Real Time Charitable Giving

Why mobile phone users texted millions of dollars in aidto Haiti earthquake relief and how they got their friendsto do the same

Aaron Smith

, Pew Internet Project, Senior Research Specialist

January 12, 2012Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project1615 L St., NW – Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036, 202-419-4500 | pewinternet.org

Supported by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation

pewinternet.org/mobilegiving

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KeyFindings

TechnologyisincreasinglyrelevanttoAmericans’monetarycontributionstothecausesandorganizationstheysupport.PreviousresearchfromthePewResearchCenter’sInternet&AmericanLifeProjecthasfoundthatoneinfiveUSadults(20%)havemadeacharitablecontributiononline,andthatoneinten(9%)havemadeacharitablecontributionusingthetextmessagingfeatureontheirmobilephone.MobilegivingplayedanespeciallyprominentroleduringtheaftermathoftheJanuary2010Haitiearthquake,asindividualdonorscontributedanestimated$43milliontotheassistanceandreconstructioneffortsusingthetextmessagingfeatureontheircellphones.Thisnewmodeofengagementoffersopportunitiestophilanthropiesandcharitablegroupsforreachingnewdonorsundernewcircumstancesasmessagesspreadvirallythroughfriendnetworks.Atthesametime,itposesnewchallenges,includingtheuncertaintyinfund-raisinggroupsaboutwhetherthesenewdonorswillremainengagedoncetheymaketheirdonation.Inanefforttomorefullyunderstandtheworldofmobilegiving,thePewInternetProject,inpartnershipwiththeBerkmanCenterforInternet&SocietyatHarvardUniversityandthemGiveFoundation,andsupportedbytheJohnS.andJamesL.KnightFoundation,conductedthefirstin-depthstudyofmobiledonors.Thisreportonthosewhogavetothe“TextforHaiti”campaignisbasedontelephonesurveyswith863individualswhocontributedmoneytotheHaitiearthquakeeffortsusingthetextmessagingfeatureontheircellphones,andwhoconsentedtofurthercommunicationsatthetelephonenumbertheyusedtomaketheirdonation.Themarginofsamplingerroris±3percentagepointsbasedonHaititextdonorswhoconsentedtotheseadditionalcommunications.Amongthekeyfindingsofthisresearch:

Theabilitytosendsmalldonationsusingmobilephonesfacilitates“impulsegiving”inresponsetomovingimagesorevents

ForasizeablemajorityoftheHaititextdonorssurveyed,theircontributiontoearthquakereliefwasaquickdecisioninresponsetoimagestheysawontelevision,andinvolvedminimalbackgroundresearch.Thevastmajorityofthesedonors(89%)heardabouttheTexttoHaitieffortontelevision,andhalf(50%)madetheircontributionimmediatelyuponlearningaboutthecampaign.Anadditional23%donatedonthesamedaytheyheardaboutit.Inadditiontoconductinglittleresearchbeforemakingadonation,mosthavenotpaidcloseattentiontotheongoingreconstructioneffortsinHaiti—43%havebeenfollowingtheseefforts“nottooclosely”and15%havebeenfollowingthem“notatall”.Moregenerally,three-quartersoftheHaititextdonorsinthissamplesaythattheirtextmessagecontributionsusuallyresultfromspur-of-the-momentdecisionsthatdonotinvolvealotofadditionalresearch,while21%saythattheyusuallyresearchtheirtextcontributionsbeforehand.Onlinedonationstendtoinvolvemoredeliberation,ashalfofthesedonorssaythattheytypicallydoalotofresearchbeforedonatingmoneyonline.

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ThetypicalHaititextdonorinoursurveywasafirst-timemobilegiverwhomadeasinglecontributiontoearthquakereliefusinghisorhermobilephone

Three-quarters(74%)ofHaititextdonorsinthissurveywerefirsttimemobilegivers,meaningthattheircontributiontoearthquakereliefwasthefirsttimetheyhadusedthetextmessagingfunctionontheirphonetomakeacharitablecontribution.Overall,80%ofthemobilegiversinoursurveydonatedtotheearthquakerecoveryeffortsusingonlytheircellphones—andnotusinganyothermethodssuchasonlinecontributionsorin-persondonations.AboutathirdofthemmademorethanonecontributionforHaitireliefusingtheirmobilephone.

AmajorityoftheHaititextdonorsinoursamplehavecontributedtomorerecentdisasterrecoveryeffortsusingtheirphones

MorethanhalfofthedonorssurveyedhavemadetextmessagecontributionstootherdisasterreliefeffortssincetheirHaitidonation.Twoinfiveofthesedonors(40%)textedadonationtogroupshelpingpeoplelivinginJapanfollowingtheMarch2011earthquakeandtsunami,27%textedadonationtogroupshelpingpeoplelivingintheUSGulfregionfollowingthe2010BPoilspill,and18%textedadonationtogroupshelpingvictimsofthe2011tornadoesintheUnitedStates.Takentogether,56%ofHaitimobilegiversinoursamplemadeacontributiontoatleastoneoftheseevents.

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(43%)oftheHaititextdonorswesurveyed,encouragedtheirfriendsorfamilymemberstomakeasimilarcontributionusingtheirmobilephones.Overall,mostoftheseeffortsweresuccessful—76%ofthese“encouragers”saythattheirfriendsorfamilymembersdidindeedmakeacontributiontoearthquakereliefusingtheirphones—andnon-whitesandyoungdonorswereparticularlylikelytospreadthewordamongtheirfriendnetworks.Althoughtechnologyhelpedfacilitatetheirinitialdonation,thedonorswesurveyedweremorelikelytospreadthewordabouttheircontributionthroughface-to-faceconversationsthanthroughonlinemeans.Ofthosewhoencouragedafriendorfamilymembertocontribute,75%didsobytalkingwithothersinperson,and38%didsoviavoicecall.Bycomparison,34%encouragedotherstocontributebysendingatextmessage,21%didsobypostingonasocialnetworkingsiteand10%didsoviaemail.

Thesemobilegiversarewillingtomakedonationsinanumberofways—butprefernottodosobymakingaphonecall

Althoughdonatingtoorganizationsorcausesusingtextmessagingoffersadvantagesintermsofspeedandconvenience,themobilegiverswesurveyedaredividedwhenitcomestotheirpreferredtoolformakingcharitablecontributions.Overall,textmessaging(favoredby25%oftheseHaititextdonors)andonlinewebforms(favoredby24%)aremostpreferred,followedcloselybymail(favoredby22%)andin-persondonations(favoredby19%).Voicecallingstandsoutfromthepackasthe

least

preferredoption: just6%oftheHaitimobilegiversweinterviewedprefermakingdonationsoverthephone.