I don't text message and wouldn't donate through it if I did, but check it out. Attracted my attention because of HSUS' use of it. S <http://www.nptimes.com/09Mar/npt-090315-col1.html> Mobile fundraising not ringing off the hook Teleton, a Mexico-based charity that helps disabled children, used Mobile Accord's mobile donation program, called mGive, during a 24-hour telethon airing in the United States. The telethon aired on a cable channel with nearly 5 million U.S. subscribers and in one day 15,232 mobile donors gave more than $76,000. "It's dollars that they wouldn't have had otherwise," said Tony Aiello, senior vice president of business development at Mobile Accord. The more than 15,000 mobile donors slightly edged out the online response, with 14,879 donors giving through the Web. Online donations reached more than $732,000 but mobile donations are limited to $5 for each donation. The bulk of Teleton contributions, $3.5 million from nearly 180,000 donors, came through telephone calls. "For some people, their phones are an appendage of their own hand," said Grace Markarian, online communications manager for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). And some organizations are tapping into that huge wireless market via short message service (SMS), more commonly known as text messaging. With some text messaging campaigns, donors can just reply to a short code they are given and confirm a donation that will be added to their phone bill.. Monthly text messaging in the U.S. reached the 75 billion mark in June 2008, compared to 7.2 billion in June 2005, according to CTIA, the international association for the wireless telecommunications industry and more than 262 million wireless subscribers in June 2008. Text messaging gives technology-savvy people the opportunity to make a fast, easy donation, according to Aiello. Social networking sites that accept donations, like Facebook's Causes application, require a relatively cumbersome information form that requires name, several contact addresses and credit card information. Texting allows for a simple give that requires just a few flicks of the thumb before hitting "send." Yet, Markarian said nonprofits should not let text messaging stand alone if they want to capitalize on the mobile channel. The organization built its mobile list through advocacy campaigns, like stopping Canadian seal hunts, and has a mobile texting base of 15,000 supporters. "It's neat, it's fun, it's new Ð but it's not a panacea. It's not the cure for your organization's donation or advocacy needs," she said. "It's a part of your overall strategy and that's true for any channel you communicate with your people on. It should all be part of one larger plan and appropriately branded." HSUS spent nearly a year cultivating its mobile list exclusively with advocacy messages. The organization then decided to split its mobile list to test a text reminder about end-of-year giving and saw a 77-percent increase for those who received the mobile alert. "In a world where we are starting to see email open and response rates start to go down, this is a really nice way to make your organization stand out and enhance the things you already do well," said Matt Wilson, director of partnerships at Mobile Commons. Wilson also explained that simply texting to give $5 will not transform an organization's fundraising. "The organizations that we are really seeing be the most successful are not just saying, Ôhere is a way to give a mobile donation' or Ôtext' ÔGive' to short code 20222.' Just like in the email world, if you recently acquired a list of email addresses from your old direct mail file and you sent those constituents a single email to give online, you aren't going to see stellar results. The same ideas of relationship management also apply to mobile," he said. Jed Alpert, CEP and co-founder of Mobile Commons, said that mobile is an "incredible way to build a list and get people in the door -- then it has to be a part of everything else." He said, "It would be worth it for an organization that can create a call to action, at a live event or concert or something like that, to get the full benefit of going through the process of enabling mobile donations." Organizations should craft a compelling call to action that requires a quick response or an urgent ask. Calls to action that are tied to disaster relief or breaking news might compel people to start texting and giving, as they did during recent natural disasters. "Organizations with the opportunity to have those calls to action are going to succeed much more than organizations that don't in the universe of mobile donations," said Alpert. Mobile Accord's mGive can also incorporate two Web 2.0 darlings, Facebook and mobile, to make donating faster on the social networking site. The mGive Giving application allows users to apply a fundraising widget to their Facebook page, where friends can just enter their mobile number to donate. Aiello acknowledged that so far money raised via social networking sites is still low but the mobile widget allows people to donate with just a phone number. The evolving mobile technologies are also helping nonprofits collect more information about the donor than just their digits. "Everyone wants to know 'what kind of data do I get about this donor? What do I know about them?' And up until now, all we knew about them was this was their phone number and they want to give you this money," said Aiello. Technology allows for a link to be sent to the number that can open to a mobile Web page. That page can then gather more information about the donor, including email and ZIP code. "So you not only have received a quick mobile donation, but you have also acquired critical donor data on that person and you've built your email list as well simultaneously," said Aiello. Organizations should try to segment messages by ZIP codes to remind donors about events in their community or state and can give donors more information about specific campaigns via email. "That way you can build a real record in your eCRM database as opposed to having just a list of mobiles," said Aiello. NPT -- Stormy Hope www.carpoc.org AKC Legislative Liaison, GSDCA Sunshine Squad <showgsd.org/sunshine.html) GSDs and more ============================================================================ POST is Copyrighted 2008. All material remains the property of the original author and of GSD Communication, Inc. NO REPRODUCTIONS or FORWARDS of any kind are permitted without prior permission of the original author AND of the Showgsd-l Management. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 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