Teleton 24-Hour Fundraising Telethon Raises $245,000 in Text to Give Donations

Participation television Text to Give is big winner for Teleton—$245,000 in additional donations raised for Children’s Rehabilitation Centers in Latin America.

Featured Client: Teleton

Since 1997—on the first weekend of December—Teleton holds a worldwide PTV telethon on Una Vision for rehabilitation centers for disabled children across Latin America. Teleton’s mission is “To provide knowledge about physical disabilities, giving a strong message about respect, equality and support to people in these conditions.” Each year the fundraising goal is to raise the previous years total plus one Mexican Peso. The 2011 slogan was “Let’s Walk Together.”

During this years PTV event many Latin American actors, musicians, athletes, politicians and celebrities promoted the fundraising campaign for disease treatment and physical therapy in children’s hospitals. During this emotional broadcast viewers learned how they could help kids with disabilities walk, talk, play, smile and reach their dreams.

To increase donation amounts in the United States—Teleton partnered with MobileCause to create a Text to Give fundraising opportunity where viewers could easily make up to three $10 text message donations by texting TELETON to 80888 – in which donations were charged directly to donors cell phone bills. Text to Give helped Teleton raise an additional $245,000 from American viewers during the 24-hour fundraising campaign.

In addition to the Television broadcast—the Text to Give opportunity was virally promoted across facebook, twitter, tumblr and other social networks by supporters. See example Tumblr post from Javiar Hernandez Balcazar—futbol forward for Manchester United and Mexican National teams.

Learn more about MobileCause fundraising and engagement tools for nonprofits.