mGive Mobile Donations
Alicia Keys’ appearance on the 2009 BET Awards Show Sunday night (June 28) raised more than $130,000 from more than 26,000+ mobile donors who texted their donations. Keep a Child Alive is the non-profit organization co-founded by Keys to provide health care and housing to children with HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.
During Alicia Keys’ acceptance speech for the BET Humanitarian Relief Award, in an impromptu call to action, Keys asked viewers to text ALIVE to 90999 to give $5 through their mobile phones, saying, “Nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something.” Seconds after texting in, users received a message back asking for confirmation. Mobile donors confirmed by replying “YES” via text message. The $5 donation will be added to their next mobile phone bill.
“We are thrilled with the results from Alicia’s shout out. With a ten-second call to action we raised over $130,000 to support Keep a Child Alive’s life saving work,” said Elizabeth Santiso, Vice President for Keep a Child Alive.
This May, the television show American Idol featured Keep a Child Alive. The segment featured Alicia Keys and Rwandan rapper Noah, asking viewers to text in donations. The promotion raised over $500,000 and is the largest one-time amount raised through text donations to date.
Text Message Donations
The mobile donation promotion was powered by mGive.com, a revolution in non-profit giving, creating a new base of micro donors who can give without using cash or credit cards. Other well-known non-profits using mGive include the ASPCA, UNICEF, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, USA Cares, Feed the Children, and the American Heart Association.
Mobile Giving is quick and easy. Over 250 million wireless subscribers can text a keyword correlating to a non-profit organization to a short-code (5 digit phone number) specifically set aside for donations. At the time of donation, Mobile Giving requires no credit card charges, just donation confirmation by text message.
About Keep A Child Alive
Keep a Child Alive is an urgent response to the AIDS pandemic currently ravaging Africa. With 25 million already dead, the disease continues wiping out whole societies, threatening economic infrastructure and devastating the family structure. Antiretroviral (ARV) treatment has transformed the lives of people with AIDS in the West, returning them to health from illness. But few Africans with AIDS have access to these lifesaving drugs. Keep a Child Alive is dedicated to providing ARV treatment to children and their families with HIV/AIDS in Africa and India by directly engaging the public in the fight against AIDS. Please visit our website for more information on the projects we are currently developing and funding: www.keepachildalive.org.
Donors can download a tax deductible receipt of their mobile donation through at www.mgf.me/receipt.
Photo:
http://www.prlog.org/
