How Charities Are Increasingly Using Mobile Technology

Blackbaud’s recent report into the state of the not-for-profit industry shows that alongside charities’ growing use of social media, mobile is also among the mediums they increasingly resort to for marketing purposes.

The report from the fundraising software provider, which is built on responses from 592 charitable organisations in the UK and Ireland, reveals that focus on mobile technology among not-for-profit groups is growing, since this helps better communicate their cause and raise more funds.

In the UK in particular, the percentage of charities that have optimised their websites for mobile devices increased to 35% in 2013 from 28% a year earlier. A quarter of organisations also use QR codes, compared to just one in ten the previous year, and 36% have optimised their e-mail messages for mobile against 20% in 2012.

Charities also utilise mobile technology to back their fundraising efforts, particularly to keep in line and make use of the growing popularity of SMS giving in recent years. Blackbaud found that over seven in ten charities currently use or plan to use text giving as a technique to drive donations. Organisations have also ramped up the use of information from a donor/alumni database, with their share going up to 10% from 6% in 2012. The percentage of those using mobile devices to gather donations outside the office, through face-to-face solicitation, special events, and other techniques, remained unchanged at 12%.

Charities that were more likely to be relying on mobile technology to back their fundraising initiative were, unsurprisingly, the larger ones. However, charities of all sizes indicated plans to leverage mobile technology in the near future.