Kelly Ripa Launches Text-A-Thon Campaign with MobileCause to benefit Ovarian Cancer Research

During September, Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, you can help us raise funds and awareness to support the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Donate $5 now to help fund research to find a cure.

Plus, every day you log on to Kelly Confidential, you'll be entered for a chance to win a front load washer and dryer in Turquoise Sky, the color inspired by the teal ribbon of ovarian cancer awareness.

MobileCause provided the Text2Give solution that allows donations to be made through a caller's mobile phone.

The #1 Charity to follow on Twitter is...

Note: We just added a cool new app called Apture. Try clicking on the links in this article...it brings up info and videos without leaving the page.

According to Paste Magazine Twitter offers one of the best ways to connect with charities and Charity: Water does it better than anyone. We're thrilled to have entered into a new partnership with Charity: Water to enable anyone with a phone to donate by simply sending a one word text message. We'll let you know as soon as the campaign kicks in. In the meantime, follow our friends on Twitter (you could be follower #565,607). By the way, have you seen Jennifer Connelly in this amazing video promo?





In the same article, we noticed another one of our clients made #6 in the Best Charities on Twitter list. Our friends at Invisible Children have done an amazing job of utilizing social media to spread the word about the atrocities in Uganda and the children who are forced to be soldiers in Joseph Kony's army. Show your support for them by texting RESCUE to 20222 to donate $5. This is a brand new campaign (Verizon customers may have to wait a week or two more before it is active). Remember, your tax-deductible donation will show up on your phone bill. Follow Invisible Children on Twitter.

By the way, are you following MobileCause on Twitter?

Do you know of a great cause that could use some help connecting with new audiences and donors via mobile? Let us know...

Estimated $5 Million Raised via Text Donations this Year

Why ask potential donors to pull out their checkbook or credit card when they are inclined to give?

As I mentioned in a blog post months ago, Micro-Giving will be the hottest fundraising trend of 2009. According to an article today, VeriSign and the Mobile Giving Foundation expect that more than $5 million will be raised this year via mobile charitable giving.

Text donations (MobileCause is one of the few ASPs provisioned thru all major carriers) take a matter of seconds for web-savvy Gen-Y-ers and the charge shows up on their phone bill.

As MobileCause has been doing for the past 3 years with our Text2Broadcast platform, more nonprofits will also encourage donors to opt into mobile programs to receive alerts, updates and news of events through SMS messages. Personalized messages will also improve the relationship between nonprofit and donor, especially in these hard economic times when charities normally struggle for funds and attention.

Read more about this and other mobile trends in today's article on Mobile Marketing.

Ten Reasons Mobile Giving will be the Bright Spot in Fundraising for 2009...

This post is a response to a commentary made by a traditional fundraising consultancy.

"One major question we continue to ask ourselves is what is the value of a $5 text donation? Our traditional fundraising research shows us that donors who give low dollar amounts (such as $5), have a commensurately low lifetime donor value. Often, we’ve found that the cost to cultivate (i.e. mail, email, call, etc.) these donors exceeds the donation income they provide. In other words, we end up LOSING money in cultivating donors who give very small amounts."

First of all, I'm glad they're bringing attention to micro-giving. We believe (along with Forrester Research, Mobile Marketer, and others) that micro-giving will be one of the trends to watch in 2009 and following. They are correct that in previous "traditional research," small one-time donors may have a lower lifetime value, but these studies have not accounted for the new developments in text donations.

Here are 10 reasons why Text Donations will be the be the trend to watch and why every Cause should consider adding Mobile to their Donor Engagement tool belt.

1. Turns a mobile phone user into a donor in less than a minute (no credit card, web access, phone operators necessary!)
2. Donation is tax-deductible and shows up on the caller’s phone bill.
3. Engages the donor at the closest point of emotional engagement. (we carry our phones at all times!)
4. Caller can text-donate up to 5 times per month (5x per billing cycle)
   
5. $10 donations are now possible (as of March 2009)
6. Recurring donations will be available soon. That means sending a one-word text message instantly turns a caller into a $120/year donor! Wow.
7. The Call-to-Action couldn’t be easier to remember–across all types of media channels. Pick up your mobile phone and try this sample: text GIVE to 27138. (no donation will be transacted. It is a sample to show how easy it is)
   
8. Used in conjunction with other mobile engagement tools (like text2broadcast and text2screen), organizations can build consistent and lasting relationships with donors.
9. As of 2008, all major carriers have waived 100% of their fees for approved 501c-3 orgs who partner with a qualified service provider like MobileCause. (Elsewhere in the world, the carriers still charge up to 50%)
   
10. Response rates have shown to be 10%-40% compared to 1% - 3% for direct mail and other types of donor acquisition methods.

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Things are moving extremely fast with Mobile Technology and we are thrilled to partner with the Mobile Giving Foundation to help organizations like Open Doors, Focus on the Family, Invisible Children, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Sparrow Clubs and so many others fulfill their mission in effective new ways.

Follow us on Twitter and let us know how we can help you Mobilize your Cause.

Using the Power of Stories...and Mobile to Change Lives

We're proud to announce that the organization, Invisible Children is our newest client/partner at MobileCause.

MobileCause will be providing Text2Screen services at events throughout the country as well as the ability to donate to the cause by simply sending in a one-word text message.

About Invisible Children:
Motivated by the unseen war in Northern Uganda, Invisible Children was created by three young filmmakers with a singular mission:
To use the power of stories to change lives around the world.
read more

Every Non-profit should have mobile Tools

excerpted from Mickey Alam Khan's post today

Average individual donations are falling to below the $10-level, especially when large nonprofits such as the American Red Cross suck up all the household charity budgets during hurricanes and large-scale calamities.

So it is critical for smaller nonprofits, and even the bigger charities such as the Red Cross or The Salvation Army, to raise donations by text to rapidly respond to emergencies.

The Red Cross, for example, has successfully worked with the wireless carriers to encourage $5 donations for its disaster relief fund. The organization raised more than $200,000 in its most recent September through December appeal.

Subscribers of participating wireless carriers can donate $5 up to five times per month by texting the keyword GIVE to 2HELP (24357).

Charges for these donations will appear on the subscriber’s mobile phone bill each month. They can also be debited from prepaid account balances for those mobile consumers without a contract.

Standard text messaging rates may apply to those texted donations.

Other charities can follow the Red Cross’ example. Publicize the short code on the direct mail, email and Web sites. Encourage donors to sign up with the mobile program. Strike a similar billing relationship as the Red Cross did with the carriers and also work with an SMS aggregator.

Building a mobile database not only will save smaller charities in these hard-pressed times, but will also result in repeat donations.

Mobile also cuts creative, printing and postage costs out of a charity’s operations. Thus, a larger percentage of the donations can go to the actual cause for which the funds are raised.

Check out this SlideShare Presentation of MobileCause Services

http://tinyurl.com/8cg7ja

Advertisers and Charities are "All Thumbs" in 2009

According to Nielsen Mobile, we know the typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends and receives more SMS text messages than telephone calls. Be honest. Do you know anyone (with a pulse) who doesn't have a mobile phone? They may not all be "textperts" but we all know the audience is huge and growing rapidly (roughly 500% increase in two years).

The big advertisers are paying attention: Coke engaged over 1 million mobile customers in Q3 of 2008 for the My Coke Rewards program.

Politicians are listening: Obama revealed his pick for running mate via SMS (text message) to millions of anxious mobile subscribers.

Hotels are getting heads in beds: Marriott reported more than $1.25 million in gross revenue in the first 100 days since the hotel chain introduced direct mobile Web bookings.

Restaurants are putting mobile where the mouth is: Papa Johns Pizza reported $1million in revenue from mobile phone pizza orders in just 6 months.

Charities, however, may be the biggest winners: According to 2009 forecasts, charities will benefit from micro giving. Donors who normally write checks or call in with a credit card can now text in a donation and leave their wallet and checkbooks alone. 2008 marked the first year a non-profit organization could receive a donation via text message without the carriers taking a cut. The result? Donations made via mobile phones this first year surpassed all donations made online in its first year (1997). Annual online donations have grown to a whopping $10 billion for 2007, but you can expect exponential increases for mobile giving as well.

According to Nic Covey, Chicago-based director of insights for Nielsen, “The text-message audience is there, it’s now up to marketers to create a reason that consumers would want to relate to them through such a personal and immediate medium."

In addition to the core financial needs facing non-profit organizations, Causes have struggled with the perception that they are simply advertisers trying to sell us something. The audience is there. The means to communicate are in place. Now it simply comes down to the Message.

This is what has us here at MobileCause so excited. It's the ability for causes to reach a large audience with a convenient, timely message and allow them to interact and give wherever they are.

What will that Message be? We'll keep you posted.

The audience is all ears.
...and all thumbs.

“There has never been an easier way to donate to a good cause”

Big Brothers Big Sisters implements new technology that allows donations to be made via mobile phones

Kansas City, Mo. -- Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Kansas City announces today, that they will be among the first non-profits in the country to use mobile phones as a way to contribute financial gifts via text messaging.

BBBS-KC has partnered with MobileCause and the Mobile Giving Foundation to offer this technology to their members and supporters. BBBS-KC has partnered with the Mobile Giving Foundation to provide another avenue for individuals to help match kids in Kansas City with adult role models and friends. Interested people simply text the word give (G-I-V-E) to the number 20222 from their mobile phone. They will instantaneously be sent an opt in message in which upon approval will donate $5 to BBBS-KC. The $5 fee will be added to their mobile phone bill at the end of the month. Each user may text this message up to five times per month.

“There has never been an easier way to donate to a good cause,” Micheal Lawrence, Executive Director of BBBS-KC said. “By simply texting us you will be donating $5 to our agency. A small amount, that over time will add up for our agency, allowing us to reach more children. We urge any one out there that has ever been a Big, a Little, or a friend or family member of a Big or Little to help support us in this small donation that could go a long way.”

Giving Predictions for 2009

Charlene Li of Forrester Research (and co-author of Groundswell) just released her emerging media predictions for 2009. At the top of the list? A mention of Charitable Giving:

Non-profits will recognize the potential of bringing on these virtual community organizers, especially their ability to raise money in tiny increments in a down economy. So despite a raging recession, charitable giving will new numerous new -- albeit smaller -- sources of contributions.

read more

Earthday Web Polls

Below is a Draft of the Web Polls for the Jumbotrons at the EarthDay Celebration in the National Mall in Washington DC (4/19/09). If you would like to try out the Text versions of these polls, click here. We appreciate your comments!

Provided by MobileCause, the mobile fundraising specialists

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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MobileCause EarthDay Polls (be patient while they load)

Below is a draft of the Text Polls for the Jumbo-trons at the EarthDay Celebration in the National Mall in Washington DC (4-19-2009). We expect 50k-100k people! We appreciate your participation...and comments! If you would like to try out the Web versions of these polls, click here.
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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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Make your own poll voting question with MobileCause

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MobileCause and Disney Partner for "Heart of Gold" Sweepstakes

From December 3rd through December 17th, the "Disney Princess: Heart of Gold" campaign will engage consumer participation via text messaging, by calling on the public to send a text message keyword to a special short-code phone number. In return, Disney will donate $1 for every text message that is received, for a grand total donation of up to $50,000.
Consumer participants in this mobile texting campaign will be automatically entered to win a grand prize consisting of Disney Princess products and a $10,000 donation in their name to the Toys for Tots chapter nearest them. Additionally, as a 'golden thank you' every participant will receive a phone call the next day with a special greeting from Cinderella herself! http://mobilecause.com/Cinderella.MobileCause.wav