Texting Aid to Haiti

I had already donated to earthquake relief in Haiti the old-fashioned way -- by logging onto the Oxfam.ca website (yes, a web-based donation can now be called old-fashioned!) when I heard that you could text donations to 90999. I decided to give it a try, texting the word "HAITI" (without the quotes) to that number. Nothing happened. Then I realized that all the stories and tweets I'd been seeing about it were American-based, so I did a bit of online searching (Haiti text donations Canada) and found that yes, Canadians can text donations for Haitian earthquake relief.

Just text "HAITI" to 45678, you'll send a $5 donation through your Rogers, Telus or Bell Mobility account to the Salvation Army's Haiti relief fund. Rogers customers can also text "Help" to 1291, which sends a $5 donation to Partners in Health "and other relief organizations." Whether texting "HAITI" to 45678 or "Help" to 1291, you'll receive a return text asking you to confirm before the donation goes through.

I'm glad the cell phone networks are doing this, and it's a convenient way to donate. And it's having results -- according to the Sally Ann, they've raised more than $50,000 this way so far. But I also have two issues with it: 1. Your donation goes to one particular aid organization -- the Salvation Army (or Partners in Health if you choose the Rogers option). If you're not comfortable with either of these organizations (and I know many people who have qualms about the Salvation Army's views) you're better off donating by calling the aid organization of your preference or going to their website. 2. The amount of the donation is set. If you want to give more, you'd either have to send multiple texts or donate in a more traditional way.

I'm sure donation texting will improve over time (would it be that difficult to enable one to say, text 45678 with "Haiti $50 Oxfam" or "Environment $100 Greenpeace"? I don't know.) But in the meantime, whatever way you choose, every little bit helps. And if you give your Haiti relief donation to a registered Canadian charity (list here), the federal government will match your donation. But beware of unsolicited email donation pleas. Internet scam artists are out there trying to exploit this tragic situation.