4 reasons mobile text fundraising looks set to continue to grow

Few changes in nonprofit fundraising over the last few years have been as dramatic as the rise and rise of mobile text fundraising or SMS. SMS stands for Short Message Service and is the primary text messaging service component of mobile phone and web communications. SMS has evolved into the defacto texting option for nonprofits primarily because it uses standardized communications protocols to allow fixed line and cell phones to exchange short text messages and because it’s incredibly easy to use.

For charities the evolution of text donations has been so rapid in part because it’s arguably the simplest way imaginable to donate funds and also because love them or hate them mobile phones are a huge part of many people’s lives. Mobile text fundraising initially came to the forefront of fundraising efforts as a result of international disaster relief efforts notably following the tragic earthquake in Haiti and tsunami in Japan, the ease of making a cash donation via a cell phone became the leading way to donate to many large charities at such times.

To date though it’s been Europe that has led the way in mobile text fundraising in no small part because the adoption rate of cell phones in western and northern Europe (especially to replace landlines) has always exceeded North America. In the UK last year it was estimated that 62% of all nonprofits operated a mobile text fundraising campaign and that this year it’s set to exceed 74% according to the most recent numbers. North America meanwhile saw less than 35% of nonprofits run a text campaign over the last 12 months (data based on 2013 research). What is clear is that text fundraising is set to grow over the next few years and studies point out that that the youngest demographics also show the greatest preference for this option of giving. Some of other key reasons why text donations are here to stay are outlined below.

The overall profile of text donation campaigns keeps improving: Until 2014 TV and radio have been the top two sources of learning about text donation campaigns but it is forecast that within the next two years social media could become the primary source for donor awareness of such campaigns. Social media as a source for text campaign information rose six points to about 28 percent from 2012 to 2013. A few years ago email was a leading source of awareness but is now trailing far behind social media and the traditional television and radio campaigns.

People are more mobile phone dependent and do read text messages: Smartphone ownership rates are set to exceed 70% of all adults next year and a staggering 25% of North American homes no longer have a land-line and both of these rates keep moving in the direction that you would expect. According to a report by Frost & Sullivan some 98% of text messages are read, compared to 22% of emails, 29% of tweets and 12% of Facebook posts.

Text donations are getting larger: In the early years of text donations the vast majority of donations were either $5, $10 or $20 but recent studies show that the median donation in North America now sits somewhere between $30 and $40 depending on which study you read. Just as importantly more than 85% of donors studied feel that the amount they ‘would like to give’ ranges between $25 and $50.

People like the experience of text donations: This piece is also very important, according to a 2013 study some 86% of respondents rated their experience of text donating as having been very good or excellent. Of all the data addressed above this might be the most crucial, people enjoy text donations due to the simplicity of the process and encouragingly subsequent volunteerism rates and social media interaction as a follow-on from text donations keeps improving too.

Next year we’ll run a series of posts looking deeper at the art of building mobile text donation campaigns and study some of the greatest success stories in the sector. If you have a text donation story or tip that you would like to share please do so in the comments below.

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Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including PCI compliant inbound telephone fundraising, outbound telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery fundraising services, donation processing and receipting and direct mail fundraising services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all our business decisions  and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.