March 21, 2008
Charities Urged to Use Cellphone Messages to Get In Touch With Supporters
By Nicole Wallace
New Orleans
Text messages to mobile phones are going to become an increasingly important way for nonprofit organizations to reach out to their supporters, several speakers told participants here at the Nonprofit Technology Conference.
More than 1,100 charity technology officials, consultants, and company representatives are gathered here this week to discuss how charities can make the best use of technology in their work. The annual meeting is organized by the Nonprofit Technology Network, in Portland, Ore.
Text messaging has some real advantages over e-mail as a form of communication, said Dane R. Grams, online strategy director at the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington advocacy group that focuses on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues.
So far at least, mobile phones aren’t overrun with spam, he said, and while many people have multiple e-mail addresses — some of which they check infrequently — most only have one mobile number.
“We wanted to call on our most active supporters to act on a moment’s notice,” said Mr. Grams. “Most people have a single cellphone, and it’s always with them.”
The Human Rights Campaign has been experimenting with cellphone messages since August.
The organization sent advocacy messages encouraging members of the network to call their representatives in Congress to ask them to support the Matthew Shepard Act, which would strengthen federal hate-crime laws.
People who responded to the alert would first hear a message that suggested key points they should make in their conversations with Congressional staff members, and then they were connected to their representative’s office.
To date, the organization’s use of the medium for fund raising has been limited. At the end of January, as the group’s annual membership drive was coming to a close, it sent out text messages encouraging people to join or to renew their support.
But the Human Rights Campaign hopes to soon send out fund-raising appeals that would ask members of the mobile network that would connect people who want to make a gift to live operators who could take their information.
The Human Rights Campaign’s mobile network recently crossed the 10,000 subscriber threshold, and Mr. Grams said that has changed the way the organization thinks about cellphone campaigns.
“Nobody paid attention to this program before, and now people are starting to pay attention to it at HRC,” he said. “People are thinking about everything we do, every action we take, every program we run, how can we incorporate mobile.”
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Excellent strategy. There are far too many organizations needing substantial funding. We must find the most effective means to reach the Members and obtain an answer. Then forward the Text Message to others for additional support.
Networking in it’s truest sense, maximizing the medium we use.
— CSea Perkins Mar 21, 02:27 PM #
It’s great. Also the Human Rights Campaign is a Washington advocacy group that focuses on gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender issues.
I know this from some of my bisexual friends on the site BiLoves, which is exclusively for bisexuals and bicurious.
— villa Mar 22, 12:31 AM #
A drawback with cellphone-based campaigns for fundraising is that the services charges from the cell phone company and from the companies that facilitate this kind of fundraising end up taking around 50% of the donated amount. Our organization looked into this about 9 months ago, and at that time, each donation was limited to $10, and the service charges were right at 50%. We believe our donors would find that unacceptable (only 50% of the donation actually being received by us to support the organization’s work), and therefore decided not to get into “mobile” fundraising at this time. We hope in the future that this margin decreases to an acceptable level so that mobile fundraising becomes a fiscally sound and responsible option.
— TMStJohn Mar 24, 12:30 PM #
If I start getting text messages from any organization, I’ll cutoff gifts to it immediately. I don’t want or need that contact.
— J C A Mar 28, 03:16 PM #
I agree with J C A — no way am I going to support a charity that violates my confidentiality via cell.
— R F P Mar 31, 08:58 AM #
I agree with JCA and RFP! If an organization I was supported sent me a text message, I would cut them off! Enough is enough…our donors would be seriously turned off by this. The individuals promoting this are only promoting their own technology.
— Susan Fields Mar 31, 01:16 PM #
Every marketing seminar I attend has a speaker touting text messaging and e-mail blasts as the answer to reaching new audiences. Every person I speak to hates it,deletes it, doesn’t read it and is angered by it. This is a method best used by groups with a common bond or goal that want the latest info, not for general marketing.
— kb Apr 17, 03:30 PM #