nonprofit makes it easy to donate, offset carbon emissions anywhere, any time via text messaging

From Springwise, a new favorite, I learned of a wise move from the World Land Trust, which is allowing consumers to use text messaging to donate small amounts to offset carbon emissions: "Every time a consumer texts 'WLT CARBON' to number 87050 (within the UK), World Land Trust will offset 140 kilograms of CO2 through its Carbon Balanced Program. The program regenerates rainforest, which not only helps remove CO2 from the atmosphere, but also provides habitat for endangered species....Users can create accounts that keep track of their sms donations." The cost to the consumer, on top of regular texting charges, is 1.5 GBP or $2.84 U.S. dollars.

Says the World Land Trust, on a page about the offsets, "We want to make it as easy to offset unavoidable emissions as we can, which is why we have created an sms service to provide offsets by using a mobile phone. So whether it is flight to Paris, a birthday party or a weekend away, now you can offset emissions anywhere and anytime."

I don't know much about text-messaging fundraising, but this campaign seems a bit different from efforts to raise money through SMS for victims of the tsunami, Katrina, and 9/11. Those campaigns offered a great convenience to donors wanting to respond immediately to a sudden disaster. This one is positioning itself as a long-term campaign to encourage regular giving of small amounts as consumers become increasingly mindful of the effect of their activities on the environment.

If you have ideas about other circumstances in which text-messaging campaigns would be appropriate or if you know of successful campaigns, please share your thoughts in the comments section.