Not cool for cool's sake...

I blogged about how happy I am to be working with Child's i on their mobile giving strategy over on the Open Fundraising blog the other day. In that post is a web form so readers can sign up to a regular gift by SMS for Child's i. They are an amazing charity - I'd urge you to research them and support them.

I'm writing about it again here because Mobilise, is one of the best things I've been involved with for ages. This year has been all about innovation in the truest sense of the word and the work the team and I have done on the Mobilise platform has made me very very proud.

Enabling web sign ups is just one of Mobilise's amazing features, I love the form because like all good ideas it answers an actual client need. It's not cool for cool's sake, it helps our clients do something better. It helps them raise more money.



Digital fundraising is great, I'm obsessed by it, but its greatest problem has always been checkout. Anyone who looks at the data knows that in most cases at least 50% of the people who start the process of giving you a donation online don't complete. Staggering. So they are interested enough in you and your work to start the process - but get bored, don't have the information they need close by or just get irratated by the form.

Our job as fundraisers is to inspire people to take an action. When we've done that it's our job to make it as easy as possible for them to take the action. In this case you enter your mobile number in the box, hit the 'Set up £3 monthly gift' button and reply YES to the SMS you will receive seconds later. Then you're giving £3 a month to Child's i. No name, address, or bank details required, none of that - just decide to give, enter your number and reply to the text.

So it's really good and I'm really proud. Lots of people are tuning in to mobile in the fundraising space, which is great for the sector. In 2013 my colleagues and I at Open are determined to push the boundaries of mobile and fundraising even further - while we aren't arrogant enough to think we've cracked single or regular mobile giving - we are going to spend time figuring out what next, we've got a clue what it is and can't wait to move the market on some more.

The legal bit. If you set up a Mobilise gift, you can Stop at anytime by replying STOP. If for whatever reason you don’t want to give, reply SKIP to your monthly text and you will skip a payment. This service only works for UK mobiles, at the moment.