Keep A Child Alive and Alicia Keys Raise $40,000 Through Mobile Donations During U.S. Concert Tour

Keep A Child Alive and Alicia Keys Raise $40,000 Through Mobile Donations During U.S. Concert Tour

During Alicia Keys' As I Am Concert Tour fans donated to Keep A Child Alive by Texting 'ALIVE' to '90999'

NEW YORK, July 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Eleven-time Grammy Award winner Alicia Keys launched one of the first text message donation campaigns in the U.S. to benefit Keep A Child Alive. During her As I Am concert tour, Keys took a few moments out of each show to show a clip from her film Alicia in Africa: Journey to the Motherland and to invite fans to donate $5 using their mobile phones. By text messaging the word 'ALIVE' to shortcode 90999, thousands of fans donated on the spot to Keep A Child Alive, helping support the organization's crucial efforts in communities affected by AIDS in Africa.

The mobile giving campaign proved to be a viable new fundraising channel for Keep A Child Alive with close to 8,000 fans donating over $40,000 to combat the African AIDS Pandemic.

"Texting can provide a way to give at that instant when we are moved, rather than later when life takes over," said Alicia Keys.

"For many people, this was their first encounter with mobile giving and it came through Keep A Child Alive, which has always been a cutting-edge, progressive organization," explained Leigh Blake, Co-Founder and President of Keep A Child Alive. "I'm convinced that the ease of mobile giving helped us receive many contributions we might not have gotten otherwise."

"The launch of text message donations marks a true milestone in the world of philanthropy," said James Eberhard, Chairman and CEO of Mobile Accord. "Mobile giving creates a system where instead of raising millions of dollars from 5 or 10 people, nonprofits now have the ability to instantly raise individual donations of $5 or $10 from millions of people. This was demonstrated during the Alicia Keys concert series with our mGive platform, as we saw between 6-12% of the audience use their phone and participate."

The new mobile giving channel is enabled by the Mobile Giving Foundation (MGF), a new 501 C 3 tax exempt nonprofit that manages mobile giving standards and donor interaction, qualifies charities, and distributes donated funds. The Mobile Giving Foundation is pioneering mobile giving with the support of major wireless carriers, charities, sponsors and service providers.

"This is a true turning point in the history of the wireless industry," said Jim Manis, founder and CEO of the MGF. "Not only are we at the forefront of wireless giving but we are fortunate enough to be partnered with Keep A Child Alive, an organization as skilled at promoting giving as it is at combating AIDS. This is a remarkable partnership that underscores the personal nature and value of mobile technology in empowering consumers to make a difference in the world."

Keep A Child Alive Mobile Donation in-venue promotions focused on text-based calls to action (Text ALIVE to 90999 to Give $5) found on big-screen displays, in-venue signage, print material and retail merchandise. Keep A Child Alive and Ms. Keys now focus their appeals to fans and supporters online by utilizing the Social Giving solutions provided by mGive. With the custom flash widgets and Facebook Giving Application, Keep A Child Alive can now maximize its online reach by integrating giving into social networking channels.

About Keep A Child Alive

Keep A Child Alive is a charitable organization committed to accelerating action to combat the global AIDS pandemic. With more than 28 million dead and 15 million orphaned, the disease continues, wiping out whole societies, threatening economic infrastructures and creating tragic family devastation. KCA provides life-saving medication, social support, and orphan care, to keep these children and families alive. We also develop global awareness campaigns targeted at boosting funding for the fight against HIV/AIDS. For just a dollar a day, you can help save the life of a child or a parent who cannot afford essential treatment and care in some of the world's poorest countries. http://www.keepachildalive.org/

About Mobile Accord

Mobile Accord is the leading provider of mobile technology to non-profit organizations with its mobile donation platform mGive that allows organizations an end-to-end solution for managing mobile donations with integration into social networks and web donation collection tools. For more information visit: http://www.mobileaccord.com/ or http://www.mgive.com/.

About Mobile Giving Foundation

The Mobile Giving Foundation is enabling the mobile channel for charitable giving by providing the organizational layer, operational guidelines and technical infrastructure for nonprofit organizations and donors to use the incredible power and convenience of mobile technology. For further information, please refer to the MGF Web site at http://www.mobilegiving.org/.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Keep A Child Alive

CONTACT: Tony Aiello, Senior Vice President of Mobile Accord,
+1-303-531-5505, taiello@mobileaccord.com; or Elizabeth Santiso, Vice
President of Keep A Child Alive, +1-718-965-1111,
elizabeth@keepachildalive.org

Web site: http://www.keepachildalive.org/
http://www.mobileaccord.com/
http://www.mgive.com/
http://www.mobilegiving.org/

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Profile: International Entertainment