Text to Give: Any Opportunity for the Fraternal World

Back when the Haiti tragedy occurred, I remembered feeling helpless. I wanted to help as I saw the horrific images from Haiti appear on TV (like the ones below) but I didn’t know how at the time. As I watched the ‘Hope for Haiti Now’ concert I kept seeing text GIVE to 50555 or Haiti to 90999 to donate $10 and the donation would be charged to the user’s cell phone bill.

I had never seen a mobile donation and I thought, “This is how I can help.” I immediately sent a text and donated $10 to a cause I believed in. For the rest of the night, I felt good and I no longer felt helpless.

Fast forward to today, and I can’t help but think about how the text to give campaign was such a brilliant idea. You didn’t have to go to a store or a website to donate; you simply had to have your phone nearby. In this day and age, who doesn’t have their phone near them at all times. I then began to think, what if a fraternity or sorority did a text to give campaign? What if AFA did one? SEPC? AFLV? Respective organizations’ foundations?

Using basic math, image that an organization has 1,000 members and on their respective Founder’s Day, they decide to do a text to give campaign. The organization asks for a $10 donation and if all goes well, $10,000 is raised for an endowment, philanthropy, or for another worthy cause. To my knowledge, no fraternal organization has tried this.

If you are thinking a text campaign may not work, consider that as a result of the Hope for Haiti Now campaign, it was projected that $10 million dollars were raised via text in 24 hours. Not sure where to start? Go to www.mgive.com and they will do all the work for you. In three weeks, mGive processed over $37 million dollars for Haiti. Finally, why not give it a try? I firmly believe that students and alumni of our organizations would donate to a cause if provided the opportunity.

To my knowledge, this has never been done. This is an opportunity. I look forward to reading an article about an organization that takes a chance and raises thousands of dollars via text. To further support the cause, I will donate $10 to the first organization that does a text to give campaign. Not to prove a point, but because I believe in the fraternal movement.