Text Giving: A Tool, Not a Miracle

I'm not the most handy guy around, so, for the safety of my family, I don't have a lot of power tools. But a while back, I got a drill. I needed to make small, round holes in some things, and the drill helped me do it with great efficiency and a lot of cool noise. I loved that drill. It made holes in nearly anything I wanted to put a hole in. A kind of drill rapture overtook me. I saw that drill as the most elegant tool in the box. So much better than those boring hammers and screwdrivers.

Before long, I started to think of new ways to use the drill. Things didn't go well at all when I tried to use it to give the cat her medicine. (Note to cat owners: Don't even try it. Every other cat-medicine tool on the planet is better than a power drill.) It really came to a crashing end when I tried to use my power drill to wash the windows.

I learned a lesson that day: No matter how great a tool is, it has limitations. A lot of nonprofits could use that lesson when it comes to fundraising tools — especially the shiny, new tool of mobile text giving. An astounding amount of money was raised in January for Haiti relief through text giving. The American Red Cross alone raised about $30 million. Several other organizations did well, too.

Before you knew it, nonprofits large and small (and their eager consultants) were scrambling to implement text-to-give. It was like a gold rush involving angry Chihuahuas and hyperactive punk rockers.

What I'm trying to say is that it was frenetic and kind of weird. It seems you're just one big loser if you don't offer text-to-give.

Results, to put it mildly, have varied. Most new owners of text-to-give experienced only a trickle of revenue. Others did better.

But what few of them noted was the impact of their text-giving campaigns on other giving channels. I think if they had, the gold rush would have faded away like an overplayed Top 40 song. Here's the problem: If you use text-to-give improperly, you'll end up trading away involved, ongoing donors for anonymous, one-time, 
no-connection, low-dollar gifts. The revenue lost (or rather, the revenue never seen in the first place) adds up faster than a cat running from a power drill.

What text-to-give does well

That's not to say text giving is a bad tool. It does one thing better than any other fundraising medium: It quickly reaches and gives outlet to an army of young people when it's stirred to action. The key point is young people.

These folks overwhelmingly aren't (yet) donors. That will come, if it comes at all, some time after they turn 50. For now, each $5 or $10 you get from them via cell phone is money you would not have collected other-
wise. As long as those gifts come from an audience of nondonors, you're getting 10 bucks instead of zero every time someone uses it.

But here's the washing-windows-with-a-drill part: If you pushed just one person to give via mobile who otherwise would have given by any other medium, you lost a rather large bunch of money. (See sidebar.)

I have to wonder how many of those 300,000-some text donations that went to the Red Cross could have been $90 Web gifts that also meant warm bodies who just might give again some day. How many people scratched their philanthropic itch with a quick, anonymous 10 bucks — when they might have happily gone online and joined the ranks of connected and considerably more valuable donors?

There's no way to find a factual answer to that question. But it should haunt the dreams of the Red Cross and every other organization that makes big use of text-to-give.

And here's the other thing: While it might look like millions of dollars magically appeared in the books of the Red Cross, that's not quite how it happened. The Red Cross has a unique brand that places it top of mind when disasters strike. That's a position few other fundraisers have. Can you get Michelle Obama to tell everyone in America to text a gift to your organization? Would you be one of the three or four organizations being mentioned by millions of Facebookers and Twitterers? Each organization that raked in text gifts in January had an over-the-top brand presence, mega-celebrities pushing it or disciplined marketing strategies to get its text number out there. Usually all three.

Ways to use text giving

● Retail. If you have a commercial or retail partner that reaches a large and general audience, it can promote your offer with text-to-give as the call to action. That could generate revenue that's not otherwise coming your way.

● Events. At an event, where you have an involved audience and a clear avenue for collecting more sizeable gifts, you could use text-to-give to motivate extra giving for something specific on top of the main ask.

● Celebrities. If you have a celebrity spokesperson who doesn't appeal to folks older than 60, having him or her promote text-to-give probably makes a lot of sense.

Remember, the power drill may be a failure at medicating the cat, but it's still super at making small round holes in things. So, keep your eye on text giving. It's a changing medium, and the limitations 
are likely to change or even go 
away over time. But for now, keep your wits about you and use it 
carefully. FS