Archive for category non-profit organizations

Rules of Mobile: Friend Raise, THEN Fund Raise

Jul 7

Posted by Steve Shepherd in fundraising, micro-giving, non-profit organizations | No Comments

Mobile Growth Strategy: Communicate, Cultivate, then Fundraise

In a recent NTEN survey, only 16% of nonprofits expect to have a mobile-ready website in place this year and only 19% will have a smartphone application.

Return on Engagement is the new Return on Investment.

Similarly, consumers are not simply gobbling up smartphones and tablets at historic rates, they’re using them to engage with their favorite brands. In a study conducted earlier this year by Performics and ROI Research, fully half of all consumers reported making purchases via their mobile devices in 2010 and that number is expected to reach 75% this year.

Meanwhile, Visa, Mastercard and other transaction processing giants are racing to build mobile payment technology that is as ubiquitous as the devices themselves. Juniper Research says that Near Field Communications (NFC) purchases just for ticketing (e.g. travel, shows, etc.), will climb from just 2 million in 2010 to a staggering 15 billion by 2014.

NFC, which makes it easier for individuals to make location-based purchases (and donations), is just one example of the so-called “mobile wallet” initiatives that also allow individuals to make purchases via mobile Web payments (WAP), direct mobile billing, SMS and direct carrier. Juniper claims that within two years mobile payments will total $600 billion.
For nonprofits, these are good signs. Forrester Research has confirmed that the same individuals most likely to use smartphones and other advanced mobile technology are the same audience upon which nonprofits most depend for support – namely educated and financially secure.

This post is just an excerpt of a new White Paper on fundraising by MobileCause CEO, Douglas Plank.

Download this file at no cost or obligation. We will not contact you unless you request it.

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U.S. Vets is featured Charity for the LA Marathon

Mar 19

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized, charities, non-profit organizations, text2give | No Comments

U.S. VETS is an official charity of the 2010 Los Angeles Marathon on March 21, 2010. United States Veterans Initiative – U.S. VETS – is America’s largest non-profit organization that provides housing, employment preparation, and comprehensive counseling services specifically for US veterans.

1,500 individual homeless veterans served annually by the Los Angeles Outreach Team
85% success rate in getting homeless veterans back to work within 35 days through the Veterans In Progress program
25,000 meals produced each month for homeless veterans in Los Angeles County
11 U.S. Vets centers nationwide serving 3,000 homeless veterans annually.

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The iTouch Contest Closed.

You can donate to US Vets by entering your phone number in the widget below. Thank you!

A one‐time donation of $10 will be added to your mobile phone bill or deducted from your prepaid balance. Messaging & Data Rates May Apply. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile service provider. Service is available on most carriers. Donations are collected for the benefit of U.S. VETS by the Mobile Giving Foundation in partnership with URM and subject to the terms found at www.hmgf.org/t. You can unsubscribe at any time by replying STOP to short code 85944; Reply HELP to 85944 for help.

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77% of people surveyed are familiar with Text Donations

Mar 16

Posted by Steve Shepherd in Uncategorized, micro-giving, non-profit organizations, text2give | 1 Comment

Charities Must Focus on Multiple Ways to Reach Young Donors, Generation Study Finds

Excerpted from article by Caroline Preston

Conducted by Edge Research, the study polled more than 1,500 people who contributed to nonprofit groups in the past year.

The survey found that members of Generation Y, who were born from 1981 to 1991, and the group that preceded it—Generation X (those born from 1965 to 1980)—now make up more than half of the pool of potential donors.

The survey also signaled that text-message giving is gaining acceptance. Seventy-seven percent of people in the survey said they had heard about the opportunity to make a donation via their cellphones after the Haiti earthquake, and 36 percent said they would be willing to contribute via text after an emergency occurs.

Thirty-one percent of all donors in the survey said they would be willing to contribute via text to help a friend raise money, and 28 percent they would be willing to do so as part of a charity fund raiser.

Thirty-five percent of people born in 1945 or before said they had first learned about their favorite nonprofit group through the mail; 19 percent of boomers and 16 percent of members of Generation X said the same.
Younger donors were more likely to say they would increase their giving this year than older people, the majority of whom said their giving would remain the same.
Members of Generation Y were less likely than older people to say the economy had affected their giving, in large part because they had less money before the recession.
People born before 1965 were most likely to keep up-to-date on charities from mailings, while younger people said Web sites were a more important source of information.

Read full article on the Chronicle for Philanthropy

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Kelly Ripa Launches Text-A-Thon Campaign with MobileCause to benefit Ovarian Cancer Research

Sep 9

Posted by Steve Shepherd in causes, celebrities, charities, fundraising, micro-giving, mobile, non-profit organizations, text2give, video | No Comments

During September, Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, you can help us raise funds and awareness to support the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Donate $5 now to help fund research to find a cure.Plus, every day you log on to Kelly Confidential, you’ll be entered for a chance to win a front load washer and dryer in Turquoise Sky, the color inspired by the teal ribbon of ovarian cancer awareness.

MobileCause provided the Text2Give solution that allows donations to be made through a caller’s mobile phone.

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The #1 Charity to follow on Twitter is…

Jul 9

Posted by Steve Shepherd in causes, charities, children, clients, fundraising, micro-giving, non-profit organizations, text2give | No Comments

Note: We just added a cool new app called

Apture. Try clicking on the links in this article…it brings up info and videos without leaving the page.

According to Paste Magazine Twitter offers one of the best ways to connect with charities and Charity: Water does it better than anyone. We’re thrilled to have entered into a new partnership with Charity: Water to enable anyone with a phone to donate by simply sending a one word text message. We’ll let you know as soon as the campaign kicks in. In the meantime, follow our friends on Twitter (you could be follower #565,607). By the way, have you seen Jennifer Connelly in this amazing video promo?

In the same article, we noticed another one of our clients made #6 in the Best Charities on Twitter list. Our friends at Invisible Children have done an amazing job of utilizing social media to spread the word about the atrocities in Uganda and the children who are forced to be soldiers in Joseph Kony’s army. Show your support for them by texting RESCUE to 20222 to donate $5. This is a brand new campaign (Verizon customers may have to wait a week or two more before it is active). Remember, your tax-deductible donation will show up on your phone bill. Follow Invisible Children on Twitter.

By the way, are you following MobileCause on Twitter?

Do you know of a great cause that could use some help connecting with new audiences and donors via mobile? Let us know…

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When times are tough, the tough throw a free music festival. For 35,000 people.

Jun 24

Posted by Steve Shepherd in clients, conferences, micro-giving, non-profit organizations, text2give | 1 Comment

Let Free Ring! Virgin Mobile USA Announces 2009 “FreeFest” to Give Back in Bad Economy

Weezer, Blink-182, Franz Ferdinand, and Public Enemy Plus More Than a Dozen Others Scheduled to Perform August 30, 2009

Speculation and predictions that have filled blogs and discussion boards can be put to rest. The Virgin Mobile Festival is returning, but with a catch. Admission will be free.

Virgin Mobile USA, creator of one of the largest and most critically acclaimed music festivals in the U.S., announced today that it would host the 2009 Virgin Mobile FreeFest on Sunday, August 30, at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD., with admission free of charge. All tickets will be given away, and previous Virgin Mobile Festival ticket buyers and Virgin Mobile customers will have the first crack at securing the 35,000 tickets.

“In a time of economic challenges and daily sacrifices, we wanted to throw a fantastic party so people could let loose and have a great time — on us,” said Sir Richard Branson, Founder and President, Virgin Group. “Virgin Mobile FreeFest offers music fans a brilliant day of fun and music and a chance for them to give back to those even less fortunate.”

To respond to the sharp decrease in national social giving, Virgin Mobile FreeFest will also host a special VIP seating area for those who donate their time to community service at designated homeless youth shelters around the country. Virgin Mobile is also encouraging people, regardless of wireless carrier, to text “FREEFEST” to 20222, with a $5 donation which will go to select youth homeless centers around the country.In parntership with MobileCause.

http://twurl.nl/fc563s

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Giving USA Report for 2008 and Online Fundraising Estimates

Jun 11

Posted by Steve Shepherd in charities, fundraising, non-profit organizations | No Comments

The GivingUSA Foundation has released its Giving USA 2009: The Annual Report on Philanthropy for the Year 2008. The report shows the first decline in giving to US charities in current dollars since 1987. Blackbaud also analyzed the data, along with other information, to estimate the growth of online fundraising by US-based nonprofits.

2008 Total Giving Estimates
Giving USA estimates that $307.65 billion was given in 2008, exceeding $300 billion for the second year in a row. The 2007 estimate was revised to $314.07 billion. The change from 2007-2008 is a decrease of 2% or -5.7% adjusted for inflation.

Although this 2008 figure is the first decline in giving in current dollars since 1987, giving still represented 2.2% of GDP. These donations were primarily from:

Individuals — $229.28 billion, down 2.7% (-6.3% inflation-adjusted)
Foundations — $41.21 billion, up 3% (-0.8% inflation-adjusted)
Charitable bequests — $22.66 billion, down 2.8% (-6.4% inflation-adjusted)
Corporate giving — $14.5 billion, down 4.5% (-8.0% inflation-adjusted)

Where Donors Gave in 2008
Only religious, public-society benefit, and international affairs showed positive changes in contribution totals. The biggest percentage drops were felt by grant-making foundations and human services organizations. Full Article

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Estimated $5 Million Raised via Text Donations this Year

Apr 6

Posted by Steve Shepherd in charities, fundraising, giving, micro-giving, non-profit organizations, text2broadcast, text2give | No Comments

Why ask potential donors to pull out their checkbook or credit card when they are inclined to give?

As I mentioned in a blog post months ago, Micro-Giving will be the hottest fundraising trend of 2009. According to an article today, VeriSign and the Mobile Giving Foundation expect that more than $5 million will be raised this year via mobile charitable giving.

Text donations (MobileCause is one of the few ASPs provisioned thru all major carriers) take a matter of seconds for web-savvy Gen-Y-ers and the charge shows up on their phone bill.

As MobileCause has been doing for the past 3 years with our Text2Broadcast platform, more nonprofits will also encourage donors to opt into mobile programs to receive alerts, updates and news of events through SMS messages. Personalized messages will also improve the relationship between nonprofit and donor, especially in these hard economic times when charities normally struggle for funds and attention.

Read more about this and other mobile trends in today’s article on Mobile Marketing.

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75,000 expected at national marriage simulcast event on Feb 28

Feb 23

Posted by Steve Shepherd in conferences, non-profit organizations, text2give, text2screen | 1 Comment

MobileCause is offering a unique service for a live national event. In addition to offering the ability to donate to a cause simply by sending a one-word text message (a $5 or $10 donation shows up on your phone bill), MobileCause’s Text2ScreenLive service allows attendees at the live event to text in questions from anywhere in the country.

The Focus on Marriage Simulcast Conference is Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009

The conference is from 7:30 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. MT and already has more than 70,000 people registered through venues across the U.S.

The live site is at Focus on the Family and at Woodmen Valley in Colorado Springs, CO and features popular speakers:

Beth Moore
Dr. Del Tackett
Dr. Gary Smalley
Dr. John Trent

If you have an event coming up or would like to do Text2Screen for your church or classroom, let us know!

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Every Non-profit should have mobile Tools

Jan 19

Posted by Steve Shepherd in SMS, causes, charities, micro-giving, non-profit organizations, text2give | No Comments

excerpted from Mickey Alam Khan’s post today

Average individual donations are falling to below the $10-level, especially when large nonprofits such as the American Red Cross suck up all the household charity budgets during hurricanes and large-scale calamities.

So it is critical for smaller nonprofits, and even the bigger charities such as the Red Cross or The Salvation Army, to raise donations by text to rapidly respond to emergencies.

The Red Cross, for example, has successfully worked with the wireless carriers to encourage $5 donations for its disaster relief fund. The organization raised more than $200,000 in its most recent September through December appeal.

Subscribers of participating wireless carriers can donate $5 up to five times per month by texting the keyword GIVE to 2HELP (24357).

Charges for these donations will appear on the subscriber’s mobile phone bill each month. They can also be debited from prepaid account balances for those mobile consumers without a contract.

Standard text messaging rates may apply to those texted donations.

Other charities can follow the Red Cross’ example. Publicize the short code on the direct mail, email and Web sites. Encourage donors to sign up with the mobile program. Strike a similar billing relationship as the Red Cross did with the carriers and also work with an SMS aggregator.

Building a mobile database not only will save smaller charities in these hard-pressed times, but will also result in repeat donations.

Mobile also cuts creative, printing and postage costs out of a charity’s operations. Thus, a larger percentage of the donations can go to the actual cause for which the funds are raised.

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Turn-key Mobile fundraising…Reach more. Raise more.

Archive for category non-profit organizations

Rules of Mobile: Friend Raise, THEN Fund Raise

Mobile Growth Strategy: Communicate, Cultivate, then Fundraise

U.S. Vets is featured Charity for the LA Marathon

77% of people surveyed are familiar with Text Donations

Charities Must Focus on Multiple Ways to Reach Young Donors, Generation Study Finds

Kelly Ripa Launches Text-A-Thon Campaign with MobileCause to benefit Ovarian Cancer Research

The #1 Charity to follow on Twitter is…

When times are tough, the tough throw a free music festival. For 35,000 people.

Giving USA Report for 2008 and Online Fundraising Estimates

Estimated $5 Million Raised via Text Donations this Year

75,000 expected at national marriage simulcast event on Feb 28

Every Non-profit should have mobile Tools

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