mobile giving

Mobile donations to nonprofits have been stymied in the United States - hampered by the high fees charged for text message gifts that are then billed to a mobile phone customer.

When a donor gives to a nonprofit via text, more than half of the contribution goes to the telephone carrier, leaving less than 50% to the nonprofit, an unacceptable margin for most charities. Combined with low donation caps -- no more than $5 per SMS with a total of five SMS for a $25 donation -- and other charges for short codes and mobile vendors, nonprofits have determined that mobile giving is not worth it.

This is about to change.

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From our colleagues at Donor Digital:

Mobile Text to Give for Amnesty and UNICEF

If you're one of the 100 million people with a PayPal account, now you can use your mobile phone to donate to Amnesty International USA and the U.S. Fund for UNICEF. Just register your cell phone at PayPal, then text AMNESTY to 78787 and you'll donate $10. Text WATER to 78787 and you'll donate to UNICEF.

Imagine you're at a baseball game or a rock concert and you're invited to get out your cell phone and donate $5 or $10. It may be another year or two before this gets big. PayPal's service is brand new and just launched its "Text to Give" tool. Verizon, Cingular, and Sprint take 40% off the top.

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