Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
redcross.org
Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
1–10 of 58 posts
Re: Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
#2has this method of collection been tried before? if not I'm guessing this is an untapped goldmine for the right entrepreneur: set up charities with simpler donation vectors.
Re: Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
#3Unless they're getting a deal on their payment processing for being a charity, I'd suggest taking the extra minute to go to their website. Credit card payments will cost them less than fifty cents of that $10. Cell phone providers charge much more.
Also, while charities love to use current events to drive fundraising appeals, their current disaster is almost universally paid for by funds they collected months ago. If you're going to give, give smart. (Relatedly, this is why sending non-monetary goods after a major disaster is perhaps less effective than you might wish it would be.)
Re: Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
#4Unless they're getting a deal on their payment processing for being a charity, I'd suggest taking the extra minute to go to their website. Credit card payments will cost them less than fifty cents of that $10. Cell phone providers charge much more. Also, while charities love to use current events to drive fundraising appeals, their current disaster is almost universally paid for by funds they collected months ago. If…
Out of curiosity, do you have any idea what cell phone providers DO charge for these types of payments?
Re: Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
#5has this method of collection been tried before? if not I'm guessing this is an untapped goldmine for the right entrepreneur: set up charities with simpler donation vectors.
I'm pretty sure "text FOO to ##### to give $n" has been done before, I think as far back as Katrina.
Re: Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
#6Unless they're getting a deal on their payment processing for being a charity, I'd suggest taking the extra minute to go to their website. Credit card payments will cost them less than fifty cents of that $10. Cell phone providers charge much more. Also, while charities love to use current events to drive fundraising appeals, their current disaster is almost universally paid for by funds they collected months ago. If…
are you certain that they aren't figuring in costs and billing you for $10+rates? while that would mean the end customer pays more, it does mean they would be getting more than a paypal donation.
Re: Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
#7Unless they're getting a deal on their payment processing for being a charity, I'd suggest taking the extra minute to go to their website. Credit card payments will cost them less than fifty cents of that $10. Cell phone providers charge much more. Also, while charities love to use current events to drive fundraising appeals, their current disaster is almost universally paid for by funds they collected months ago. If…
Out of curiosity, do you have any idea what cell phone providers DO charge for these types of payments?
That depends on your agreement, locality, and what provider you're doing business with, but if you're thinking 30 ~ 50% you are probably in the right ballpark.
Re: Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
#8has this method of collection been tried before? if not I'm guessing this is an untapped goldmine for the right entrepreneur: set up charities with simpler donation vectors.
I was more curious about the business of the middleman in this process, and I looked into it earlier today. This particular short code operator, mGive (http://www.mgive.com/) focuses on charities and was launched 2 years ago. I'm guessing this is their first big exposure.
Wikipedia has the basics of setting up a new short code: "Common short codes in the U.S. are administered by NeuStar, under a deal with Common Short Code Administration - CTIA. Short codes can be leased at the rate of $1000 a month for a selected code or $500 for a random code." (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_code)
More info here: http://www.mmaglobal.com/shortcodeprimer.pdf
Re: Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
#9Unless they're getting a deal on their payment processing for being a charity, I'd suggest taking the extra minute to go to their website. Credit card payments will cost them less than fifty cents of that $10. Cell phone providers charge much more. Also, while charities love to use current events to drive fundraising appeals, their current disaster is almost universally paid for by funds they collected months ago. If…
are you certain that they aren't figuring in costs and billing you for $10+rates? while that would mean the end customer pays more, it does mean they would be getting more than a paypal donation.
Well, think that one through: if your advertisement says "Text 12345 to 45678 to donate $10 to the Red Cross", and you do so, and then your itemized cellphone bill says "Red Cross: $20", what is your reaction likely to be?
Merchants foot the bill for transaction costs to encourage transaction volume. It is the same reason I quote my prices as $29.95 not "$29.95 plus whatever your credit card costs me to process."
Re: Send a $10 Donation by Texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999
#10Unless they're getting a deal on their payment processing for being a charity, I'd suggest taking the extra minute to go to their website. Credit card payments will cost them less than fifty cents of that $10. Cell phone providers charge much more. Also, while charities love to use current events to drive fundraising appeals, their current disaster is almost universally paid for by funds they collected months ago. If…
Cell phone providers charge much more.