Donate to my Political Campaign: Send me a Text

Bob Bentz    Premium SMS     candidates, fundraising, political, premium sms

Mitt Romney won’t even have to answer his phone to receive future text message donations.

2012 is shaping up to be a political battleground and now the newest weapon for political fundraising is the candidates use of text messages to earn money for political campaigns.

Certainly, the Obama’s are familiar with using text messages to make money.  Mrs. Obama appeared on national television in prime time to help raise money forearthquake victims in Haiti for the Red Cross.  The non-profits made money through viewers sending a text message to a short code using technology that Advanced Telecom Services’ offers called premium sms.

Both Senator Romney and President Obama believe that making donations via text message will allow middle class citizens to be able to give money to the campaigns through a convenient method that’s as simple as sending a text message.  Both candidates had submitted letters in support of the use of text message donations to their campaigns.  One would have to think that, given equal promotion, the Democratic candidate stands to gain more through this new and unique political fundraising effort.

With premium sms for political candidates, consumers will text a keyword to a 5-digit short code (for example, text ROMNEY to 84444).  Upon receipt the sender will receive a text message back that confirms the cost of the text message.  When the sender replies in the affirmative the charge is attached to the sender’s cell phone bill.

Most of the political text messages will be for $10.  If the user contributes $200, the company will need to cap the donations per phone number.  It could also send the political registration documents to the consumer to allow them to continue to contribute above and beyond the $200 figure.

PAC’s (Political Action Committees) should really be intrigued by the text message donation option, but they will need to cap the anonymous donations at $50 per month as the law requires.

Political candidates are going to love receiving donations via this convenient method.  The only thing that they won’t necessarily like is the ultimate payout.  The carriers are the ones doing the billing so they are going to expect the majority of the money, close to half.  The mobile marketing company, also known as a service bureau, handling the accounts will also get a piece of the action.