Bucking the trend of technology that allows people to tell everyone that they’ve checked into their local restaurant, cafe or bar, Reboot has developed a smartphone app that helps users “check out” of the internet altogether. The app ironically will use technology to shut down technology. Think of it as rehab for the smartphone. By using technology, the Sabbath Manifesto app is intended to spur a massive movement away from technology on the National Day of Unplugging, March 4-5, 2011 and beyond, and a return to the values inherent in a modern day of rest: reconnecting with family, friends and the world around them. The inverse of tools like FourSquare that allow you to check into a venue or location and notify friends where you are, the new Sabbath Manifesto app, for the iPhone, Android, … Continue Reading
U.K. Direct Debit Donations Increase
The value and number of direct debit donations to U.K. charities rose through-out 2009. The volume of direct debit donations increased by 2.7 per cent in the ten months between January 2009 and November, while the value of the donations rose similarly marginally - increasing from an average monthly gift of £7.46 to £7.60. … Continue Reading
The Downside to Mobile Giving
from The Chronicle of Philanthropy (Prospecting): Cellphone Giving Not Without Its Potential Drawbacks, Says Advocate The unprecedented success of text-message giving after last week’s earthquake in Haiti is not without potential drawbacks, according to a leading proponent of cellphone fund raising. “The upside is that it lets people respond very quickly,” says Katrin Verclas, co-founder of MobileActive.org. “That’s great because it allows organizations to develop a donor base of people who they wouldn’t necessarily otherwise get.” But she says, there’s a danger that some of those $5 and $10 gifts might be coming at the expense of donations that would have been larger had the donor gone to the charity’s Web site. from frogloop.com: Nonprofits: Time to Get … Continue Reading
Pros and Cons of Donating via Text Messaging
from Business Week: Haiti Earthquake Provokes Wave of Text Donations It's unclear yet whether the text campaigns will succeed in raising more money overall for Haitian relief efforts by convincing the younger generation to give, or whether the phenomenon represents a shift in the way people give, rather than an expansion of generosity. Another open question is whether individuals who have access to corporate matching contributions - thus doubling the impact of individual donations - will bother to do so with the text donations. (Some corporate matching funds won't match donations under a certain amount.) "We don't have benchmarks for this yet," says Katherina Rosqueta, executive director of the Center for High Impact Philanthropy at the University of Pennsylvania. "The power is in the … Continue Reading
Are You Mobile Friendly?
Welcome to the mobile Internet! No question, Internet users are leaving their laptops behind in favor of phones, and organizations that aren’t prepared to ride the mobile wave are likely to lose a share of their audience. It’s a real challenge, especially for small nonprofits without their own IT wizards to wave a magic mouse and make an iPhone-friendly website appear. With that end in mind, here from Wild Apricot are two quick ways to make your organization’s blog or website a little more “phone-friendly”. And if you're wondering why, here are some new stats from Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project: 32% have used a mobile phone or Smartphone to access the internet for emailing, instant-messaging, or research; this is an increase of 33% since December … Continue Reading
SMS Donations ‘Will be Bigger than Payroll Giving’
eJewish Philanthropy welcomes London journalist Celina Ribeiro with this post on mobile giving: Text message donations could be worth up to £100m a year to the sector in five years time, according to new research released today. If cost barriers were removed the value of fundraising via mobile phone could reach £96m before gift aid, exceeding the annual income charities receive from payroll giving, nfpSynergy’s Joe Saxton told a gathering of politicians and civil society representatives in central London this morning. The research - the culmination of a year’s work by Charities Aid Foundation, the Institute of Fundraising and nfpSynergy - found that the high cost of making donations via mobile phone and charities’ ignorance of how to use the medium are the main barriers to civil … Continue Reading
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