The organization mGive, which is supporting the ability of the American Red Cross to collect donations through text messages for Haiti earthquake relief (and I encourage you to donate $10 now by texting "HAITI" to 90999), has been releasing state-by-state data on giving percentages.
All but one of the five most populous states in the United States (California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois) has, as of this writing, given through text messaging well beyond their proportion of the country's population. Texas, with nearly 8% of the country's population is merely responsible for 6.5% of the donations through texting.
Granted, the proportion of text-messaging individuals in Texas might be lower than other states but, the other most populous states are giving well beyond their populations; Californians gave 15.8% while their population is less than 12%, New York gave 11.8% with a population of 6.31% (way to go New York!), Florida gave 7.2% with a population of just under 6%, and Illinois gave 5.3% with a population of 4.2%. So, bottom line - Texas hasn't stepped up to the text donation plate, have they? Share your thoughts on why this is occurring below...
Comments
As a Texan (and a person of the media) I really resent your remark that has no validity except to base it one ONE area of data..texting.
Churches, civic groups, banks..etc. have set up funds all over the state to call people to action. SHAME ON YOU for basing your calculation on ONE way to donate. The whole world doesn’t use texting as their only way to communicate or donate! Get the facts.
Texans know Haiti is worthless.
I take great offense to your comment. Texting is not the only way to give. I teach World Geography at a Texas high school and our student body collected over $200 as soon as they heard about the quake and have continued to collect more than that each day since. All of the money is going to aid in Haiti. Our students have banded together to make a difference rather than just picking up a phone. Your cynicism and disregard for the many ways to donate just shows how little you use the critical and global thinking skills we are working hard to teach our students.
You’re using a single source and data measurement point to come to a conclusion about the charitable habits of 24 million people? There are thousands of methods to give to thousands of charitable donations worldwide. Did you go to college?
What is this a percentage of? People contributing? Amount contributed? Why is population relevant? Why not average per capita income? So do sharecroppers in The Valley get the blame for not holding up their proportion of this ill-defined “percentage”? Glad to see you changed the title of this from “Shame on Texas” to something less inflammatory, if still statistically illiterate.
I am a native Texan. I have really enjoyed your website but this is the most useless blog I have seen. The other comments are correct, we have given in many other ways than through texting. Please, report something more pertinent to the task at hand.
I am from Colorado and I concur with the previous comments that Roseberg’s selective use of data is misleading, unfair and an inaccurate representation Texan’s participation to assist the Haiti Relief effort. There are innumerable ways for any and all Americans to contribute time, material and money to help Haitians. AboutGeography’s single measuring stick of texting $10 is ludicrous and unprofessional to boot! I donated much more through the RedCross website which I feel is a more reliable avenue for disaster assistance.
Roseberg, instead of creating a nationally divisive issue, use your clout with RC to tell how we as a nation have supported the RedCross efforts in Haiti!
Matt is not accusing anyone of anything, so saying you resent his implications is meaningless. He is just asking for your opinions as to why.
All, I think you’re over-reacting and missing the point …
re-focus your comments, perhaps, on WHY this may be statistically significant or not (the fact that, proportionately, text messaging as a way of donating in Texas is lower) … any reason for that?
Email from Matt (received 1/17 @10:24pm) say:
“Texas Texting Donations Before Average of Populous States
Only Texas out of the five most populous states in the United States (California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois) has, as of this writing, given through text messaging well beyond their proportion of the country’s population.”
Which is it Texas leads or lags…
In any case, we should not focus on this sole site to indicate the percentage of giving. I live in Texas and give though other means such as my church, United Way and other local ministries. Just because the I did not contribute through the site “mGive” does it mean my contribution is meaningless.
Matt, love your site and the information but believe your staff should check the COMPLETE facts before calling out anyone (especially Texans)
Rick
Matt, My church took up a special collection yesterday to be given entirely to a relief organization working in Haiti. The average amount of giving per adult was about $25. I don’t imagine that any of these donators also donated via text msg. I doubt that the number of texters is any lower in Texas, but I would suspect that the number of people who donate through their churches is significantly higher than in the other populous states. I also see that Texas’ number is up to 7.4% as of this writing while California and New York’s are down a bit. Great job on your web site. I look forward to viewing each week.
Thanks for the first-person account and information Dan! I appreciate it!
I wonder if all 100% of text donations go to the fund as the site claims, or they do charge their regular $0.30+ 3.5% per transaction… It would make up a big sum for mgive.
See it is why Texas is the majority of Repblicans and They don’t care and not thoughtfullness about others. They are too self-center and worry too much about taxes. GET A LIFE !
The data is flawed. I’m in California but our donation doesn’t count because we didn’t text it. Shame on you for misleading information. Not everyone who reads this will understand that, and I repeat, your. data. is. flawed.
Matt has been a busy boy since this posted if my email is any indication.
Title: Texas Donations Below Average
People will see that and assume that Texans aren’t donating. They may not read the whole article. It doesn’t matter that you’ve said it was based on texting to ONE source, the title itself is misleading. And yes, I know that’s space explains that but still.
The whole thing is a silly waste of time. Matt has written an interesting article but other sources should have been intergrated into the data to get a clearer picture. …unless mgive is somehow behind the whole thing. You know, to get us talking about them, maybe visiting their site….
Hi Matt
The data on donations by text message are simply not sufficient to make judgements on Texans’ generosity.
There are many ways to support charity. Text messaging is still a relatively new technology. It is used more by some demographic groups than others, for a whole range of reasons. I for one have never heard of donations being collected by text message.
What counts is not how you give, but how much.
I have always found Texans – like most Americans – to be good-natured and generous. Texans probably give just as much or more than the average. They might just prefer more traditional methods, such as donations through service organisations and charities like Rotary and the Red Cross.
Regards,
Mark
The idea of comparing the donations of various states is idiotic. How do you know the manner or the quantity of support that any state has contributed and further more, what does it matter? I usually enjoy reading your articles but your perspective on this issue is not fair and just. Granting donations is a personal issue and shouldn’t be broadcasted all over the Internet. Do you broadcast your generosity each time you give a donation?