JANE SPONAGLE
BIZ/TECH REPORTER

The disaster in Haiti has shown the efficiency of using text messages to make charitable donations, but there are some drawbacks to the practice, a Humber expert on charitable giving said.
“There is a serious risk text fundraising could result in less connection with charities,” said Ken Wyman, co-ordinator of fundraising and volunteer management, a one year post-graduate certificate program. “In some cases it’s quite clear that texting a specific number makes a donation to a specific charity.  In other cases, the money’s being shared between several charities and it’s hard to develop a loyal connection on that basis.”
Phone carriers are often slow to give the name of the donor to the charities, Wyman said.
“It can be as much as 30 days before that information is transmitted. That makes it harder for the charity to send a thank you note and to build a longer term relationship with donors,” he said, “which is obviously very important to us as charities.”
There can also be a slow turn around in getting the funds from the mobile carrier to the charity.
“As far as I know, it can be up to a month or a little bit longer, up to 90 days,” said Ulana Bochnewicz, 24, a first-year fundraising and volunteer management student at Lakeshore Campus.
Mobile donations in Canada are distributed to charities through the Mobile Giving Foundation.
“One hundred per cent of donations will go to charity.  Carriers will take nothing out of that donation,” said foundation president and CEO, Jim Manis.
Manis said he is impressed with Canada’s response to mobile giving since it arrived here in September 2009.
“In the last month and a half, I can tell you that the money raised in Canada through text messaging surpassed the money raised throughout the United States for an entire year of operation,” said Manis.
Donations through mobile giving in Canada have reached over $500,000 for the Haiti relief effort.