Mobile

Adjusting to mobile is about more than just making your website readable on a smartphone or tablet. It's about adjusting and helping donors and supporters who are mobile, as in moving around, checking their phones in public places, and responding to destractions. It's not just about the tech, but also the human behavior in this always online world.

Scanning QR codes with a mobile device is one of the most popular ways to donate money. I’m on a mission to discover all the different ways you can scan-to-give. As a cause marketer, I’m especially interested in how businesses and nonprofits are using QR codes to trigger giving. Here are four ways QR codes let your donors scan-to-give, their advantages and disadvantages, and how real-life businesses are using them.

It’s probably safe to say that 2013 is the year where mobile optimization will become mandatory. Designing mobile-friendly Web pages has been a really good idea for quite some time now, but it’s becoming increasingly important. An estimated 1.7 billion consumers will access the Web through a mobile device this year, a figure which surely includes some of your prospects. Here’s how to make sure your content is perfectly mobile optimized.

How is the health of your direct-response program? Did you resolve to get your fundraising operation in better shape in 2013? What does your equipment look like? Are you offering your donors choices? Giving them the avenues to achieve their philanthropic goals?

The ease and convenience of using mobile technology — combined with the extraordinary communications and networking potential of social media — will enable nonprofits to engage potential donors and grow their revenues at a pace never before experienced.

Ted Hart speaks with Jed Alpert, co-founder and CEO of Mobile Commons, in this archived episode of his Nonprofit Coach radio show.

A growing number of charities are seeking year-end gifts by reaching out to donors with mobile apps. While few nonprofits expect to raise much through the apps, they hope the tools will serve them well in the future by appealing to younger, smartphone-savvy donors. Here’s how Hunger Relief International, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Environmental Media Association and Carter’s Kids are using apps.

The ability for supporters to donate via cell phones is having a significant impact on the campaign finances of both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama during the final months of the presidential race. A recent study by the Pew Research Center finds that 10 percent of donors to these campaigns have contributed through a text message or cell phone app. The study found 15 percent of Democratic donors made donations with their mobile devices compared to 6 percent of Republicans.

Pontiflex Inc., the mobile sign-up ad platform, announced that nonprofits and organizations with a social focus account for more than 10 percent of campaigns on the AdLeads mobile sign-up advertising platform. Organizations benefiting from AdLeads, such as DoGoodBuyUs, nycTIES, Missing Autism and ChangeForGreen.com, are involved in a variety of initiatives — from connecting eco-friendly charities with donors to helping build an organic rooftop garden that will be used to create opportunities for people with barriers to move toward economic independence in New York City.

United States consumers will soon be able to donate to their presidential campaign of choice by texting a keyword to a short code on their mobile phones for the first time.

Text donations were expected earlier this summer but were held up by the wireless carriers — key participants in the programs — as they sought legal protections over fraud and profitability. Both the campaigns for Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have reportedly said the capability will be enabled soon.