Last night I went to an event organised by 160characters and the Mobile Entertainment Forum called Sending Out an SMS: Charities Prepare To Go Mobile.<\/p>\n
Although charities have been slow to pick up the potential offered by mobile the barriers to adoption are crumbling. With a growing number and range of successful case studies, the removal of VAT on donations by mobile (see charitytext.org) and with the almost total ubiquity of mobile phones, charities need to take a close look at how to make the best of mobile.<\/p>\n
This was an especially interesting event, given the news that O2 announced this week, where charities of all sizes will now be able to receive an estimated extra 10p in the pound for text donations of up to \u00a310 made via dedicated 70 prefix short codes.<\/p>\n
The speakers on the night were:<\/p>\n
Organisations present on the night included:<\/p>\n
Charities Aid Foundation, Bright One<\/a>, Amnesty International, Long Reach Mobile, mBlox<\/a>,MX Telecom, Mobile Entertainment Forum, ITN ON, Vertu, Phonepay Plus, Pay By Mobile,BBC, Water Aid, PayPal<\/a>, Shelter, Mobile Data Association, O2, Mobile Interactive Technology, Incentivated<\/a> and nfpSynergy.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s my notes from each of the speeches:<\/p>\n Mike Short \u2013 Chairman, Mobile Data Association and VP, O2<\/strong><\/p>\n There was no interoperability of texting until 1998 and the UK didn\u2019t have shortcodes or cross industry promotion until the early 90s. In 1999, 1 billion text messages were sent in the UK, which rose to 78 Billions texts sent in the UK in 1998. The MDA is expecting more than 2 Billion a week <\/em>in the UK to be recorded this year, which adds up to over 100 million.<\/p>\n Why haven\u2019t charities benefiited from this uptake? It\u2019s been to do with the mobile industry, the Inland Revenue, and gtting the right processes in place. But now we have the 70 shortcode initative, all operators should fall in line and IR treat everyone equally, with no VAT taken.<\/p>\n Text donations are encouraged by strong national campaigns. For example, with the Tsunami Relief campaign, over 1 million text donations were sent within days. Similar take up has been seen with the\u00a0 Bhurma Relief and Children in Need campaigns,<\/p>\n O2 recently announced their changes to text giving, with 90p out of every \u00a31 going to the charity. This is not 100% as there are operator costs, such as antifraud, network, and anti-competitive procedures.<\/p>\n Will other operators do the same? With 83 million subscriptions in the UK today, it\u2019s wrong that we\u2019re not giving more to charities by the most efficient way, e.g. text. We now have a mechanism, but we\u2019ve got to do it right<\/p>\n Andrew Jackson \u2013 Head of Client Services, Mobile Interactive Technology (MIT)<\/strong><\/p>\n MIT were involved with March\u2019s Comic Relief campaign, which saw 7.8 million rasied through text donation. Lots of people were happy to donate \u00a35 by text, as this is a nice sum of money. They wouldn\u2019t do this before as they were ashamed to call the phone line and to say down the phone \u201cI\u2019d like to donate \u00a35\u2033. This is seen as too little.<\/p>\n Text giving has taken off because it is anonymous, you can give small amounts , and it is a simple process. texting is simple, easy, quick, second nature, which makes it ideal for a youth audience. For example, during Comic Relief,\u00a0Radio 1 encouraged \u00a31 donation and made it a fun thing to do.<\/p>\n This kind of take up only really happens for 2\/3 big events a year, such as\u00a0 Comic Relief orChildren In Need. What workes well is giving tangible items that donations will pay for, e.g. a \u00a35 donation will pay for a mosquito net. Charities need to think about what tangible items can people say they have bought through a \u00a35 donation?<\/p>\n Some further tips:<\/p>\n Robert Thurner \u2013 Commercial Director, Incentivated<\/strong>:<\/p>\n The one key driver behind the growth of the mobile industry has been text, which is still growing by over 30% a year. On the consumer side, there are better handsets, flat rate data plans and better content (e.g. social networks).<\/p>\n But what\u2019s holding up charitable giving via text? Firstly, the money that is going to the Inland Revenue rather tha the charity. Secondly, education and awareness on ways to donate, and explaining how it works with other parts of the campaign. Lastly, engagement \u2013 what\u2019s the difference the text donation makes?<\/p>\n Charities need good CRM systems, so they can see exactly how donors have responded, then et up bespoke campaigns around this, e.g. thanks for donation, invites to volunteering and events, return donations. Measurement and ROI is also important and should work with CRM databases to undertand other parts of the campaign\u00a0 mix and add mobile data to this. This gives proof that text donation works and charities can check how effective mobile is compared to other channels. For example, during a recent Macmillan Campaign, 60% of donations came via text, 30% via their call centre, and 10% via post.<\/p>\n Charities also need to think about where they are looking to use text \u2013 volunteers, donations, thank you messages, awareness, mobile sites?<\/p>\n Gift Aid is powerful media ally and text is a good tool for internal Comms, a\u00a0 good way of getting back to people on a regular basis.<\/p>\n MIT also offered charities a free text shortcode, domain and campaign management campaign, so get in touch with them to find out more.<\/p>\n Joe Saxton \u2013 founder and driver of ideas at nfpSynergy<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Joe is the author of the \u2018Sending Out an SMS\u2019 report, which is available from nfpSynergy. To get an increased take up in text donations, we need case studies, such as Comic Relief, and a need to work on getting charges lower. We\u2019ve made progress, as just 1 year ago of every \u00a31.50 donation only 95p went to charity. Now it\u2019s even better, with O2 announcing that 90p out of every pound donated via text goes to the charity.<\/p>\n The mobile industry should develop a win:win situation with charities. Younger donors are giving in a way they\u2019ve never given before, which means that the mobile industry can get more people giving more money earlier on. But price points have been putting off charities.<\/p>\n Marathons are a fantastic opportunity for text donations. Runners could print shortcodes on their t-shirts. This spontaneity and opportunism can raise \u00a3100 million more if implemented next year in time for the London Marathon and is well achievable within 5 year time span<\/p>\n Charities need to get act together though, as lots don\u2019t keep numbers or records or text donors. They need to get other operators to follow O2\u2032s suit and need to get automatic Gift Aid via text bounce back. Currently most charges apply VAT, but as financial transactions don\u2019t attract VAT, neither should text donations. If it just money changing hands, e.g. donation, VAT should be 0%.<\/p>\n It needs to be sustainb;e though, as charities can\u2019t expect operators big or small give special deals. Giving by mobile phone should be integral part of people\u2019s lives, so how can we get more peeple giving more money in more ways than ever before?<\/p>\n There is a real opportunity through a win:win situation \u2013 operators, agreggators and charities can all make money through text donations.<\/p>\n My Overall Comments<\/strong><\/p>\n Have you ever donated to a charity via text? If you are a charity, do you receive text donations? If you don\u2019t, will you set up a short code using the new 70 shortcode\u00a0 service?\n
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