We have seen them, info-like commercials with movie stars (like Sally Struthers) in Africa showing us poor, starving and disenfranchised children and telling us that by donating as little as dollar a day we can change the lives of these children forever. As a reward for our compassionate hearts you also receive letters from the children thanking your for helping improve their world. Some of them are scams, some of them re not. This is for the ones that are not.

Ewan J Maclead over at SMSTextNews has a great article about the benefits of tapping the resources of the mobile medium and turning this type effort into a mobile campaign.This is only a prototype idea and not yet full conceived so all the material you see what created by Ewan as a mockup. The idea is simple. A giant billboard like the one bellow is created and displayed in heavy commuter areas like train stations, subways airports etc.... The poster invites you text the child#039s name. Texting "Sophie" to the designated short code will donate $1.50 each week on her behalf and will appear on your next monthly phone bill. t the end of a month you are looking at an extra 6 bucks on your phone bill. Which, Ewan, points out is "Nothing. Nothing when you blow £3 on a ringtone. Nothing when, in reality, itss your company that pays the bill. " And nothing when you consider that it is for a good cause.

But it does not stop there. After the donation is done you go bout your day and week until suddenly youll get interrupted by a text message letting you know how little Sophie is getting on somewhere in Africa.

Ewen even has a great summary of how this is extremely cost effective and quite a money maker for the charity.

I would also like to take this a step further, Ewen, and suggest that we integrate the platform into the booming cell phone growth on the continent. As you may have heard, people in Africa use mobile phones to transfer money and minutes to one another to give money to parents or to buy things. If that type of transfer could be tapped we could bypass the whole "carriers taking a chink of the change problem."

But, perhps, we could also give a cell phone to the child to receive and send SMS themselves? Just a dream.

Anyways, check out Ewan#039s article at SMSTextNews

Also check out these related articles:

TXTForCash: Fundraising Comes To Your Phone

http://www.personaldemocracy.com/node/866

Ban The Seal Hunt: TXT "Ban It"

http://www.personaldemocracy.com/node/865

Technorati Tags: africa, sally struthers, sms, world vision

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