At the United eWay National Conference in Nashville,Tennessee which ended yesterday the United eWay (a wholly owned subsidiary of United Way of America) announced it will launch a new suite of advanced mobile communication and fundraising products to compliment its existing technology offerings. Utilizing SMS text messaging the United Way will provide a platform for cutting edge constituent interaction for corporate philanthropic initiatives, its parent organization, and third party non-profit clients thus making them one of the first non-profits to whole hardily embrace the mobile medium.

"With the potential to reach approximately 200 million cell phone users in the U.S., this new technology will allow the United Way and our United eWay clients to connect with constituents, acquire new donors, and dramatically extend their overall reach through this vital new channel," said Michael Schreiber, Chief Executive Officer of United eWay. "This aligns perfectly with our mission to bring advanced technological solutions to local United Ways, their partners and their customers."

The first phase of United Ways going mobile will launch in August 2006 and will focus on volunteer management and disaster relief. My sending the message JOIN to o 864833 (UNITED) mobile users will, for example, be able to opt-in to a permission based text alert program that informs the user about about ongoing volunteer opportunities in their community or how to help in the event of a disaster.

The United Way will also be taking advantage of PSMS with a focus on mobile fundraising. In this scenario, which I have written about exclusively here on PDF will have the chance to instantly react to fundraising appeals and confirm their donation by simply sending a text message. The charge for the donation appears on the donor#039s regular monthly cell phone bill.

"Mobile technology sets the stage for true impulse giving by removing traditional barriers such as communicating credit card information or writing a check. Cell phone users are empowered to act anytime, anywhere at the moment an appeal has top of mind awareness," said James Eberhard, Chairman of Mobile Accord, Inc, the premier provider of mobile technology to the non-profit sector as well as the company powering the United Way#039s mobile platform.

Users would simply be instructed via United Way television, radio, print and other outreach and marketing efforts to text "GIVE" to 864833 (UNITED) or something like that. Users can elect to make it a one time contribution or elect to have a rolling monthly gift added to their cell phone bill.

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