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Mobile Giving exec: $10 text-to-give threshold complicates mobile fundraising

NEW YORK ? An executive from BBB Mobile Giving Foundation at Mobile Commerce Daily?s fourth annual Nonprofit Mobile Day said that allowing text donations up to $25 in the United States would aid charities in their messaging campaigns, similar to how it is being used in Canada.

During the ?Mobile Giving Foundation: The State of Mobile Giving? presentation, the executive discussed how nonprofits can use texting to accumulate incremental donations, but more importantly expand donor database. Although it might not be the newest channel, SMS still plays a critical role for nonprofits.

?We work with an industry that is heavily regulated, so we?re very appreciative of the fact that regulators have supported our efforts, and we are attentive to what they are trying to achieve as they develop policy,? said Jim Manis is founder/CEO of BBB Mobile Giving Foundation, Issaquah, WA. ?Part of our mission is to extend this technology, to identify the barriers for growth, and eliminate that barrier so you can go do your job better.

"The more a charity can acquire through a single donation to some extent that?s better. Anytime you are able to leverage the donation opt-down to acquire higher amounts it has a net impact of improving ROI on an individual campaign basis."

Nonprofit Mobile Day, a conference owned by Mobile Commerce Daily parent Napean LLC, was co-presented with the Direct Marketing Association.

Mobile texting
Mobile Giving Foundation works directly with wireless providers to help charities create donation campaigns via text.

One of the setbacks in the United States, however, is that not all wireless provides allow donations of more than $10.

In Canada, all providers allow donors to give up to $25 via text.

According to Mr. Manis, as the demand for higher donations increases, wireless providers in the U.S. will adapt and allow higher donations via text.

"I think that we?re still a number of months away from all carriers accepting that, but we see no data today that would prevent carriers from doing that, and we see no carrier that has expressed a philosophical objection to do that,? he said. ?I think it?s coming.?

Sticking with messaging
While Mobile Giving Foundation has experimented with other channels, SMS has proved to be the most successful with its users.

Mobile applications have not worked well for charities in driving donations, especially since Apple charges 30 percent of all in-app purchases. Donors do not want to give 30 percent of their donation to Apple.

Mobile Giving Foundation has also tried offering donors the ability to pay via PayPal, but very few donors have chosen this route. Almost all of donations still come from text messages.

While it may not be the up-and-coming technology, SMS is easy and simple, and it works.

According to Mr. Manis, direct mail is diminishing and mobile messaging is becoming more important than ever as marketers look for new ways to target tech-savvy constituents.

?You keep your mobile number far longer than you keep any physical address, so there?s a lot of value in that number itself,? he said. ?That gives you a piece of data that can be leveraged in a dynamic way and from a base that will have greater continuity than other personal identifiers.?

Final Take
Jim Manis is founder/CEO of BBB Mobile Giving Foundation