15 Mobile Fundraising and Mobile Marketing Takeaways

Doug Stovall

• "ISIS Inc. is an organization that talks about sexually transmitted diseases with young people. It wanted to roll a database to communicate with young people to educate. It built a database and kept hearing from students that they'd like to be able to find the locale of local clinics. So it developed a system where students can text to a short code and what comes back are clinics in the area."
• "We do a lot with NPR. … We hit people with traffic alerts, text messages for donations, taking them to the call center through mobile, etc. It's generating money to help reach goals at a time when funding to NPR can be in jeopardy."
• "If you utilize mobile, it has to be integrated and tagged across all your channels and platforms. You can find affordable mobile. It's more about you wanting to get into mobile. You need to believe in mobile. It's here, people are using it and the engagement is unbelievable. If you as an organization believe in mobile, you'll be successful with mobile. It doesn't matter if you're the American Cancer Society or a small community organization. You can do phenomenal things if you're committed."

Jenifer Snyder

• "We just completed a study: We surveyed mobile donors to see why they used mobile, how often the want to communicate, etc. Do mobile donations cannibalize other donations? No. Giving through direct mail or online will not be affected by giving $5 or $10 via mobile. Some say they'd like to give more via mobile. The majority would like to hear monthly, if not weekly, from organizations they're involved with."
• "The reasons donors gave for why they made mobile gifts is because it's convenient and they had positive experiences."
• "Haiti was a wonderful tipping point — we saw the power of microdonations — but it skewed perceptions and expectations. Mobile is not just for raising funds. It's for engaging and communicating with donors."
• "Through mobile you can send monthly alerts; daily tips; once-a-month asks for $5, $10, $25 donations; ongoing support and cultivation."
• "Eighty-five percent of texts are read within 15 minutes. It's a really powerful tool."

John Styers

• "No matter who you work with, every message has to go through the approved folks like mGive or Mobile Giving."
• "Mobile is about emotional reaction to engage very quickly, catching donors when they're ready to make that donation and not waiting for them to take an action."