Consumer Group Criticizes Cellphone Fund Raising

A consumer group is criticizing a new program that allows cellphone users to donate to the American Red Cross via text message, saying the arrangement’s requirement that donors be charged standard messaging rates in the process is a business strategy, reports The New York Times.

The Text2Help program raised $100,000 after Hurricane Katrina, the first event it was promoted to help. Participating cellphone companies allow their customers to donate $5 per text message sent to 2HELP, the paper reports. But only one company has decided to donate its usage fees to the charity.

“If you want to contribute $20, you have to send four text messages and you’ll be billed for four text messages,” said Jamie Court, president of the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. “These contributions are structured so that consumers who want to give more pay a higher price for doing so.”

The head of the Wireless Foundation, a charity created by the industry, cited antitrust concerns as the reason carriers could not waive the service fees for the donation text messages. And a spokesman for AT&T Mobility, one participating company, compared the text-message fee to using a stamp to donate through the mail.

A Red Cross spokesman told the Times that the organization welcomes any form of donation.

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