Solving the Mobile Giving Puzzle

If you're like most people working at a nonprofit, you probably had a "Holy Mobile!" moment in January 2010, when an outpouring of donations followed the devastating Haiti earthquake. This, you expected.

But what you might not have anticipated was that $41 million flowed through mobile phones via "premium text messages." The Red Cross received 4.1 million messages valued at $10 each, 95 percent of which were from first-time donors.