Youth and mobile philanthropy in Hollywood

A new campaign and foundation, launched Sept. 15, is tapping the latest mobile technology for nonprofit giving. Hollywood socialite Nicole Richie and her fiancé, Joel Madden, have announced the launch of the Richie-Madden Children’s Foundation.

The foundation’s aim is to build a playground at Beyond Shelter in Los Angeles.

The concept is rather simple. If you feel like you are in a giving mood, simply text CHILD to 90999. A charge of $5 is added to your phone bill at the end of the month and you are part of a community of texting philanthropists.

The campaign has partnered with MySpace to promote the effort. The domain at http://www.richiemaddenfoundation.com redirects to a MySpace page.

The idea here is that teens and fans of Ms. Richie and Mr. Madden may be inspired to donate money to a worthy cause without the hassle and burden of paperwork, or for that matter, a commitment.

Or is there a commitment?

Imagine you are a parent who has three high school-aged children all duly armed with mobile phones so that you can get a hold of them anytime, anywhere.

The children in turn can text themselves into happy oblivion, keeping in touch with their friends in other classrooms when the teacher isn’t looking.

Do you have that picture in your head?

Well, now imagine what would happen if at the end of the month you receive your family phone plan and realize it’s $10, $20, maybe even $50 higher than normal thanks to your children’s generosity and your pocket book.

How would you react?

Sure you can take away their mobile phones or make them get a job to pay for their own data plan.

But, in reality, shouldn’t the mobile companies offer parents some level of control to prevent their children from spending Mom and Dad’s hard-earned money, even for a cause as noble as Beyond Shelter?

Now just to be clear, I don’t believe you have to take out all the swings and doo-dads on playground parks that could give a kid a bruise.

However, I do believe in allowing parents the right to moderate their kid’s spending habits and mobile phone use.

The target audience of the foundation runs the gamut, from preteen to young adults. This is nothing new when you consider mobile usage demographics.

Encouraging the youth to become philanthropic do-gooders with Mom and Dad’s hard-earned cash runs the serious risk of a backlash from parental organizations that want to control every aspect of their children’s lives.

What is of major importance - marketers listen up - is how mobile technology is being socialized and injected into fundraising and nonprofit arenas in order to tap a young generation.

I can almost hear JFK asking us what we can do for our country and inspiring rapid thumb movement donation.

Mobile is proving yet again that it is not elitist per se, but rather can appeal to a broad base through careful contemporizing of the message, content and mode of delivery. Ask yourself: Are you contemporary, or have you fallen behind the times?

Len Shneyder is director of partner relations and industry communications at Pivotal Veracity, a deliverability services and consultancy provider in Phoenix.