The prediction that 2011 will be the year of the mobile looks more and more likely to bear fruit as three different organisations launch SMS and mobile giving services this week.
Following the dropping of fees charged by mobile companies on donations earlier in the year, removing the main barrier to effective SMS fundraising, companies have apparently been quick to develop mobile giving platforms and are already jostling for market position in the fundraising arena.
The launch of the Charities Aid Foundation’s SMS donation service on Monday has been followed by two announcements of new services and best value from new SMS specialists Txtlocal and new app ‘giveonthemobile’.
Txtlocal, which has been around for five years servicing big business such as Google and Ladbrokes, has begun its foray into the charity world. It's pitch is one based on price, boasting that it will deliver 100 per cent of donations made via text to its charity clients, which will pay a £50 set-up fee and a £240 annual or £25 monthly fee to use the service.
Chief executive of Txtlocal Alistair Shortland touted the benefits of his company’s service; “We want the charity to be the only beneficiary, so we have no handling fees and the lowest set up fees and running costs in the UK today.This is the first time this service has been on offer for such a low price, and we aim to be the third sector’s leading provider,” he said.
Meanwhile, CAF will charge a £20 a month per-keyword fee and a 2.5 per cent levy on each donation and newcomer giveonthemobile will cost charities £100 per year and take 3 per cent of the value of each donation from its service.
giveonthemobile, an app for smartphones and cheaper ‘feature phones’ developed by Polestar Digital Media, have already secured 20 charity clients including Christian Aid and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
New Philanthropy Capital’s head of strategy Tris Lumley said charities which don’t get on board with mobile fundraising could soon find themselves at a disadvantage. “With declining participation in giving over the last decade, and falling returns from traditional fundraising methods, charities that aren’t starting to take mobile giving seriously run the risk of getting left behind,” he said.
“Mobile’s arrived with a bang in the commercial sector, bringin with it all sorts of new opportunities around ubiquity and location. The question about mobile donations is not if, it’s when, charities get on board.”
