Are We There Yet?… Non-Profit Adoption of Mobile Giving

Some Background

In February 2010, Kaptivate worked with sector partners to launch a timely market survey (use link to access pdf of complete results).  This survey sought to gauge the rate of mobile adoption among non-profits as well as to provide insight into the key factors impacting how they perceive the mobile medium.  Specifically, the survey asked:

• What is appealing about the mobile opportunity?
• What are the challenges hindering integration of this marketing channel?
• What can be gleaned from the experiences of early adopting peers?
• What is mobile’s potential?

The survey findings reveal strong interest in mobile’s potential but also frustration in getting started.  In short, responses were reminiscent of the family car ride: everyone’s excited by visions of the destination but distracted by the arduous journey.  So, “Are we there yet?”  Well, we’re on the road and we know a few shortcuts.

Interest in Mobile

Survey responses revealed growing interest in mobile fundraising as well as a growing likelihood that non-profits will take the plunge into mobile in the near term.  A full 36% of respondents are currently using or planning to go mobile in the next 12 months.

While interest grows, non-profits are also pre-occupied by weighing the pros and cons for mobile.  This exercise is especially frustrating for leadership because they simply don’t know what they don’t know.  Respondents need more education on the potential, the pitfalls, and best practices.  Despite these concerns, a good number (30%) are willing to explore mobile giving but fear their small size precludes their participation.  This concern is not baseless.  As it turns out, the major wireless carriers require charitable applicants to demonstrate annual income of at least $500,000 to be eligible for text-based giving programs.

In line with these comments, a strong majority of respondents (83%) believed mobile would improve donor convenience as well as reinforce donor engagement (74%) and donor acquisition (69%) activities for their organizations.  Although many cited donor engagement as part of mobile’s promise, almost 50% also viewed the current mobile giving options as lacking the ability to cultivate donors.

This impression may be derived from text-based giving where communication exchange is very limited and wireless carriers preclude access to donor information beyond the mobile phone number.  As one respondent notes, “our mission is too complex to understand in a text campaign.”

Early Adopters

A key objective of the survey was to identify early adopters and solicit their real-world view of mobile giving along with their best practices.  Given the extraordinary results for the Haiti relief effort—over $30 million raised—the Early Adopter experience contrasts sharply with this recent success; their initial results have also fallen well below their own expectations.    Some responses were despondent: “Honestly we are withering on the vine.  Nothing is working and nobody cares.”

The Early Adopters may not have scored the runs they expected in their first inning but they haven’t given up on the game.  For many of the respondents with active mobile programs, the opportunity will only get better as they hone their marketing skills in this new medium, and more flexible technology platforms improve the user experience.

Reworking the Roadmap

We can categorize non-profit recommendations on user experience enhancements into three headings:

• Stronger engagement
• Better service
• Enhanced convenience.

If a better user experience builds momentum for supporter adoption, what features make mobile a “game changer” for non-profits?  A consensus formed around the following wants and potential uses:

Wants

• Better transaction options
• Analytics
• Less dependence on wireless carriers
• More donor adoption

Potential Uses

• Social networking
• Cause marketing
• Grassroots advocacy

The promise of “flash mobilizing,” “attracting younger donors,” and “driving traffic to stores,” still excites many organizations and fuels their interest in the mobile opportunity—an opportunity that some are beginning to view as far more than a fund-raising channel.

Getting There

This survey helped to confirm our perspective on mobile and reinforce our view that the best opportunity and value for non-profits lies in mobile web application technology.  Mobile web applications provide the flexibility, control, affordability, and user experience that address the challenges faced by mobile Early Adopters as well as the needs of non-profits aspiring to use mobile media.  These applications do not depend on a wireless carrier intermediary—eliminating the restrictions on an organization’s size; expediting the receipt of funds; and removing restrictions on the value or frequency of donations.  Moreover, good mobile web apps also avoid dependencies on specific mobile devices (i.e., Apple’s iPhone) and the web-based technology is familiar to users.  Perhaps, the most compelling argument for the mobile web relates to its ability to evolve at a pace equal to this dynamic medium.  Unlike SMS Text, mobile web apps can adopt new, added value functionality through simple interfaces.

For these reasons, we believe the mobile web represents the next generation of mobile giving and engagement and makes the case for moving to mobile now.  To appreciate this leap in capabilities we encourage you to visit one of the mobile web app leaders, CharityCall, and make a fresh assessment of what mobile can mean for your organization.

Conclusion

So, are we there yet?  No, but we’re making progress.  The survey results reveal a nascent channel brimming with promise but also hampered by the many unanswered questions on how best to use it.  There is a real need for education on what the medium can do and not do.  For early adopters, and those following in their wake, marketing and promotional insight in the form of options, resources, and best practices will prove crucial to success.  Without this guidance, many initiatives launching mobile as a standalone panacea for declining support will end in disappointment.

We should all be excited by the prospect of a mobile channel that can do more than manage a donation transaction.  In the coming months and years, this growing media may hold the key for visionaries that want to engage their supporters, parishioners, and alumni and beneficiaries in a mission that has relevance anytime and anywhere.

Have Network, Will Travel: Merging Social and Mobile Media

No one doubts the emerging influence and opportunity of social media and mobile technology but everyone questions their ability to take advantage of the opportunity.  The answer may lie in creating a symbiotic approach to both.

In January, the mobile analytics company Flurry, reported that social media apps were visited more frequently than any other category including news and games.  Remarkably, these social media apps were visited over 20 times a month far outpacing the second place news category.   Flurry attributes the social media appeal (double the attraction of news and four times that of game apps) to a user experience that can be more relevant than the news and more entertaining than entertainment.

So if the integration of social and mobile media is the wave of the future, how do you avoid being a paddlepuss?

First, recognize that mobile socialites aren’t looking for a dissertation on your cause.  They consume short bits of information on a frequent basis—which may explain Twitter’s explosive growth.  So, make it relevant, keep it short, and keep it coming.

Next, use your social media assets to drive compelling content to your mobile supporters.  Why recreate the content wheel?  Use the mobile web to push your existing content out to a mobile audience.  In turn, find opportunities to drive your LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter crowd to your mobile web apps or mobile web sites.  These opportunities might include a call to action—make a donation for a special appeal—request for feedback via a quick survey or get more information on how to push legislative action.  In many ways, mobile can empower these networks to act with immediacy and as a collective.

Finally, there are also some interesting alternatives to the usual social media suspects.  The mobile arena is also fostering the emergence of several mobile-only social networks like BrightKite.  These emerging pure plays are taking advantage of mobile attributes such as GPS and instant photo publishing to make local connections on the fly.  These players create some interesting possibilities for volunteerism, events, and local crowdsourcing.  If you really want to brand the network experience, you can also take a look at what some consumer brands are doing: launching their own social networks.

Regardless of what you do, don’t wait.  Be creative…be strategic…and keep it simple.   And it certainly wouldn’t hurt to keep coming back to the Ring of Fire!

Apple: Despot or Defender of the Faith?

As the mobile device becomes “the answer on everything”—credit Eric Schmidt of Google for the hyperbole—the mobile competitors maneuver for advantage.  In the midst of this jockeying for position, Apple has shown that true advantage stems from simple values, not tactical ingenuity.  For Apple the plan is simple: own the best user experience on the planet.

Apple’s singleness of purpose comes at a cost.  Over the last few weeks, it has been roundly criticized for restricting developers’ rights.  Critics decry Apple’s decision to reject location-based functionality designed primarily for mobile advertising.  The decision, perceived as a huge surprise, revived old claims of Apple despotism and the hidden agenda of Steve Jobs, its Dark Prince.

Now, I won’t deny that Apple’s executive team may have nuanced motives behind their decisions but the core (and public) motive remains the same: defend the user experience.  Put another way, and to borrow a line from Barry Goldwater: “…extremism in the defense of the [user experience] is no vice.” It’s a value non-profits need to adopt.

Many non-profits limit discussion of the “user experience” because it’s perceived as ancillary to mission-focus.  But I would argue that this notion is misguided.  Without building a passion for the mission among your supporters, as Apple has accomplished with a delighted and fiercely loyal consumer base, you put the mission at risk.  Take for example, Kivi Leroux Miller’s recent experiment aimed at gauging charity response to unsolicited gifts. After donating $20 to an array of big brand charities and providing them with her contact information, few organizations acknowledged the gift and even fewer went beyond an auto-generated email message.

If you’re looking for another example, just ask the many donors who have used mobile texting to support the Haiti relief effort. In one prominent survey, conducted just after peak giving, donors were asked whether they would give via mobile texting again.  The answer, delivered by 69% of respondents, was a resounding: NO.  Don’t get me wrong.  Giving, derived from mobile texting, is one of the extraordinary stories of the Haiti relief effort.  Nevertheless, a review of Red Cross chat sessions during this response revealed why so many were disenchanted.   Donors described their experience as frustrating, complicated, burdened by hidden costs, and limited to select carriers.  So while the results in support of Haiti have been great, text-based giving may have a limited run.

So how can non-profits emulate Apple’s zeal for the great user experience?  Take Bridget Brandt’s advice and start by living the donor experience yourself.  Approach your organization through its various contact points and assess whether you can connect to the mission and culture.  While I’ve been a booster for mobile giving, I’ve always said text-based giving was not an intuitive or compelling experience. Mobile giving can be superbly quick, convenient, and engaging for donors but that experience needs the richer and more flexible medium of the mobile web.  It’s the most significant reason I have been a strong proponent of CharityCall.

If you really want to don the mantle of Mr. Jobs, go the next step and transform your donor’s experience from positive to powerfully unique.  Build a brand committed to fulfill the promises of your mission.  Don’t follow the crowd or be cowed by the naysayers.  Dare to innovate and engage.

Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.—Steve Jobs

Launching the Ring of Fire

So why the Ring of Fire?  Let me address the name first, then set objectives.  No, we don’t have a Johnny Cash fetish–although the man in black is worthy.   It’s more about imagery (the rings on our Kaptivate brand) and an expression of the passion we have for the work we do.

We’re committed to improving how non-profit organizations address constituent engagement because we’ve seen so much opportunity lost to assumption, opinion, and unchecked “navel-gazing”.   We’re on a mission to get great organizations to foster dialogue with their constituents–whether they’re citizens, donors, supporters, or stakeholders.  It’s our conviction that these conversations are essential to  innovation,  sustainable funding, and the collaboration necessary to truly gauge progress against mission objectives.

So now that we’ve set the stage, we hope you’ll join this conversation and help make the Ring of Fire a forum for discussion, debate, and discovery.