How Mobile Phones Are Saving Lives in the Developing World

How Mobile Phones Are Saving Lives in the Developing World: "In six months, our pilot in Malawi saved the clinical staff 1,200 hours of follow-up time and more than $3,000 in motorbike fuel,” Nesbit says. Further, it doubled the number of patients who were treated for Tuberculosis (TB). Once treated, patient follow-ups were completed by SMS rather than an in-person exam, which saved time, transportation and money.

“We’re looking at how mobile phones can make the health care system and the people working in it more efficient, with the end goal of saving more lives,” says Nesbit. FrontlineSMS:Medic is now known as Medic Mobile and runs off open-source data from OpenMRS, Ushahidi, Google Apps and HealthMap."

Read More >>

Google Research Shows How People Use Smartphones to Help Them Buy Stuff

Google Research Shows How People Use Smartphones to Help Them Buy Stuff: "he research showed where (at home and on the go, mostly) and how people use their smartphones. Interestingly, more people (81%) said they browse the Web on their device than said they use native applications (68%). For ecommerce sites and other businesses, these numbers suggest that investing in one's mobile-optimized Website could be more important than building native apps."

Read More >>

News desk | March of Dimes

News desk | March of Dimes: "WHITE PLAINS, APRIL 13, 2011 - The March of Dimes is among the leaders in online fundraising with the release of its innovative, new iPhone application.

The app, which links March of Dimes supporters directly to their own personal fundraising page, was released just in time for the 2011 March for Babies, the organization’s largest fundraiser, which is held the last weekend in April in more than 900 communities nationwide."

Read More >>

Fundraisers Can Expand Their Reach to Donors with Mobile Websites, Apps : Page 1 of 2 : FundRaising Success

Via Fundraising Success
Fundraisers Can Expand Their Reach to Donors with Mobile Websites, Apps : Page 1 of 2 : FundRaising Success: "[Editor's note: This article is based on Annette Tonti's session, 'ASPCA, Department of State and the Securities & Exchange Commission: How to Create an Effective Mobile Web Operation,' which she co-presented with Giselle Tsirulnik, senior editor of Mobile Marketer and Mobile Commerce Daily, and Ran Farmer, managing director for North America at Netbiscuits, at the DMA 2010 Nonprofit Mobile Dayheld in New York City Aug. 26.]
In the last few years, cell phones have become full-fledged computers with high-speed Internet connections.�This is great news for nonprofits, as it will change the game for enabling distribution to a whole new, growing audience.�There are approximately 4.6 billion mobile handsets in the world — this compared to only about 1 billion desktop computers.�As mobile data plans become affordable, people are quickly becoming aware of how easy it is to get to a browser and, therefore, the Internet on their mobile phones."

Read More >>

Exploring the Brave, New World of Mobile Giving - By Christina Johns : FundRaising Success

Exploring the Brave, New World of Mobile Giving - By Christina Johns : FundRaising Success: "After the earthquake in Haiti, the word “mobile” seemed to take on a life of its own. Like most bright, shiny things, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the success we saw with text-to-donate campaigns for Haiti relief. While bringing the use of mobile devices into the nonprofit world is most certainly a positive step, it still must hold up to the standard critiques given to any new method of communication that an organization decides to test when reaching out to its constituents. Here are a few things to mull over as you add SMS to your nonprofit vocabulary."

Read More >>

Mobile Social Networking Usage Soars [STATS]

Mobile Social Networking Usage Soars [STATS]: "Digital measurement firm comScore released a study today highlighting the rise in social media access via mobile phones and offering some comparison metrics for some of the biggest social networks and their usage on mobile devices."

Read More >>

Mobile Giving: The Haiti Cataclysm

Mobile Giving: The Haiti Cataclysm: "Telethons were struck up. Traditional commercial messaging campaigns on TV, radio, and telephone were launched, but in 2010, a new medium was quickly alighted upon by those innovators in the sector: the mobile giving phenomenon. And as the following stats show, when a crisis occurs, it now pays to have access to a world of people with cell phones, iPhones, Blackberries, and various PDAs.
What’s your 'Shortcode?'

Three short months ago, the Canadian arm of the Mobile Giving Foundation (MGF-C) launched in partnership with the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association to allow Canadian wireless service providers to “enable the 100% pass-through of funds raised by all the mobile campaigns that it manages.'"

Read More >>

Will Mobile Giving Take Off In The Jewish World?

Will Mobile Giving Take Off In The Jewish World?: "Over the course of the past year, a group of volunteers affiliated with The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee’s (JDC) Next Gen initiative has been looking into launching a mobile giving campaign. When an earthquake devastated Haiti last month, suddenly the race was on to get it up and running immediately."

Read More >>

Haiti mobile giving may spark surge in overall SMS contributions

Haiti mobile giving may spark surge in overall SMS contributions: "Manis, a former senior vice president at premium SMS aggregator m-Qube who left after it was acquired by VeriSign, said the huge spike in mobile giving after the Haiti earthquake represents a confluence of multiple factors. First off, a mature mobile giving infrastructure is finally in place. Organizations such as the Mobile Giving Foundation and mGive have integrated directly with all of the US mobile operators and signed up charities across the board, allowing them to not only receive contributions by text, but to set up immediate short code accounts to channel money to specific efforts. Within hours of the earthquake disaster, multiple charities were able to accept mobile donations directly for Haiti relief efforts."

Read More >>