Real Time Charitable Giving – Why mobile phone users texted millions of dollars in aid to Haiti earthquake relief and how they got their friends to do the same – Aaron Smith, Pew Internet Project, Senior Research Specialist
“Charitable donations from mobile phones have grown more common in recent years. Two thirds (64%) of American adults now use text messaging, and 9% have texted a charitable donation from their mobile phone. And these text donors are emerging as a new cohort of charitable givers. The first-ever, in-depth study on mobile donorswhich analyzed the Text to Haiti campaign after the 2010 earthquakefinds that these contributions were often spur-of-the-moment decisions that spread virally through friend networks. Three quarters of these donors (73%) contributed using their phones on the same day they heard about the campaign, and a similar number (76%) say that they typically make text message donations without conducting much in-depth research beforehand. Yet while their initial contribution often involved little deliberation, 43% of these donors encouraged their friends or family members to give to the campaign as well. In addition, a majority of those surveyed (56%) have continued to give to more recent disaster relief effortssuch as the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japanusing their mobile phones. These are among the findings of a new study produced by the Pew Research Centers Internet & American Life Project and Harvards Berkman Center for the Internet & Society, in partnership with the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the mGive Foundation.”
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