News / Press Releases

Hot Issue: Is mobile a tax efficient fund raising mechanism for charities?

Source: Third Sector Magazine (20 July 2006)
http://www.thirdsector.co.uk

Mobile is the hot new response medium for private, public and third sector clients. It's growing fast, but still in its infancy, and all parties face a steep learning curve. The end game, surely, is to find smart new channels to grow fund raising revenues. I see two issues here.

Firstly, the industry should harness new technologies to grow the overall pot. This means building the base of donors, the size and frequency of their donations. Mobile fits: it's discrete, non-confrontational and matches our evolving lifestyles patterns.

Secondly, the industry should make the smart channels as watertight as possible. The more parties you involve in the process, the greater chance of leakage.

Some agencies, like ours, do not seek to profit from the third sector. The mobile campaign we launched last month for Macmillan Cancer Support, complete with WAP site featuring Gift Aid, is provided at cost price. Our company has a social responsibility.

Other parties, like the mobile network operators, run tight business models. I believe there is scope for more lenient pricing of charity-related text messages which we, collectively, can achieve. We need to share learnings from enterprising organisations like Macmillan.

Let's focus our efforts on growing the pot. In a recent campaign, the mobile channel generated 59% of responses for Macmillan, which compares with 12% generated by phone.

Sure, it's always nice to have a chat when you're giving, but people these days have plenty of other demands on their time, and let's not forget the costs associated with manning the phones.

Opinion Column for Third Sector Magazine, Robert Thurner, Commercial Director, Incentivated