Blog

Mobile phones aren’t just for calls anymore. Text messaging and web-enabled phones have made it possible for individuals to donate via their cell phone. In this MobileActive/NTEN webinar, we’ll explore how mobile fundraising works in North America from both a user and an implementation perspective. Then, we’ll discuss what it takes to implement a campaign, as well as the challenges and opportunities for using mobiles to augment your fundraising strategies.

WHEN? Thursday, March 6, 3 pm Eastern Time (-5 GMT)
WHERE? Online! > Register Today!

WHAT WILL I LEARN? How a mobile fundraising campaign works, what the challenges and opportunities are, what to expect for a return, and costs and needs to implement a campaign.

Register Today!

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The brightly-colored umbrellas of mobile phone vendors, selling top-up airtime and the use of mobile phones for calls, dot the landscape of urban and rural Nigeria. However, says a new book on mobile phones in Nigeria, cell phones haven't just visually changed the landscape of Africa's most populous country, but have transformed the country economically, socially, and democratically as well.

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Jan. 17, 2008 from BBC.co.uk

If I had told you ten years ago that by the end of 2007 there would be an international network of wirelessly-connected computers throughout the developing world, you might well have said it wasn't possible.

I would probably have said the same, but as it turns out we would have been wrong: it was possible, and it was created, and it continues to expand, not through Non-Governmental Organisations or charity or development grants but through the market, with much of it financed by some of the poorest people on the planet.

I am talking, of course, about the mobile phone network.

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MobileActive has aggregated dozens of videos focused on the use of mobile phones in civil society on our new MobileActive YouTube channel.

The MobileActive channel features playlists about mobile phones used in a variety of different fields. On the Mobile Phones in Advocacy playlist, you can watch videos about Greenpeace Argentina's work to pass the Ley de Bosques (Forest Law) by using mobile phones and an advertisement for FishMS, a South African SMS infoline that allows users to text in the names of fish and get a rating about their environmental sustainability. Watch the Mobile Phones in Global Development channel for videos on mobile banking, the Village Phone program, and the growth of mobile phones in the developing world. Check out the Mobile Phones in Human Rights playlist for a variety of videos of human rights abuses taken on mobile phones, including the mobile videos of Egyptian police brutality by blogger Wael Abbas.

Other MobileActive YouTube playlists include Mobile Phones in Citizen Media, Mobile Phones in Disasters and Relief, Mobile Phones in Education and Learning, Mobile Phones in Elections and Participation, Mobile Phones in Poverty Alleviation, and many others.

Check out the new MobileActive YouTube channel and add your videos on the mobile revolution!

There's a great article about spread of mobile phones in India and Africa on the BBC News website.

For instance, it mentions how migrant Zimbabwean workers in South Africa send money back using M-banking and avoid having to pay bribes to border guards when they go home.

MobileActive releases the first-ever comparison of do-it-yourself SMS campaign tools, designed especially for NGOs. The Guide helps NGOs get started in setting up a SMS campaign and includes a comparison of different SMS campaign software.

Over the last several years, it’s become clear that mobile phones are becoming one of the most influential devices in our social, political, and civic lives. Savvy nonprofit organizations and NGOs are experimenting with using mobile phones as persuasive devices to recruit new supporters, organize groups, and advocate for causes.

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MobileActives in New York! If you read about the folks who organized the Zumbido project which connects people living with HIV/AIDS through an SMS network, come meet them this Friday, February 22 at 5 p.m. We'll meet at the Park Bar, located at 15 E. 15th Street. Click here for a map.

See you there!

Twitter might tell you what the friend of a friend ate for breakfast or when your cousin is doing his laundry. But, charges Nate Ritter, Twitter is way more than a social networking tool used to communicate the mundane details of everyday life. The mobile phone service has potential -- and in fact, has been used in the past -- for emergency communication and response.

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ePractice.eu and The City Council of Barcelona are pleased to invite you to a unique workshop on eGovernment Mobile Services to be held in Barcelona on March 3, 2008.

The objective of this new ePractice.eu workshop is to learn from successful experiences in designing, developing and deploying innovative eGovernment services for municipalities based on mobile phones. A number of relevant cases, all of them based on real experiences in the design and setting-up of services, will be presented to the participants and will be the basis for the discussion and exchange of experiences.

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Limbo, a mobile marketing company, provided three of the U.S. presidential candidates with free mobile advertising. The goal was to measure how voting intentions and perceptions change with SMS advertising.

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