Text for Haiti

Filed in archive Inspiration on December 18, 2009

© ClickFlashPhotos / Nicki Varkevisser


We've all watched, horrified as the news replays over and over again footage of the devastation in Haiti. It's constantly on the news, in our blogs and discussed on the radio. Followed by the heart-wrenching tales of woe we hear the rallying cry of community, and finally the request for charity and aid.

For the average person, there's only so much you can do during a crisis of this magnitude. Not all of us have skills that would assist people in Haiti, or even have the means to get there if we could. No, the thing that the media keeps stressing is to help by providing whatever money we can.

This started the first worldwide effort I've ever seen using text message donations. The Red Cross began listing a short-code number and asking people to text the word "Haiti" to it on their commercials. Of course news casters picked this up and repeated it on their programs as well. By texting to 90999, your cell phone company will add a $10 fee to your bill (a similar system exists in the UK: Text "GIVE" to 70077 to donate £5 to the DEC for the Haiti earthquake appeal. You pay £5 plus your standard network SMS charge). So in essence the phone company sends the money to Haiti and bills you for it at the end of the month.

Besides text being a new twist to the way people give, it's the first time a charitable donation technique has really made sense for Generation Y. An article at MediaPost talks about how even online giving through websites and social media haven't made the same impact as the Red Cross's text efforts. The current numbers show just the US contributing over $11 million in text donations.

Is mobile donation finally the charitable language made for the children of the baby boomers? It's probably too soon to tell, but this may be the non-profit of the decade.

Have you donated yet to the efforts in Haiti? Check out the other ways to help through the DEC.