Calling All Millennials: Get Out Your Mobile!

Today’s guest blogger is the Case Foundation’s very own Megan Stohner, our resident mobile enthusiast. Megan keeps us up to speed on the latest trends in mobile technology, and today she introduces us to some exciting developments in the world of mobile giving.

As a Millennial I think my favorite tool is my mobile. It’s my alarm clock, my land-line, my post-it note, my filofax, my road-map, my to-do list, my grocery list, my camera, and my laptop — oh yeah and now with the blackberry curve, it’s my discman too. With each week that passes, I feel like there is more and more that I can do from my phone.

However, there is one major activity that I cannot accomplish easily from my mobile phone and it drives me nuts. That activity is mobile giving. I can go to a concert and send a text message that shows up on a jumbo-tron. I can vote countless times for David Cook on American Idol. YET — when it’s time to give to my favorite musician’s charity or donate during “Idol Gives Back” — I’m always being told to go get my computer and get online. Finally, that’s all about to change.

A year ago, you couldn’t text-to-give without about half of your money going to your mobile carrier rather than the nonprofit it was intended for. Now, thanks to the Mobile Giving Foundation and a bunch of other folks and organizations that are dedicated to making this happen, mobile giving is starting to become a reality, one campaign at a time.

This coming weekend, a ground-breaking text-to-give campaign is launching right here in the District of Columbia. Children’s National Medical Center has partnered with the Washington Nationals to fight pediatric diabetes. There are a few ways to be a part of this very cool, very cause-worthy campaign, and they are ALL fun.

If you live in DC and like baseball you can give back just by buying a ticket. If you go through this link, $15 will go towards Children’s. Even better, you can get involved next Sunday no matter where you are by texting your $5 donation.

I’m not saying that results from mobile giving are going to be huge right away, but I think any tool that makes an action fun and easy will eventually help catalyze that action. Online giving is quick, but mobile giving is a piece of cake. If you’re an avid texter, you can probably give to your favorite charity in under 10 seconds using your mobile phone.

Now that’s making giving easy! :)

Want to learn more about using mobile for good? Check out MobileActive.org.