Text-message fund-raising tools helped charities collect millions of dollars after the Haiti earthquake.

What lessons can fund raisers for all kinds of causes learn from this response?

Wendy Harman, social media manager at the American Red Cross, and Geoff Livingston, chief marketing officer at Zoetica Media, discuss the opportunities and drawbacks associated with this emerging fund-raising tool.

Learn how the American Red Cross used text messages to raise more than $31-million for its Haiti disaster-response efforts and find out why text messages are not yet a worthy tool for all nonprofit groups — especially those with small budgets.

(Running time: 13:50)

Related Resources

Charities' Text-Message Success Shakes Up the Fund-Raising World

Social-Media Lessons From the Haiti Relief Effort

Mobile Giving Foundation

Allison Fine, a nonprofit leader and expert on technology and communications, discusses how charities and foundations can more effectively use social-media tools to spread their messages and raise money. Ms. Fine will incorporate suggestions and questions from readers into her podcasts and invites you to send e-mail messages to her at afine@demos.org. Look for new installments on the first Thursday of every month.