Information Age Donating

Breast Cancer Awareness bracelet
Originally uploaded by Jamilary

In researching a Breast Cancer charity to donate a portion of the proceeds of my Breast Cancer Awareness bracelet to, I discovered this: the Susan G. Komen for the Cure® allows you to donate to breast cancer research via text messaging. Cuh-razy! Seriously. From its website:

With a simple text message, you can make a $5 donation to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® by simply texting the word “KOMEN” to 90999. Each $5 donation will be added to your next mobile phone bill.*

You can donate the $5.00 amount up to 5 (five) times per monthly billing cycle.

More than the simplicity that this method of donating offers, what I really appreciate is the Foundation's transparency. Most people recognize that it's impossible for 100% of donations to go directly towards the charity's mission. Running a non-profit costs money. Within the not-so-fine print, the Foundation lets you know that $4.25 of each $5 donation will benefit the charity directly. This newfangled technology still amazes me.