South Africa, Oct. 12 -- For the Joy of Giving Trust, the NGO behind the Santa Shoebox project, SMS is more than a communication channel. It helps a lean, seven-person team coordinate thousands of donors and recipients, keep Santa shoeboxes moving and ensure that promises made to children are kept.

Every year, thousands of South Africans make a promise to a child they may never meet, to fill a Santa Shoebox with gifts and essentials and deliver it to a designated drop-off point on specific dates and times. The Santa Shoebox Project distributes around 80,000 shoeboxes annually, while also running a growing education and school-building legacy programme in some of South Africa's most under-resourced rural communities. From its very first 1...