For Whom the Phone Rings
Mobile telephony is an incredible testing ground for digital innovation in the non-profit sector, especially with respect to fundraising.
Sending solidarity SMS messages has involved a vast and heterogeneous public in terms of gender, age and level of education. Donors like them because they are anonymous and do not require a steady relationship with the non-profit in question. Conversely, in some developing countries cell phone credit (air time) has become a sort of parallel currency and a major source of revenue for NGOs. Tourists are encouraged to give their unused phone credit to worthy local causes as they leave the country. M-Pesa is one of the most widespread m-payment services, which enables the transfer of credit between cells phones, while Kenya is the first country in world using such service via a partnership with Safaricom and Vodafone.
Another interesting technology is NFC, for Near Field Communication, which enables a payment/donation via smartphone by debiting the donor's credit card or phone account. It has exploded in Japan, where an agreement between telecom operators and banking circuits makes it simple and effective to use, to the point of giving a boost to private consumption, which had been flagging for years in the Archipelago. In Italy, the use of NFC has so far been limited, but it could be very useful to engage potential donors in street campaigns.
Finally, location-based, geo-referencing smartphone applications and so-called check-in services are among the most promising apps for the support of fundraising. The evolution of these systems has led to creative solutions for gathering sums destined to charity foundations and international NGOs: Earth Justice, for instance, has launched a campaign against abusive oil drilling by putting billboards in the stations of San Francisco metropolitan railway system. Whenever a commuter checks in (by taking a pic of the poster), an Earth Justice donor gives $10 to environmental causes. An interesting finding reported by organization itself is that this type of fundraising campaign has managed to hit the youth target, a category of individuals that generally shows lower propensity to be affected by these kinds of announcements.
The fact is that the cell phone has become a tool of daily usage all over the world. This fact means that non-profit organizations can reach out to potential donors anytime, anyplace, and let individuals donate when it's more convenient and less time-consuming for them.
However the high cost of certain apps, the limited money amounts you can donate by SMS, and especially the random nature of these acts of donation all remain important limitations.
The true challenge for mobile fundraising is to overcome the notion of cell phones as electronic wallets for occasional donors. In fact, smartphones provide a solution to engagement-building. This can also occur through social gaming and the sharing of content across social networks.
A possible evolution could be subscribing to a service which debits the cell phone account each time a news message is texted to and read by the donor, or developing an app that provides users with updates on a given non-profit, and gives the possibility of making donations without having to subscribe to the organization's web site. This way, new segments of donors, especially the young, more accustomed to this type of interaction, can be involved.
Because a fundraising strategy is not simply a set of actions for the purpose of gathering moneys, but an overall approach aimed at consolidating the sustainability of a not-for-profit association and its social mission.