Using mobile barcodes for charity this Christmas

Earlier this year, after disaster struck Haiti, something interesting happened in the mobile industry. For the first time, mass attention was brought to the idea that mobile phones could be used to send money to charities. Canadian company Mobio claims that using mobile barcodes to donate to charity has a lot of advantages over using SMS, and has just launching a major QR Code campaign across Vancouver with Union Gospel Mission.

What’s the story?

Union Gospel Mission is a real grass-roots charity organization in Vancouver. It reaches directly out into the community, collected aid and giving a helping hand to the homeless and those in need. This Christmas, it will be using QR Codes from Mobio as a way to let people donate money to the charity.

How does it work?

Union Gospel Mission will be placing the codes in strategic locations around the city, including bus stops. Someone with the Mobio app on their phone (iPhone or Android, with Blackberry en route) can scan the barcode, and their phone will automatically redirect to a landing page for the organization. From there, the giver can decide exactly how much they want to donate.

Why Mobio?

Mobio claims that it’s system overcomes a lot of the complaints that have been made about SMS donations:

SMS donations are typically very small pre-set amounts, around $5 or $10 – with the mobile landing page, the user can choose to donate however much they want.

SMS donations are run through the mobile operator. This leads to a long wait time for the payment to be processed, and the operator takes a 30-40% cut of the amount donated. Mobio uses credit cards to process their money. So the transaction time is immediate, and the “operator cut” doesn’t exist. Union Gospel Mission was particularly pleased about that last point. In an interview with CNW, UGM’s Derek Weiss said “if an organization our size used text-to-donate, about three dollars out of every ten donated would go to fees. But with QR codes we pay about 3%.”

What we think?

There are ups and downs to an implementation like this. Running the system through credit cards does mean more of the money gets to the charity, and cuts down on wait time. However, it also requires the donator to input their credit card details into a mobile phone service, and people get skittish when you do that. There’s also the issue of Mobio being an app-based service. If you don’t have an iPhone or an Android, you can’t use this service.