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Archive for February, 2010

Huge 8.8-magnitude quake hits Chile

Feb 27

Posted by Steve Shepherd in causes, fundraising, micro-giving, relief | No Comments

Chile Earthquake epicenter

Location of Chile Earthquake

SANTIAGO, Chile (Reuters) – A massive magnitude-8.8 earthquake struck near the coast of south-central Chile early on Saturday, shaking buildings and causing blackouts in parts of the capital Santiago, 200 miles away.

It struck at 12:40 p.m. local time, the United States Geological Survey said. It occurred about 37 miles underground, relatively deeply, diminishing the phenomenon’s intensity.

Televised images of the towns in the country’s northern region just after the quake showed people running out of buildings, students evacuating schools and a car smashed by the collapse of a roof overhang at the entrance to a hotel in Antofagasta, 105 miles south of the epicenter.
A tsunami warning was issued for Chile and Peru by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and a tsunami watch was issued for Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Antarctica.

Soon after, the U.S. Geological Survey said the quake had generated a tsunami that may have been destructive along the Chilean coast near the epicenter.

The USGS said the earthquake struck 56 miles northeast of the city of Concepcion at a depth of 34 miles at 3:34 a.m./1:34 EST. Its magnitude was initially reported at 8.3 then 8.5.

An earthquake of magnitude 8 or over is classified as a “great” earthquake that can cause “tremendous damage,” according to the USGS website. The earthquake that devastated Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince on January 12 was rated at magnitude 7.0.

According to a 2002 census, Concepcion is one of the largest cities in Chile with a population of around 670,000. The quake knocked out power in nearby coastal areas.

People streamed onto the streets of the Chilean capital, more than 200 miles north of the epicenter, hugging each other and crying, a Reuters witness reported. Buildings shook and there were blackouts in parts of the city.

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Mobile giving opportunities abound. Text donations can be made for Haiti and other relief efforts. Community Aid Relief & Development offers disaster relief around the world. http://www.coaid.org/relief

Update on Mobile Fundraising for Haiti Relief

Feb 3

Posted by Steve Shepherd in charities, fundraising, micro-giving, relief, text2give | No Comments

The Mobile Giving Foundation said it’s processed $35 million in donations so far for relief efforts in earthquake-ravaged Haiti. The Bellevue-based foundation is a 3-year-old nonprofit that enables people to text-message $5 and $10 donations to charity. For example, mobile-phone customers text-message the word “Haiti” to 85944. The customer is billed by the wireless provider, which forwards the money to the Giving Foundation, which sends it to a designated nonprofit agency.

According to the foundation, wireless carriers are advancing payments for relief efforts and dollars contributed so far via mobile donations are already in use by services in Haiti.

Here is a list of many of the relief organizations collecting funds via text donations. MobileGive.us also offers an online giving widget that allows a donor to simply enter their phone number to give $10. See the CoAid giving widget at the bottom of this post.

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FrontGate Media Offers Charities New Way to Reach More, Raise More Through Partnership with MobileGive.us

Feb 1

Posted by Steve Shepherd in fundraising, text2give, text2pledge | No Comments

FrontGate Media; announced today an agreement with MobileGive.us to provide text-based, mobile fundraising strategy and services to the faith-based market.

According to the Mobile Giving Foundation, an astonishing $30 million has been raised for Haiti relief via text donations. That’s a six-fold increase over all of 2009. With 3.6 billion worldwide text message subscribers and more than 60% reported as “active texters,” mobile fundraising has quickly emerged as a critical part of an overall fundraising strategy for non- profits of any size. The ability to connect with audiences at the moment of emotional engagement has proven to be most effective through mobile text messaging (SMS). SMS texts have an estimated 90% or more read rate and offer a highly secure environment for communication without suffering the spam issues that plague email. In fact, McAfee reports that spam constitutes fully 92% of all email.

FrontGate Media’s partnership with MobileGive.us combines the media reach and marketing experience of FrontGate with MobileGive’s deep expertise in mobile fundraising. The resulting partnership enables ministries, charities, and churches to make an immediate leap of growth in both experience and in utilization of one of the top mobile giving platforms available.

“It’s this simple: I like seeing charities increase their revenue. As a media group, we have been consistent in our execution to be technologically relevant. MobileGive’s expertise and services equip us with the ability to serve any charity and increase their revenue stream.” states Scott A. Shuford, CEO of FrontGate Media.