Cell phone users in the United States contributed more than $10 million to Haitian earthquake relief through text messages in the first week after the earthquake hit. The Mobile Giving Foundation called it a “mobile-giving record” for funds raised for a single cause. Jim Manis, CEO of the foundation helping to manage cell phone donations, said it was receiving up to 10,000 text messages per second.

Cell phone users can donate $5 to Haiti-born hip-hop musician Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund by texting the word “Yele” to 501501, or they can donate $10 to other nonprofit organizations, such as the American Red Cross, by texting the word “Haiti” to a specified number, like 90999. The donation is charged to a user’s cell phone bill. The actual donation is made after the user pays the wireless bill.

The American Red Cross said that of the $37 million it has raised for Haitian relief efforts, more than $8 million has come via mobile phone users. “It’s unprecedented that we’ve received this amount,” said Nadia Pontif, a spokeswoman for the Red Cross.

Wireless carriers Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile have waived fees for customers wishing to send mobile donations. Carriers are also letting users know they are not taking a cut of the donations. “There are no text messaging fees and 100% of the $10 donation goes to the American Red Cross,” Verizon said in a statement.

Manis said Mobile Giving is working with wireless carriers to decrease the lag time between when a cell phone user makes a donation and when the funds arrive at a charity. Donations can take 90 days to be delivered to a charity.