of charities would benefit from it as much,” sophomore Samantha Rose said.

 Charities like the Make-A-Wish Foundation and Susan G. Komen for the Cure set up text based donation campaigns, but not with the same success as the Haiti campaign.

 The Susan G. Komen foundation received more than $300 million in public donations this past year. However, income from text donations was so small, that it was not even mentioned in their annual reports. Their most notable sources of income were from mail in donations, sponsorships and race entry fees.

The same goes for the Make-A-Wish foundation. According to annual reports, the foundation received over $100 million in public support last year. Yet nowhere in the reports was there a mention of text donations.

Sophomore Sarah Figalora, of Massapequa Park, New York, said the average person does not initially think to text a donation. “I think when people want to donate to charity they want to do something active and physical, like volunteering or physically giving money,” Figalora said.

 Charitable donations still come by mail from people and foundations, since only nine percent of US adults having actually sent in a text donation, according to the National Center for Charitable Statistics.  However, if you do decide to donate via text, the Better Business Bureau recommends that you research the charity before giving, that way you know where your money is going and who it will be helping.
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