NEW YORK ? An executive from The Humane Society at Mobile Commerce Daily?s fourth annual Nonprofit Mobile Day said that as the nonprofit sees more than 30 percent of traffic coming from mobile devices, the company is taking a platform-agnostic approach to its Web content.

The executive presented a look at the nonprofit?s mobile strategy during ?The Humane Society of the United States: The Mobile Journey to Save Animals? session. The session also included a look at what the nonprofit has planned for the remainder of 2013.

?For me, it?s not about mobile anymore, it?s not a thing,? said Lara Koch, manager of online technology at The Humane Society of the United States, Washington.

?It?s about optimization and platform-agnostic,? she said. ?It?s about if I?m on my tablet, a smartphone, if I?m on my desktop, I can go to the same site and have the same experience no matter where I am.?

?[The site] is not adaptive ? it?s responsive, and what that means is constant vigilance.?

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

Search on mobile
Traffic coming from mobile devices has increased drastically in the past two years for The Humane Society.

In Jan. 2011, mobile represented seven percent of traffic coming to http://www.humanesociety.org/. By January of this year that number jumped to 32.5 percent.

By the end of this year, it is possible that 50 percent of Web traffic will come from mobile, per Ms. Koch.

The executive said this is partly due to The Humane Society?s high level of organic search traffic from consumers searching for pet-related queries.

In May 2011, the nonprofit debuted a mobile site that included basic information such as news and action-driven features such as donation boxes.

Simply having a mobile presence was important for the organization at the time, but the site lacked some of the deeper information on The Humane Society?s Web site.

Eventually mobile began clipping into Web traffic fast enough that The Humane Society decided that it needed to revamp its Web site with an adaptive design that rolled out in March of this year so content renders the same across desktops, smartphones and tablets.

The adaptive site was built to accommodate the iPhone, Android and iPad devices, which are the three biggest devices in driving traffic.

Forty percent of traffic comes from iPhones, 30 percent is generated from Android devices and 20 percent of traffic comes from iPad devices.

Average page views and time spent on The Humane Society?s mobile site has increased since deploying the responsive site earlier this year.

Ms. Koch presenting

Mobile reach
Similar to other nonprofits, SMS plays a big role for The Humane Society. According to Ms. Koch, the nonprofit's SMS efforts include a mixture of social media, donor care, email and technology that keeps subscribers engaged.

Only five percent of SMS opt-ins for the nonprofit happen through keywords, with 95 percent of sign-ups coming from forms.

The Humane Society also uses SMS for a variety of different messages beyond fundraising. For example, an ongoing program for Meatless Mondays sends users recipes to subscibers.

When it comes to driving funds, the nonprofit uses mobile Web forms and text-to-give with its SMS program.

Additionally, the organization leveraged SMS during Superstorm Sandy last year by including mobile donation forms for every desktop donation and through a text-to-give activation.

Mobile made up six percent of the funds raised during the Superstorm Sandy campaign.

During the second half of 2013, The Humane Society plans to focus on mobile email and moving towards a platform-agnostic strategy.

The nonprofit also has plans to roll out a second version of its mobile application.

Resources are a constant issue for nonprofits. However, leveraging mobile does not have to be extensively expensive if nonprofits can prioritize their initiatives.

?Mobile touches everything that we do, and more than that it ties the channels together,? Ms. Koch said.

?You need to present a unified, complete, seamless experience for them,? she said.

?Mobile doesn?t have to be expensive and change everything you do.?

Final Take
Lara Koch is manager of online technology at The Humane Society of the United States, Washington