Author:
Angela Whaley, January 24th, 2012
Over the past year, mGive has seen a multitude of mobile campaigns through from inception to completion. As the mobile industry evolves, so do we – as consumers, creators and even participants. Yet, our goal remains the same: to educate, engage and empower nonprofits and their stakeholders through our groundbreaking utilization of SMS (text message) technology.
As we gear up for 2012, we look forward to sharing new ways to understand the potential of SMS technology, along with unique and easy ways to apply SMS to your organization’s cause. One of our recent favorites is from the Best Friends Animal Society. Their engagement campaign, Pledge to Adopt, utilized mobile in a unique way. Instead of asking for monetary donations, they encouraged supporters to “go mobile” and join the No More Homeless Pets movement by taking the pledge—and committing to adopt their next pet from a shelter or rescue group today – all by texting the word ADOPT to 90999. As with all mobile campaigns, Message and Data rates may apply. For terms, see www.mGive.com/E.
To date, the emotional call-to-action has resulted in 1,418 mobile supporter pledges. Using this powerful call-to-action has empowered the Best Friends Animal Society to build their mobile community while reaching a larger audience.
Looking to do the same? Consider integrating these take-a-ways into your mobile campaign:
- Integrate the mobile call-to-action (whether donation or engagement) into your existing supporter touch points. For example, into your website’s current donation page or printed collateral.
- Remember to also balance your call-to-actions with ongoing communication that includes both concrete statistics and emotional appeal.
- Utilize the tracking application on your client dashboard to showcase the number of current supporter pledges.
- When showcasing success stories, tie the conflict and resolution back to your mission statement. For example, “It’s been two years since Mabel was given her freedom…That’s the ending Best Friends wants to create for all animals.”
- Don’t forget to include your disclaimer language! Supporters are more likely to engage when the disclaimer language is included. It shows transparency on behalf of the organization.
Make sure to keep these tactics in mind for all of your 2012 mobile campaigns. Get a head start on the planning by referencing mGive’s recent mWebinar “How To Be An Effective Mobile Communicator” in your client dashboard under the “Resources” tab. Or, contact your Account Manager at: CS@mGive.com and get the conversation started.
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Angela Whaley is the Senior Account Manager at mGive. She has worked with hundreds of clients over the last three years, including the Best Friends Animal Society. mGive, a Mobile Accord service, educates, engages and empowers nonprofits and their stakeholders through our groundbreaking utilization of SMS (text message) technology. Contact Angela by texting ANGELA to 50555. Message and Data rates may apply. For full terms visit www.mGive.com/E.
Categories: Case Studies, mGive Blog, mGive Guest Posts Tags: 90999, best friends animal society, Effective Mobile Communication, mgive, mGiving, mobile accord, mobile campaigns, mobile donations, mobile fundraising, mobile marketing, Text Message Donations | 
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Author:
Jenifer Snyder, January 20th, 2012
As part of my personal resolutions for 2012, I have committed to use social media. I know, I know – better late than never. But to be honest I haven’t embraced it because the few times I have engaged in it, not much happened. Being a person who likes instant results, I immediately lost interest and questioned its effectiveness. But millions of people and businesses benefiting from it can’t be wrong, right?
As I think of why I don’t engage in social media more actively, it dawns on me that nonprofits might have a similar view of mobile. Success in social media is what you put into it, much like the gym. If you don’t post or tweet, no one hears, you feel like you are failing and you stop logging in; if you don’t go work out, you don’t feel any healthier, and you eventually stop going to the gym. So is it the same for mobile engagement?
Over 95% of Americans have a mobile device and over 73% of people use text messaging. So, communicating to constituents through mobile is important and effective. If you don’t ask your constituents for their mobile number, you won’t get their mobile number. So take the first step, ask for mobile numbers. It won’t cost your organization any money and will take very little time. Once you have the number, you can at least decide to do something with it. Like share information about your organization, mission or volunteer opportunities and ask for their support.
Every New Year brings talk of “getting in shape” and “committing to your goals.” Let’s take that New Year’s approach and apply it to mobile. Embrace mobile for all it can do for your organization and advocate for its use. Make the resolution to whip your mobile strategy into shape and share in our commitment to making mobile successful in 2012! This commitment will not come easy, but few things worth doing truly are easy.
Need a jump start to get motivated? Be the hero of your organization and drive your team to leverage existing collateral sources and event registration forms to collect mobile numbers. Drive your IT department to add a widget to your website and start collecting mobile numbers every time a new or existing constituent visits your website.
There are so many benefits to using mobile. It’s immediate; used by most of the population; and easy to use. Hey, it’s even green – no paper usage. It is a critical tool that will enhance your existing communications strategies. Mobile is the next thing in constituent engagement. So get a mobile strategy- it will help you to meet your 2012 goals!
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Jenifer Snyder is the Executive Director of The mGive Foundation. The mGive Foundation furthers the mobile channel for social good through education and policy initiatives while supporting mGive clients engaged in mobile campaigns. Text JEN to 50555 for Jenifer’s mCard. Message and Data rates may apply. For full terms visit www.mGive.com/E.
Categories: Guest Posts Tags: 2012, 2012 resolutions, donate sms, mgive, mobile fundraising, mobile marketing, nonprofit technology network, nptech, SMS, sms donations, Text Message Donation, The Mobile Giving Foundation | No comments
Author:
Lauren Brekke, January 16th, 2012
When you want something you’ve never had before, you’ve got to do something you’ve never done before. And come 2012, many nonprofit organizations are resolving to shake things up, change the way they do things and most importantly, to engage with their supporters in innovative mediums. In our last mBlog post, I covered the steps you need to take to be an effective mobile communicator. Hopefully you’ve done your mobile training and have identified your mobile goals.
This week, I’d like to break it down, and focus on the next step – conditioning. One of the easiest ways to condition your supporters to “think mobile” is to understand your supporters! If you are stumped on who your donors are – and how to best reach them – check out the infographic below. It’s part of a larger case study, Money for Good II: Driving Dollars to the Highest-Performing Nonprofits, recently released by our friends at Network for Good and Hope Consulting.
So perhaps the easiest way to get that something “new” is to find a “new” way to get it. And in the case of donors, it just may be mobile giving and engagement campaigns. To learn more, text MGIVE to 50555 or email us: sales@mGive.com. As with all mobile campaigns, data and messaging rates may apply. For full terms visit www.mGive.com/E.
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Lauren Brekke is the Marketing Specialist at mGive and Editor of mBlog. Receive her mCard by texting LAUREN to 50555. mGive, a Mobile Accord service, educates, engages and empowers nonprofits and their stakeholders through our groundbreaking utilization of SMS (text) technology. Data and Message rates may apply. For full terms visit www.mGive.com/E.
Categories: mGive Blog Tags: converting donors, Fundraising Success, GuideStar, Hope Consulting, mgive, mobile engagement, mobile fundraising, mobile giving, Money for Good, Network for Good, nonprofit technology network, SMS, social networking, Text, Understand your donors | No comments
Author:
Lauren Brekke, January 6th, 2012
With the first full week of 2012 wrapping up, many New Year’s resolution lists are also being finalized. Over the years, I’ve learned the best way to approach a resolution, especially when the action is unfamiliar, is to utilize your resources. Here at mGive, we have an experienced team of Account Managers at your fingertips. Utilizing them is the first step to becoming an effective mobile communicator.
But what else is needed? Picture an athlete. Even if you’re like me and don’t play a sport, you can understand and respect the effort that goes in to being a strong and skilled athlete – especially one who garners consistent, impactful results. Since SMS (text) is a long-term strategy, and mobile isn’t going anywhere, I often compare mobile communicating and planning to a marathon, complete will the following steps:
1) Train
Training starts with a clear purpose and timeline for achieving your goal. No marathoner simply jumps on the track – they prepare beforehand. Once you’ve dedicated time to preparing for your goal, you can begin educate yourself about the strengths and weaknesses of mobile. For example, ask yourself, how many email address do you have…and how many mobile numbers do you have? The average person has 3 email addresses…but only 1 mobile number.
2) Condition
Condition yourself to “think mobile.” Mobile is a permission-based medium. Start getting your supporters to “think mobile” too by adding a mobile number field with a clear, explicit opt-in to receive text messages on all contact forms.
3) Perform
When communicating in any medium, remember to be relevant. In a world where instant gratification and quick, efficient communication is preferred; less can be more. Message your supporters like a best friend: make it personal and offer them the opportunity to respond for more information to get the conversation going.
4) Analyze
Working with your mGive Account Manager is crucial to understanding how to read, interpret and analyze the data you collect from your mobile campaign. It’s not nearly as hard as High School calculus class was, but in order to leverage the power of mobile – not to mention gauge your campaign’s success – addressing this step is needed to be a truly effective mobile communicator.
5) Celebrate
Achieve and celebrate success with mobile by using it as an enhancement strategy, which is integrated into your existing communications plan. Mobile is not an island; even the Senior Manager of CRM & mobile marketing at Coca-Cola agrees.
6) Evolve
As the mobile industry (and the mobile phone) evolves, so do we, as mGive employees, as mGive clients, and simply as mobile phone users. The important take away here is that we learn as we evolve. And we learn how to improve our mobile communication and planning.
Interested in learning more? mGive recently hosted a webinar on this very topic. Clients can find it under the “Resources” tab in their client dashboard. And, before you let the ink dry on your 2012 New Year’s resolutions, resolve to include a marathon mobile plan on your list.
We’ll check back in June to see how your mobile resolutions are progressing. Until then, let us know about your successes – and challenges – on our Facebook or Twitter page. Happy 2012!
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Lauren Brekke is the Marketing Specialist at mGive and Editor of mBlog. Receive her mCard by texting LAUREN to 50555. mGive, a Mobile Accord service, educates, engages and empowers nonprofits and their stakeholders through our groundbreaking utilization of SMS (text) technology.
Categories: mGive Blog Tags: 2012, corporate social responsiblity, Effective Mobile Communication, mgive, mobile donations, mobile engagement, mobile fund raising, mobile giving, New year's resolutions, nonprofit organzation, nptech, nten, social change, social good | 1 comment
Author:
Jenifer Snyder, December 30th, 2011
Last week I learned that a small, local charity in my community was short hundreds of holiday gifts for children in need. I began spreading the word about this organization and its challenges through my personal network. Soon enough, I was receiving engaging responses such as “how can I help?” from once passive bystanders.
It got me wondering what the response would be from the organization’s supporters if they were notified of this situation via text – especially if such an urgent and special appeal was communicated so close to the holidays with an immediate need. The message could be instant, direct and elicit immediate responses from supporters that could help.
In an effort to test this challenge, I asked the organization to send me a text message the morning of the gift deadline, if there was still an unmet need of holiday gifts. The morning of the deadline, the Director of the organization sent me a text message letting me know that they were indeed still short. I was empowered to send an immediate response back via text that I would be at their offices with an additional donation by 4:00pm that day. And within minutes, the organization’s director was able to thank me through SMS for my support, which only further reinforced my intention to help.
The author (on right) with Courtney Rogers, Program Director at A Precious Child, in Broomfield, Colorado.
After dropping off my donation, and driving back to my office, I received another text message, thanking me for my donation. I felt that my donation was truly valuable and essential to their work, but it also reinforced our work at The mGive Foundation. If texting can work for one supporter like me, imagine what it can do with a larger group of donors. And not just for a one-time donation. Mobile can be effective for all-sized organizations. Additionally, because text messaging is a quick and efficient communication path, the organization can now send me periodic text messages while cultivating our relationship throughout the next year.
In many ways, integrating mobile into your life allows you to think globally, but give locally. My challenge to you and your organization in 2012 is to commit to mobile. How can your organization think globally, while still giving locally, through mobile? I encourage you to use this story as a spark to creating bigger impact next year. To learn more, visit us at: www.mGive.org
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Jenifer Snyder is the Executive Director of The mGive Foundation. The mGive Foundation furthers the mobile channel for social good through education and policy initiatives while supporting mGive clients engaged in mobile campaigns. Text JEN to 50555 for Jenifer’s mCard. Msg & Data rates may apply.
Categories: mGive Guest Posts Tags: 2012, a precious child, mgive, mGiving, mobile donations, mobile marketing, nonprofit | 1 comment
Author:
Lauren Brekke, December 21st, 2011
Ask anyone around the halls of mGive what their favorite time of year is, and the response will almost always be the holidays. And no, it’s not because we finally receive our precious winter powder in the Rocky Mountains (note: we’re avid snowboarders and skiers!). It’s because during the holidays we see how creatively our clients weave mobile into their holiday giving campaigns. It’s the time of year where we are reminded of how meaningful and impactful our daily jobs are here at mGive.
Yesterday, every mGive team member was given a small holiday gift that was representative of the work we do – it was both meaningful and impactful. In addition to receiving our eco-friendly, BPA-free water bottles, we each got a “Good Card” preloaded with $20. Good Cards are simply gift cards which are redeemed as a donation for more than 1.2 million charities online via SixDegrees.org. Each team member was able to donate $20 to a charity of their choosing – whether a mGive client, a school alma mater or a neighborhood nonprofit.
However, what I truly enjoyed about the Good Card was how it tied into mGive’s mission of powering social good by revolutionizing the way people give and build relationships with their favorite causes. Although the donation was made online, and not via mobile, I was excited to participate and support other innovative and nontraditional methods of giving. The Good Card is just one of many organizations furthering the social good channel through innovative types of giving.
With that said, if you’re still looking for that last minute gift – try the gift of charity. Check out www.mGive.org for a list of current mGive clients accepting mobile donations. And let us know how your mobile giving experience goes!
Best wishes this holiday season, from the mGive family to yours. We look forward to empowering your next mobile campaign in 2012!
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Lauren Brekke is the Marketing Specialist at mGive and Editor of mBlog. Receive her mCard by texting LAUREN to 50555. mGive, a Mobile Accord service, educates, engages and empowers nonprofits and their stakeholders through our groundbreaking utilization of SMS (text) technology.
Categories: mGive Blog Tags: good card, holiday giving campaign, mgive, mobile giving, nonprofit, six degress, SMS Donation, text to donate | No comments
Angela Whaley is the Senior Account Manager at mGive. She has worked with hundreds of clients over the last three years, including the Best Friends Animal Society. mGive, a Mobile Accord service, educates, engages and empowers nonprofits and their stakeholders through our groundbreaking utilization of SMS (text message) technology. Contact Angela by texting ANGELA to 50555. Message and Data rates may apply. For full terms visit www.mGive.com/E.
