The Center for Biological Diversity in the US is one example of how a non-profit organization can successfully run a mobile phone campaign. Working to protect endangered species since the late 1980s, in December 2007 the center launched a ringtone campaign featuring many rare species, and the response to the initiative has been huge, according to Peter Galvin, the conservation director at the center.

“We have been featured on major news shows, such as CNN and Fox News, and mentioned in several national and international newspapers, including The Guardian, one of the UK’s leading newspapers,” he says. “People have also been e-mailing their friends about the initiative and blogs have been written about us.”

So far about 90,000 people have downloaded the free ringtones, which include the sounds of the orca whale, Mexican wolf and polar bear, and it is not only people from the US who have shown an interest in the rare wildlife sounds.

“There are lots of people from around the world who feel equally enthusiastic about the issue of protecting endangered wildlife,” Galvin says. “For example, we have had a lot of interest from India and Iran and, in all, we have 150 countries represented on our e-activist list.”

Galvin says the use of the mobile phone platform has allowed the center to operate the campaign at a low cost. “We do not have the money to pay for a full-page ad in the New York Times or advertise on CNN, so we need to find new and innovative ways to get our messages across,” he says. “The mobile phone allows anyone with a good idea and a little bit of skill to make a difference without having to spend a lot of money.”

The initiative has created a lot of buzz around the issue of endangered species. “Now, people think it is a big issue because everyone is downloading these ringtones onto their mobiles, and every time someone hears the sound of a Yosemite toad or Peruvian plantcutter, they will know that this person is speaking out about it,” Galvin says.

Greenpeace is another non-profit organization that has seen the benefits of using the mobile phone to get its messages across.

In Argentina, large areas of forest are being destroyed to plant soy beans, and Greenpeace has organized its local activists to use their mobile phones to pressure the country’s congress to pass a forest protection law.

Oscar Soria, director of communication at Greenpeace Argentina, says the organization has been working to get the law signed for the last two years. “Our approach has been to build the campaign step-by-step and get the commitment of key politicians, and the mobile phone has been an important tool in this process.

“For example, some months ago we asked our mobile activists to send an SMS to a high profile politician. The reaction was huge. More than 1000 people took part in the campaign and, although the politician was not too happy about receiving all the messages, he was open to discussing the campaign with us.”

Soria says that apart from being a cheap and fast way to get its messages across, an important reason for using the mobile phone is because people respond instantly to the call-to-action SMS messages. “It is not the same as using the internet where people can take up to three days to react to an e-mail,” he says.

So far, Greenpeace Argentina has 300,000 mobile activists in its database and as the number keeps growing, Soria and his team plan to continue using the mobile phone in future campaigns. “This is just the beginning,” he says.

Torunn Hansen-Tangen
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