June 23, 2013 | Read Time: 3 minutes
When the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute planned its annual Jimmy Fund Scooper Bowl, a June fundraising event that centers on an all-you-can-eat ice-cream festival, it added a new twist to its promotions.
On its ads promoting the event in Boston’s subway cars, for instance, it included a message that prompted riders to text the organization to get discounted tickets to the event. It also included a quick-response, or QR, code that linked to a site with more information about the event.
At another fundraising event, a radio telethon held annually at Fenway Park, the group found a donor who matched all mobile contributions.
Dana-Farber says such small gestures are paying off in big ways. Nineteen percent of the $13.6-million the cancer center raised online last year came from mobile sources. In 2011, mobile donations accounted for just 9 percent of its total online contributions.
“The dollars are small at the beginning, but we’re already seeing growth,” says Susan Paresky, senior vice president for development at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund. “It’s worth investing.”
Making Investments
Dana-Farber is among a growing number of nonprofits that have been preparing for the rise in the use of mobile devices. Smartphones and tablets account for about a quarter of all Web traffic. And the share of traffic from mobile devices is expected to overtake traffic from desktops sometime this year or next.
Still, many of the nation’s largest nonprofits haven’t yet taken steps to court mobile donors. In fact, of 135 large charities that provided The Chronicle with information about their mobile fundraising efforts, 43 percent said they have made no efforts to make it easier for donors to contribute on smartphones or tablets.
But those that are making the investment are seeing significant returns. Marine Toys for Tots Foundation says 21 percent of its online giving in 2012 came from mobile devices—an increase of 75 percent over the previous year. Children’s Hunger Fund doubled its share of mobile gifts, to 16 percent.
Creating Profiles
The health charity Movember has also taken aggressive steps to incorporate mobile appeals into its fundraising efforts.
The group already has its own social network, Mo Space, which allows its supporters to create online profiles and link to them on larger social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
During its 2012 fundraising campaign, when it asked men to spend the month of November growing mustaches in exchange for donations, Movember created a mobile app that allows members of that network to manage their profiles and solicit gifts.
“Mobile provides an immediacy that really fits well with what we call the Movember Journey, which is a very visual thing,” says Kory Klem, a digital strategist at Movember.
Mobile users accounted for 26 percent of Movember’s Web traffic and gave about 5 percent of the $131.1-million raised globally during its 2012 campaign.
The charity is now trying to make technical improvements to the app based on feedback that iPhone users had a smoother experience than those using some Android devices.
“The biggest takeaway is you have to be flexible,” Mr. Klem says. “It is impossible to predict how people are going to want to interact with you, so you have to have a presence online through social media and mobile.”
Going Mobile: Tips From Fundraisers
- Offer participants at special fundraising events the option of giving by text, or use quick response, or QR, codes to direct them to your Web sites donation page.
- Develop e-mail campaigns that appeal to smartphone users by sending messages with links to donation pages and simple images that are easy to read on mobile devices.
- Create campaigns that take advantage of a smartphones capabilities and the ways people view and share information on such devices.
Emma Carew Grovum contributed to this article.
