The smartphone is one of the most commonly owned devices in America, which makes it an attractive fundraising tool. There are many mobile fundraising solutions available to nonprofits such as mobile websites, text-to-donate services and fundraising apps.
- A mobile website is a version of your HTML website that is easier to navigate from a small screen and offers you the most customizable approach to accepting donations via a mobile device. Donors would go to your mobile website and make donations via credit or debit card. As a caution, creating a customized mobile platform may become too expensive and time consuming as you would need to add software to track donations and manage the donations in-house.
- Text-to-donate services work by having a donor text a keyword to a number, such as “Donate” to 55555. The cell phone carrier adds the donation to the donor’s phone bill and remits it to the text-to-donate service, which in turn remits it to the nonprofit after deducting processing fees. A text-to-donate service is easy to set up and is convenient for the donor because it doesn’t usually require credit card information to be entered. Most services have tracking software and reports that can be integrated into the organization’s controls.
- Fundraising apps work similar to the text-to-donate services but come with an interface that donors can use to track their donations. Some apps encourage donors by helping them make lifestyle changes, such as giving up a cup of coffee a day to donate the savings or running to donate $1 per mile ran. The apps can be customized with your logo and can have different campaigns and fundraising goals listed.
Organizations looking to connect with younger donors and make it quick and easy for them to donate should look into these mobile fundraising solutions.
I am a Partner for Hawkins Ash CPAs. I focus on providing audit services to tax credit projects, educational agencies, municipalities, nonprofit organizations, commercial enterprises, and housing authorities.
