The earthquake in Haiti was an 'aha!' moment for nonprofits, demonstrating within hours the vast potential to raise money by text messaging. Using a simple five-digit code and the word 'Haiti,' the American Red Cross raised some $2 million in the first 24 hours after the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake -- almost as much as was raised in the previous year by nonprofits with text-to-give programs in 2009. Overall, the Red Cross pulled in more than $30 million over mobile phones for its work in Haiti, setting off a scramble among nonprofits to figure out a way to replicate that success. 'We got calls from thousands of nonprofits wanting to get started with mobile giving,' said James Eberhard, founder of Mobile Accord, whose subsidiary, mGive, was behind the Red Cross' Haiti campaign. 'If you want to communicate with the generation under 30' -- Eberhard is 32 -- 'text messaging is the way to build a relationship, and nonprofit fundraising is all about building relationships,' he said. 'It's not all about the money.' But replicating that windfall is no easy task for most organizations, in particular because the costs of maintaining a mobile donating program can outweigh the proceeds. 'When nonprofits smell money, they tend to jump on the bandwagon without thinking it through,' said Katrin Verclas, a co-founder of MobileAccess, a nonprofit network of people using mobile phones to advance social welfare. 'Mobile giving isn't a magic bullet. It's just one of many tools nonprofits can use.' Texted donations currently are limited to $5 and $10 increments and capped by mobile phone companies at five a month from a single phone. Some nonprofits worry that they will cannibalize gifts that might come in larger amounts through more traditional channels like direct mail and online. Thus far, nonprofits have also had to share the five-digit codes, called short codes, which means relying on donors to remember a particular key word like 'Haiti' or 'aid' to ensure that gifts go to the intended charity. Eberhard said short codes were expensive, about $12,000 each, and so companies can offer only a few to their clients. Perhaps most important, many nonprofits simply cannot afford the kind of promotional campaign needed to publicize mobile giving efforts, nor do they benefit from the kind of exposure that a round-the-clock, disaster-driven news event provides. 'The Red Crosses of the world have the urgency of 'now,'' said Suzy Twohig, director of donor relations at Share Our Strength, a nonprofit aimed at alleviating childhood hunger. 'The challenge for other organizations is to figure out what the 'now' message is and get people to experience that same sense of urgency.' 