Text Message Donations Should Embarrass MGive and Red Cross

According to a NY times article,the Red Cross has raised $2M in donations for Haiti disaster relief through text messages.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/1-million-in-donations-for-haiti-via-text-message/?src=tptw

The article also states that the funds take 90 days.  90 days.  90 days to get to the Red Cross.  That's sometime in April.

On top of that - MGive takes 3.5%.  (CORRECTION from the article - “In the case of the Haiti disaster, however, Mr. Aiello said the company had elected to waive all software and transaction fees."  Admirable if the impetus was to truly help and not just capitalize on the publicity).  And although it is not clear, your cell phone company takes a cut as well.  So my guess is, of the $5 that you texted, probably $2.50  will make it to the Red Cross by April.  Whoopty - freaking - doo.

So,lets review what's happened so far.  Mgive has made $70,000, cell phone companies will make a few hundred thousand, and the Red Cross will get nothing till the Spring time.

If you actually want to your donation to  be useful immediately, just donate on the Red Cross website.  They should have your money in 2 days.  Or, better yet, get in a row boat and hand them the $5 yourself.  You should be able to get to Haiti in 90 days.

Give me a break.

It's not that mobile donations are not promising but now is not the time for beta-testing.  Seriously?.  What if International relief took 90 days to arrive?  Is that acceptable?

The RedCross should be embarrassed.  And Mgive and their CEO Aiello really look like vultures here.  It makes it look like they are in their offices rubbing their palms together and praying for the next disaster. 

Comments

[Stephen Joos- mGive]

I am with mGive. 100% of the $10 donation is passed through to Red Cross. We have waived all of our fees. We are currently working on shortening the payout window with the carriers. The New York Times article you cite explains this.

I request a correction in your blog post. Thank You.

For the latest updates, follow us on Twitter- @mGive

[Syam Buradagunta]

Stephen - thanks for the note and clarification. It's nice that you are working on shortening the window but with the level of urgency in Haiti, it would be more responsible to push other, more efficient, giving channels. Maybe you could test your stuff out on campaigns that don't need the money yesterday.

[Stephen Joos- mGive]

Syam- Are you going to correct the inaccuracies and misinformation in your post?

[concerned]

If you actually read the NYT article you refer to you will discover that mGive is waiving all of its fees. Processing time and/or charges from cell phone providers may be issues, but you should try to report accurately. What you also neglect to mention is that while there is obviously an immediate need for emergency relief, three months from now when most of us have all but forgotten the quake, there will still be desperate need for on-going assistance on the ground and relief efforts will certainly be able to make use of another influx of cash they would otherwise have a hard time raising.

[Syam Buradagunta]

that's a good point "concerned." thanks for the comment.

[Syam Buradagunta]

i've added the correction to the post. thanks for the comments.

[Marcus]

Another correction: all cell phone carriers are waving fees. AT&T and Sprint said no initially, but now they've relented.

http://consumerist.com/2010/01/att-and-sprint-are-making-money-off-of-your-text-message-donations.html

[Syam Buradagunta]

nice PR move and not really a correction. judging from the comments on the link you posted - I'm not the only that has issues with this. thanks for the comment.