JustGiving received almost two million visits to its website from mobiles last month, representing almost four-fold growth over the past year.

Elizabeth Kessick, head of insight at JustGiving, told delegates at the Lasa Mobile Technology Summit this week that visits to its mobile site increased from 8 per cent of the total number of visits to its website in January 2011 to around 30 per cent in June, amounting to a total of 1,854,586 visits.

This can be explained by the growth in the numbers of smartphone users in the UK, she said, but reminded charities that they “need to understand mobile users and how they use their phones”.  She explained that mobile users access sites during “snack-time” for short periods and are looking for a simpler, more pared-down experience.

Kessick also revealed that the number of charities that have signed up to JustTextGiving since it launched a year ago is 15,000 and that the number of individual fundraisers is 30,000.

Paul de Gregorio, head of mobile at Open Fundraising, added that charities need to “engage with text” in order to reach the next generation of donors, even if it means they don’t find out much about those donors.