Mobile Giving; Collaboration Haiti

The tragedy in Haiti once again reminds us life is painfully heartbreaking and wildly ,deliciously inspiring.

The fact is over 3 million Haitians have been affected by the earthquake and there have been tens of thousands, and estimated hundreds of thousands of casualties.

Life is heartbreaking.

On the other hand, within minutes of the disaster photos were coming in over Twitter and within days Mgive helped the Red Cross raise over 8 Million dollars in text donations. In $10 increments cell phone owners have been texting the number 90990 and typing in the word Haiti.

Previous to the Haiti disaster the Red Crosses largest text donation drive totaled $190,000 in donations.

Which brings me back to the statement that life is also deliciously inspiring. Make no mistake no amount of donations offset the tragedy and yet I am inspired by the outpouring of donations and the power of mobile to provide a real time platform for people around the globe to commit resources to this disaster.

Perhaps we are witnessing what might be possible if we unleash the human spirit, technology and good social ventures. Perhaps we can be the change we so desperately need in this world.

How might I might further leverage the power of the technology I’m surrounded by combine it with all my networks, friends, associates at work and play to create an even more synergistic collaboration for good…

Collaboration transforms.

Oh and yes, I am musing over a few lessons for business; convenience, speed and mobile engagement.

How convenient you are? How simple is it to engage with you? Can clients engage with you on their mobile phones? Are you responsive? Is speed one of your strategies? People’s phones are as important as their PC’s, mobile is here and growing and it needs to be simple to execute. When you make it simple you invite engagement.

And yes, speed….it is a strategy…sometimes.

Pam Hoelzle