Mobile

Winter is rapidly approaching, and you are probably busy finalizing your end-of-year giving plans. Have you considered using mobile as a way to tie it all together? The first thing many people think about when it comes to mobile is text donations.  Mobile can indeed be used to ask donors for contributions, but limiting mobile to that narrow role is like using the Internet just for e-mail. The Internet has many uses — and so does mobile.

The mobile Web is often discussed as a future trend that nonprofits have time to prepare for, but the reality is that by the end of 2014, the majority of your supporters and donors will be viewing your website, e-mail communications,  blogs and social-media content on smartphones and tablets. In truth, the mobile Web is already here. Going mobile will not be free and for many small nonprofits a costly upgrade, but to successfully communicate your mission and programs and fundraise online in coming years, it is a necessary investment.

Does it make sense to encourage people to text to give NOW when they're reading your message in a place with no signal?

At JustGiving, we’ve been monitoring the increasing power of mobile fundraising and its impact on social media since early 2012, when stats revealed huge growth in this area. There has been much excitement as we have now hit the inflection point of mobile internet users exceeding desktop users.

In this article, we share our latest insight and explore the trends and data that make social and mobile a non-negotiable part of any charity’s online fundraising strategy.

In this webinar we discuss the fears surrounding mobile & text-to-give, interactive websites, and video… and how to overcome them.

Many people compose their e-mails for desktop viewing, while mobile viewing is simply an afterthought. However, you should be doing just the opposite. Mobile screens have more viewing limitations than desktops, and you don’t want to risk a large percentage of your recipients not being able to effectively read your message — especially when there are some minor, simple changes you can do before sending to make your e-mails more mobile-friendly.

Getting people to support their causes is a challenge many nonprofits face. However, the nonprofits that can mobilize a strong supporter base gain an increased ability to sustain funding and the means to spread a wider net of impact. Traditionally, building a supporter base has meant that organizations were simply good at spreading the word, but the advent of social and mobile technology has changed all of that.

How often do your supporters tell you that they want to hear more from you? What impact are your social-media efforts having on fundraising? Which solicitation methods leave your donors feeling great? The 2013 annual mGive Text Donation Study provides the answer to these questions and shows that text donations remain an overwhelmingly positive experience for donors. Supporters are increasingly finding out about text donation campaigns through social media. In addition, donors want to get more information about you through text messaging.

The mGive Foundation, the public charity supporting U.S. mobile donation campaigns, released its annual mGive Text Donation Study, a one-of-its-kind survey of text donors. The survey’s findings demonstrated both the durability of text donations and the growing integration between social media and text-based communication between nonprofits and their donors.

An executive from The Humane Society at Mobile Commerce Daily’s fourth annual Nonprofit Mobile Day said that as the nonprofit sees more than 30 percent of traffic coming from mobile devices, the company is taking a platform-agnostic approach to its Web content. The executive presented a look at the nonprofit’s mobile strategy during “The Humane Society of the United States: The Mobile Journey to Save Animals” session. The session also included a look at what the nonprofit has planned for the remainder of 2013.