Author:
Jenifer Snyder, February 14th, 2012
Happy “143” Day! (That’s Happy “I Love You” day in text-messaging terms!) Today I would like to share my love and my blog space with a few nonprofit organizations focused on heart related causes. We can all be affected by heart disease, whether you’re young, old, man or woman. So in the spirit of raising awareness for the heart, I encourage you to skip the heart shaped box of chocolates and give to an organization centered on the heart. Make a mobile donation* to any one of the charities listed below to help keep the beat of life going.
National Coalition for Women with Heart Disease (aka WomenHeart)
We often don’t think of women when we think of heart attacks. The National Coalition for Women, more widely known as WomenHeart, www.womenheart.org, was founded by three women who had heart attacks while in their 40s. WomenHeart works to bring knowledge about heart disease to the forefront and help reduce the onset of heart disease on women and their families. Their mission is “to improve the health and quality of life of women living with or at risk of heart disease, and to advocate for their benefit”. To donate $5.00 to WomenHeart text LIVE to 90999.
Texas Heart Institute
Cardiovascular disease can affect everyone. At The Texas Heart Institute, www.texasheart.org, their mission is “to reduce the devastating toll of cardiovascular disease through innovative programs in research, education and improved patient care.” The Texas Heart Institute achieves their mission by providing treatment and preventative methods. They also focus on gaining and sharing heart related knowledge with the world. Partnered with St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and Texas Children’s Hospital The Texas Heart Institute provides the best care to all ages in an environment designed for their specific needs. To donate $10.00 to The Texas Heart Institute, text CAR to 50555.
American Heart Association
The American Heart Association, www.heart.org, is one of the most recognized names when talking about heart health. This organization has amazing reach and has helped thousands of men, women and their families deal with the numerous challenges that come with heart related issues. From treatment to education, the American Heart Association povides a broad scope of service to those in need. To donate $10.00 to The American Heart Association text HEART to 80088.
HeartGift Foundation
The developing world sees a high rate of congenital heart disease related deaths in children under one year old. A diagnosis and a surgical procedure can be all these children need to live long healthy lives. The HeartGift Foundation works to provide this diagnosis and surgery to disadvantaged children where medical care is subpar or simply nonexistent. To donate $10.00 to the HeartGift Foundation, text GIFT to 80077.
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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.
*As will all $5.00 or $10.00 mobile donations, charges will appear on your wireless bill, or be deducted from your prepaid balance. All purchases must be authorized by account holder. Must be 18 years of age or have parental permission to participate. Message and Data Rates May Apply. Text STOP to the appropriate short code to STOP. Text HELP to the appropriate short code for HELP. Full Terms: mGive.org/T
Categories: mGive Guest Posts Tags: 50555, 90999, mGiving, mobile marketer, nptech, SMS Donation, Text Donations | 
1 comment
Author:
Cassie Bair, February 2nd, 2012
Last month, we talked about the fact that mobile is like a marathon. The first step to a successful marathon experience – aside from resolving to make it happen – is to start conditioning. Nothing will make you leap further ahead than conditioning properly over time. And given that 2012 is a Leap Year, it seems like the appropriate time to get started!
People typically condition better when doing so in a group. You benefit from information sharing, having a support system, getting motivated by a little friendly competition and having people who can champion success. Who you condition with can make the difference in your level of success and your overall experience.
When prepping for a mobile marathon, it is important that you are conditioning with the right players in your group. If your primary goal at this time is to build your mobile community, don’t prepare by yourself. Consider who else needs to be conditioning with you and invite them to be involved.
Having worked in nonprofit for years, I recommend leaping forward in mobile with the following people. No worries if your office is small – you’ll be able to identify who should be in your conditioning group after looking at the list below!
- Executive Director – Mobile is most successful when you have leadership buy-in. The Executive Director has the most comprehensive understanding of your organization and how things function. They ultimately need to be your biggest champion regarding mobile because they influence your entire organization and can help you see the big picture when building your mobile community.
- Fundraiser – Mobile can help with fundraising on many levels. And any good fundraiser knows you need people to be aware of your cause before they are willing to give (i.e. the value of building a mobile community). Fundraisers can help you build your mobile community by leveraging the touch-points already established, such as donation forms, fundraising events, and more.
- Corporate Partnerships/Cause Marketing- Mobile is yet another way to draw a strong connection between your corporate sponsors and supporters. Ask your corporate and/or cause partners to help build your mobile community by having their staff opt-in to your mobile community and sharing messaging with their customers and other stakeholders.
- Marketing/Communications – Any good marketer knows mobile is just one way to expand your communication opportunities. Work with your marketing person to figure out ways to build your mobile community. Request to add a mobile community opt-in to the e-newsletter or the latest direct mail piece and add reminders and calls-to-action to your organization’s social media activities.
- Volunteer Management – Volunteers are already invested in your cause. Mobile can be a great tool in volunteer cultivation and in turn, volunteers can be a huge proponent of building your mobile community. Work with the person managing your volunteer program to identify opportunities to have volunteers join your mobile community and get a jump start by having volunteers join first!
- IT/Web Manager – Mobile technology can always benefit from tech support. Bring your IT/web person into your conditioning group in order to discuss ways to build your mobile community through web widgets and more!
As you can see, your mobile conditioning group could be quite large – but it doesn’t have to be that way to be. Just make sure to take the time to consider who you want to condition with in your organization and get started today! And look for our next blog post about other ways to “leap” ahead.
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Cassie Bair is the Director of Marketing at Mobile Accord. Cassie has worked with multiple nonprofits in marketing, strategic partnerships and cause marketing. mGive, a Mobile Accord service, educates, engages and empowers nonprofits and their stakeholders through our groundbreaking utilization of SMS (text message) technology. Contact Cassie by texting CASSIE to 50555. Message and Data rates may apply. For full terms visit www.mGive.com/E.
Categories: mGive Blog Tags: 2012, Effective Mobile Communication, marketing, mGiving, mobile giving, mobile marketer, mobile marketing, nonprofit, nonprofit technology network, nptech | 1 comment
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 | No comments
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 | No comments
