Steelers’ Aaron Smith Promotes Mobile Donations for LLS

Author: Katie Maxfield, August 20th, 2009

Pittsburgh Steeler Aaron Smith has teamed with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) to promote the Organization’s newly launched mobile giving campaign. Smith has reportedly become very active with LLS since his son, Elijah, was diagnosed with Leukemia last fall. At the Steelers’ pre-season opening game against the Arizona Cardinals on August 13, Smith appeared with his son in a 20 second public service announcement video on behalf of LLS. In addition to encouraging Leukemia and Lymphoma awareness, Smith asked fans to donate $5 to the organization by texting LLS to 90999. Mobile donations for LLS are powered by mGive.

View the Public Service Announcement

With the help of Pittsburgh news station KDKA, Smith’s message was not limited to attendants of the game. Prior to the event, KDKA ran a story to commend Smith’s charitable involvement and encourage viewers everywhere to give $5 by texting LLS to 90999. After becoming popular with local media, the campaign was picked up by CNN-SI.com. Visitors to the CNN-SI website that view the video now have the ability to text in donations to LLS.

This campaign is perfect example of how one request for mobile donations can extend beyond the initial ask and move to other media outlets thereby keeping the campaign going though free viral advertising. Yet another example of how mobile giving can be a powerful and effective fundraising tool across multiple media channels.