Looking Forward to Increased Mobile Giving

It’s no surprise. You see it when you walk down the street, shop in a mall or wait at the airport. You see it everywhere. The number of smartphone users dramatically increases year after year. Not only that, but the growth in terms of time spent on these phones is on track to quickly outpace time spent on "traditional" computers. For many of us, the smartphone is already the CPU of choice.

In Australia, the number of mobile subscriptions is expected to rise from 24.04 million this year to 26.27 million in 2013 and increase even more to 27.99 million in 2015 based on figures from mobileSQUARED. In Canada, financial filings by Rogers indicate that 37 percent of its subscriber base is smartphone-equipped, a 9 percent increase from 2009. In the U.S., The Nielsen Co. reported that in the third quarter of 2010, 28 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers have smartphones.

The numbers from the U.K. are the most impressive however. According to comScore, smartphone adoption has grown by 70 percent to 11.1 million subscribers over the past year. The U.K. is the market leader in the European Union over France, Germany, Spain and Italy. These stats show a tremendous increase in smartphone users over the past year alone with only increasing numbers for the future.

It's important to look at these behavioral trends to see how mobile will help your nonprofit connect with supporters and raise funds. Several successful and high-profile text-to-give programs demonstrated to the NPO sector the true power of mobile giving. All of us took note of the Haiti text-to-give programs earlier in the year. Mobile donations are expanding rapidly beyond the text-to-give mobile donation roots. Despite some publicized drawbacks of these programs (lower gift amounts, NPOs having to wait to receive funds, not receiving donor data), in some cases these programs have demonstrated the power and potential of mobile-based fundraising.

In addition to text-to-give, there are other modes of online mobile-based giving that are evolving rapidly – specifically, mobile Web and app-based fundraising efforts. Organizations are now commonly setting up mobile donation forms, which allow donors to give online using smartphones. These Web forms detect whether the form is being viewed via smartphone or PC. Either “big browser” or mobile Web pages are returned depending upon the device used to access the site. Unlike text-to-give, there is no limit to how much you can donate using the mobile Web. In fact, at Artez Interactive, we have seen mobile-based donations match with average standard Web donations. Charities also can choose their own payment gateways and edit their own messages and images on the donation forms. On top of that, donors no longer have to wait for their phone bills; they are instantly sent receipts through e-mail.

If your charity wants to take it one step further, there are now mobile apps that can be downloaded onto your smartphone. For example, you can use the iTunes app store to download the app onto your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. These apps are used for events or campaigns to help leverage existing content and allow their supporters to interact with the campaigns through their mobile phones.

These apps can keep your supporters up to date with news regarding the campaign. They enable them to share videos, blogs and podcasts. They also allow them to fundraise and solicit donations, and to engage on social media. Social media was and still is an important tool for all types of organizations. With the growth of mobile users it makes sense to combine mobile and social media to further help your organization.

Your charity can either choose to build its own mobile app or buy one. The price of a custom-built app can range from $15,000 to $50,000, or you can choose a standard app for a lower price.

There are four things to consider before investing in a mobile app and deciding if you should build your own or buy one:

1. What resources do you have available? Does your charity have the internal personnel, skills and budget to manage the project?
2. What is your timeline? How fast do you need to launch? Does your event or campaign run for a long or short period of time?
3. Does your campaign have unique needs that require it to be customized?
4. What is your scalability? How do you plan to manage the mobile app in the long run?

As you plot your fundraising strategy for 2011, it will become important to give some thought to how and if mobile giving might fit into your overall planning. Some of you are already well down the path on this, and you no doubt will continue to blaze the trail for the sector. Others will want to find a way to get started with some form of text-to-give, mobile Web or event-fundraising app. Getting into the mobile fundraising "game" is easier and less costly than you might expect.

Will this be critical for most of us in 2011? Probably not, but it makes sense to get started as it’s a good bet that in the years to come, mobile giving will emerge as an important channel for fundraising and supporter engagement.

Mark Sutton is president of Artez Interactive.