Peninsula Daily News News Services
NEW YORK — Americans who are turning to their cell phones to donate money via text message for Haitian relief efforts have pledged more than $20 million as of Monday, an unprecedented amount for mobile donations.
The Chronicle of Philanthropy estimated Monday that donations to earthquake-ravaged Haiti now exceed a record-breaking $150 million, more than four times the amount given to tsunami relief efforts in 2004.
Social networking sites like Facebook and mobile phone technology have made it easier for charities like the American Red Cross — which has raised $12 million via text message alone — to raise these needed funds.
A number of other relief groups have been added to the accepted list of organizations that can receive text message donations from customers of the four main wireless carriers in the United States — Verizon Wireless, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, said Jim Manis, chairman and CEO of the Mobile Giving Foundation (www.mobilegiving.org).
Cellphone users can donate $5 to Haiti-born hip-hop musician Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund by texting the word “YELE” to 501501, or they can donate $10 to other nonprofit organizations, such as the American Red Cross, by texting the word “HAITI” to a specified number, like 90999.
The donation is charged to a user’s cellphone bill.
You may be charged a normal text-messaging fee, depending on your cell phone plan.
“One hundred percent of your donation goes to the recipient charity,” said Manis.
The foundation said within the first 36 hours after the Jan. 12 quake, “donations made via mobile phones for Haiti earthquake relief . . . surpassed $7 million” to several relief organizations.
The Bellevue, Wash.-based nonprofit group has worked with the country’s four major wireless carriers to arrange for the text-message donation program.
Jeffrey Nelson, Verizon Wireless spokesman, called the campaign “the largest outpouring of charitable support by texting in history — by far.”
“In all of 2009, all mobile giving (via texting) to all charities totaled just under $4 million for the year,” he said.
Credit card fees
Meanwhile, credit card companies are being urged not to charge processing and transaction fees to credit card contributions made to Haiti earthquake relief and charity efforts.
Visa said in a statement that it has donated $200,000 to Haitian earthquake relief and was waiving transaction fees for donations to 11 charities doing work on the island, including the American Red Cross, Save the Children and Oxfam America.
Mastercard has given $250,000 and is waiving fees to seven charity groups helping earthquake victims.
That list include the Red Cross, Save the Children, the United Way and Doctors Without Borders.
American Express also gave $250,000 and is not charging fees for donations to groups listed on the USAID Web site as doing work in Haiti.
Discover has only agreed to forgive its transaction fee for the American Red Cross.
This is the first time Discover has done so, though the company raised millions of dollars for Hurricane Katrina and September 11 relief efforts through a cardmember matching program.
The credit card companies have come under scrutiny after the earthquake and credit card donations from Americans began to flow to relief groups.
The liberal MoveOn.org group said it wants the credit card companies to waive fees for all donations to Haiti earthquake help, not just for certain groups.
It estimates that American banks and credit card companies now make profits of about $250 million a year by keeping 1 percent to 3 percent of charitable donations as a transaction fee or handling charge.
No deductions
Cell phone carriers are letting users know they are not taking a cut of donations texted by their users — and vowed to expedite donations to charitable groups helping Haiti.
Verizon Wireless said it sent nearly $3 million to the American Red Cross on Friday, “representing dollars pledged by texting customers,” even before collecting the money pledged by its users.
Sprint said it normally takes 30 to 60 days to transfer the contributions from customers to relief agencies. But because of “the overwhelming support from our customers to the relief efforts, Sprint is donating a bulk [80 perecent] of the committed dollars immediately.”
In addition to texting ‘HAITI’ to 90999 for a $10 donation to the American Red Cross, other organizations receiving text donations include the Clinton Foundation Haiti Relief Fund (text “HAITI” to 20222 to donate $10) and the International Medical Corps (text “HAITI” to 85944 to donate $10).
Text “HAITI” to 52000 to donate $10 to the Salvation Army; “HOPE10” or “UNICEF” to 20222 to donate $10 to UNICEF; and “HABITAT” to 25383 to donate $10 to Habitat for Humanity.
Donors are advised to use caution and research who they are giving to — several texting scams have already popped up, and the FBI says scam artists have also set up Web sites for fraudulent charities.
A list of groups approved by the Mobile Giving Foundation is at www.mobilegiving.org.
The text message donations come as an increasing number of corporations and celebrities announce aid for the devastated country amid a clamor for help from victims of last week’s quake.
Actors Sandra Bullock, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have donated $1 million to Doctors Without Borders, which has been tending to victims of the quake.
