March 24, 2006

Fundraising Through Text Messaging

I came across this fascinating story about the Sweet Relief Musicians' Fund that provides financial assistance for career musicians who are facing illness, disability or age-related problems. (via Textually.org)

One of the ways that this organization raises money is by encouraging people to make $4.99 donations via their cell phones. Donations are made by using your mobile phone's text messaging service and the charge is automatically added to your phone bill.

Justin Oberman of Mopocket blog has an excellent write-up about Sweet Relief Musicians' Fund and how the process of raising funds via text messages works (along with some of its current limitations). He also links to Mobile Accord, a company that has a service called mgive that creates mobile fundraising campaigns for not-for-profits.

Seeking donations via mobile phones has some major advantages over traditional fundraising strategies. The most important one is that you can potentially encourage large numbers of people to act instantly. In addition, just about everybody has a mobile phone and can send text messages.

This program for musicians sounds like a great idea for dancers as well. It might make sense to explore including this type of mobile fundraising capability with on-going fundraising efforts that provide financial support for dancers in need.

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