Dare to try something new

Mobile giving to Haiti through the Red Cross alone hit $29 million according to the Chronicle for Philanthropy. Nearly $30 million collected in $10 gifts via text message to just one non-profit! I think this speaks volumes to the philanthropic nature of the American public but also is indicative of our collective willingness to make a small donation via cell phone. Certainly there is an opportunity here for higher education to add to its bank of fundraising tools. I don't think we've yet maximized the potential for online giving but, yes, I am recommending that we consider yet another tool - text message giving. This doesn't necessarily mean we implement it tomorrow, but we prepare today so that we can be in a better position to execute on a mobile giving campaign down the road - and that timeframe will likely be a little different for every institution.

The steps to preparing are fairly obvious:
- Collecting mobile phone numbers
- Collecting permission to text constituents
- Evaluating a provider (I'd love to hear from readers who have positive feedback on any of the providers.)

There's no reason not to start preparing now.

As seniors graduate, they will move from location to location and will not likely have a landline - but they will keep their mobile number. Same goes for young alumni who are likely changing jobs along their career path. So while we're collecting that number for the phone program, let's start collecting text message permission also.

As you plan an "update contact information" campaign with giveaways, make the prize dependent on the ability to text the winner so that you can ensure the entries will have correct mobile numbers.

I was in Atlanta last week visiting with a few institutions and discussed text message fundraising quite a bit. There are some valid concerns - 1) the provider costs, 2) that we'll move a $100 donor to a $10 gift level, 3) it'll be difficult to tie text donations into participation totals if the donors don't self-identify. These are valid concerns, but I believe that we can work through them - if we don't try and risk failing, we're never going to hit one out of the park, as Scott said in his last post. And doesn't every institution have a group of non-donors who aren't responding to what is currently being done? Mobile giving could be the way to get them on board. Through creative mini-campaigns and integration of mobile giving into your other fundraising efforts, you could chip away at that chunk of non-donors in $5 or $10 increments.

As fundraisers competiting in a growing pool of non-profits, we need to be more aggressive and consider how to use tools in a different way and how to incorporate new tools into our plans.