Nonprofits Can Raise Funds Through Mobile Channels

Charities & non-profits are using mobile to share their organizational messages, stimulate volunteerism and community, as well as, to raise money through a new mobile practice commonly referred to as mobile giving.

With mobile giving, charities & non-profits can invite people to donate to their organization by simply asking them to text message a keyword to a common short code and donate $5 to the charity. The donation appears on the mobile subscriber's mobile phone bill.

The consumer engagement process for mobile giving is straightforward. Here are the steps.

1. Consumers see call-to-action for a donation in traditional or new media channel and responds by either text messaging, as discussed above, or they can enter their mobile phone number into a form field on a wired Web or mobile Web site or a similar Web services application. This is step is referred to as the “opt-in.”

2. The opt-in triggers a confirmation text message request to the mobile subscribers, asking them to confirm their donation.

3. The mobile subscribers then reply Yes to the message to confirm the donation.

4. Once the confirmation response is received, a confirmation receipt is sent via text to the mobile subscribers informing them that their phone bill has been charged. It is at this last step that the billing happens. The mobile subscribers will not be charged until confirmation is received.