With an estimated $43 million contributed via mobile devices in the aftermath of the 2010 Haiti earthquake, 89 percent of donors heard of the Text to Haiti effort on television, and half of donors made their contributions immediately after hearing of the campaign.

These are among the results of a new survey prepared by the Pew Internet Project called Real Time Charitable Giving. Authored by Aaron Smith, senior research specialist, the study shows the characteristics of those who contributed to the Text to Haiti campaign two years later.

The data are from telephone surveys conducted with 863 individuals who contributed money to the Haiti earthquake recovery efforts using the text messaging feature on their mobile phones. Interviews were conducted from Sept. 19 to Oct. 13, 2011.

Some 64 percent of Haiti text donors were female. A relative majority (43 percent) are aged 30-49, but 30 percent were aged 18-29. These donors are predominately white (63 percent) and more than half (52 percent) were college graduates.

“A significant number of these donors are millennials,” said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of the mGive Foundation, in Denver, Colo. “The mobile channel is allowing organizations to take ‘happy bystanders’ and catapult them into ‘spreaders.’ Mobile donors are spreaders, they like to share information and what they’re doing.”

Just under half (43 percent) of the Haiti donors surveyed encouraged friends or family members to make a similar contribution using their mobile phones. Over three-quarters (76 percent) of these “encouragers” say their friend or family member did make a contribution.

Engagement by these mobile donors did not end here. Some 40 percent contributed money to groups assisting Japan after the earthquake in 2011, 27 percent donated money to victims in the U.S. Gulf region following the British Petroleum (BP) oil spill and 18 percent contributed money to groups helping victims of the 2011 tornadoes in the United States. All together, 56 percent of the Haiti mobile donors contributed to one of these events.

“We have organizations who have started these campaigns without asking for donations,” said Snyder, but we encourage them to integrate ‘texting’ into other campaigns. Right now, I think you will see the mobile channel as a cultivation ground, that’s where the real winners are going to be.”

Haiti mobile givers are willing to contribute cash in different ways following their initial text gift. Overall text messaging was the most preferred (25 percent) avenue to donate for these donors, while 24 percent favored web forms, followed by mail (22 percent) and in-person donations (19 percent). Voice calling was the least preferred option with 6 percent of mobile donors.

Half of the Haiti mobile donors surveyed indicated that they contributed money immediately upon hearing about the effort. In addition, 23 percent did not donate immediately, but did contribute within a day. About a fifth (20 percent) waited one day and one week before making a donation and 5 percent waited a week or more.

These Haiti text donors mirrored other Americans when it came to civic/social engagement. Some 41 percent belonged to a place of worship, 26 percent either volunteered or donated to a charitable organization, 24 percent belonged to a community group or organization and 16 percent belonged to a political party or organization.

“Mobile is going to be a critical tool for stewardship as we go further,” said Snyder. With more and more landlines going away, there are two numbers that follow you through life: Social Security number (SSN) and mobile phone number. Collect that number and you can send prospects text messages to gain information."

Share this story

Story tools