Two Years Later: Haiti Earthquake Relief Signals New Age in Charitable Giving

Charles Bentley is an associate in our Washington, D.C. office and focuses on nonprofit and global health communication

Two years ago yesterday, the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti made shockwaves well beyond the small Caribbean country. Hundreds of millions of dollars were poured into the country by foreign governments and traditional charitable organizations. But what was most unique was that a substantial portion of international donations—$43 million to be exact—came from text messaging. The relief effort signaled a new age in social giving.

On this two-year anniversary of the disaster, the “Text to Haiti” campaign has been recognized as a tremendous success, paving the way for integrating mobile devices and text messaging into nonprofit fundraising strategies.

A study released today by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project surveyed these mobile donors to learn who they are, why they donated and their history of mobile giving since the 2010 earthquake.

Below are a few key findings that struck me most:

• The ability to send small donations using mobile phones facilitates “impulse giving” in response to moving images or events. Eighty-nine percent of donors heard about the campaign from their television, and half made their donations immediately upon learning about the campaign.
• Charitable giving in the mobile age by these donors is a social networking activity, but more through in-person conversations than through online tools. Just under half of those surveyed encouraged relatives and friends to make texting donations. And overall, most of these referrals were successful, with seventy-six percent saying their friends and family did indeed make donations to the relief effort using their mobile devices.
• A majority of the Haiti text donors have contributed to more recent disaster recovery efforts using their phones. More than half have made text donations to other disaster relief efforts since the 2010 earthquake.

Visit here to view the whole report produced by Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project.