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9/11 Memorial & Museum runs mobile giving initiative with NASCAR

The National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum and the North South Motorsports team have teamed up to launch the Text to Remember program to help raise funds and awareness.

The partners tapped Mobile Commons for the initiative. The SMS calls-to-action will be at the NASCAR Nationwide Series Race in Richmond, VA, on Sept. 11, where a custom-designed car commemorating 9/11 victims will be driven by NASCAR racing star Benny Gordon at Richmond International Raceway.

?The National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum has an amazing opportunity to work with NASCAR and get the nation's attention on 9/11/09,? said Michael Sabat, community manager at Mobile Commons, New York. ?The great thing about mobile donations is that everyone has their cell phone nearby.

?If your organization can convince a supporter to donate, the supporter can donate immediately,? he said. ?Mobile giving is easy and painless.

?With a national audience for the NASCAR race on Sept. 11, the two main goals are to have people text in to donate and give permission to the organization to continue to contact them over SMS and email.?

The 9/11 Memorial fundraising group?s new targeted mobile campaign asks donors to text keyword WTC to short code 25383 to donate $5 towards the foundation?s cause.

Supporters texting in will have their name displayed on the honor roll at the 9/11 Memorial?s Web site and will be asked to donate $5 to support the Memorial using Mobile Commons? mobile donation application.

The first step is to text in the designated keyword. The user receives a message back asking them to confirm the donation.

Once the user replies with the word YES, a $5 charge is automatically added to their mobile phone bill. The 9/11 Memorial receives 100 percent of the donations.

The goals of the mobile initiatives are to connect with people, build a relationship, raise money and reengage with donors in a meaningful way going forward.

In the course of this SMS conversation, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum is collecting users' email addresses and will be able to follow up via multiple channels.

?The Mobile Commons platform allows the 9/11 Memorial & Museum to run a truly integrated campaign with SMS, the Web, mobile giving, email, television and print all playing a part,? Mr. Sabat said.

Mobile Commons provides the interface to create keywords and use its short code, plus the text-to-screen capability that the organization is using to display the content on its 9/11 Memorial Web site.

The Mobile Commons inbox is used to view these messages and moderate them before they appear on the Web.

?Most importantly, our technology allows the organization to collect and manage demographic information such as email and tie these users to their Web presence, their CRM and route them to mobile giving,? Mr. Sabat said.

?As the campaign continues, people that have texted in and provided their email address will receive both text messages and email, which increases overall engagement, participation and donations.?