funding sources

(Full disclosure: I work for a company that creates iPhone applications for nonprofit organizations.)

As of September 2009 there are more than 85,000 applications in the iTunes App Store, with more than 2 billion downloads in just over a year. The Android Store has passed 9,000 applications, the RIM store is well over the 1,500 mark, and even Palm seems to have found its footing with the WebOS store and is adding applications at an accelerating rate. Clearly, mobile phone users have taken to using mobile applications for all aspects of their lives.

And yet…the number of apps launched by nonprofit organizations can probably be counted on my fingers and toes (and no, I don’t have any extras!). Why is that? What’s stopping nonprofits from taking advantage of the connections offered by a truly mobile world?

We’ve seen very strong adoption of social media by nonprofit organizations. A recent study led by NTEN.org shows that over 70% of nonprofit organizations have a Facebook page, 46% post videos on YouTube and 43% have a presence on Twitter. Clearly, nonprofit organizations aren’t afraid of dipping a toe into unfamiliar technological waters.

It also can’t be because they don’t think their supporter base doesn’t use the iPhone. With more than 20 million iPhone and iPod Touch users in the US alone, almost 10% of US mobile phone owners could use an iPhone application, and they tend to be disproportionately wealthy and social — both very handy attributes if you want to spread a message and get contributions!

Is the challenge simply that the trend toward using iPhone applications hasn’t caught on yet? What do you think? What other reasons are there for nonprofit organizations to be missing out on such an important communication channel?

What’s the easiest, most convenient way to make a small payment?

Nope, the answer’s not “credit card” — especially when you have to give that long number, then your billing address, then your “secret” code…

You might suggest PayPal or Google Checkouts. They’re easier, but they still require some setup work before you can make a payment.

What’s the one thing that nearly every person in America carries in a pocket or purse — besides chapstick and pocket lint?

A cellphone!!

While Americans have been familiar with “premium SMS messaging” for a long time (think voting for your favorite on American Idol), making charitable contributions using a mobile phone is a relatively new concept for most people. But it’s just about the easiest way out there to give a small, impulse contribution.

Here’s how it works:

1. The user sees an advertisement or something that prompts him/her to make a contribution. S/he texts a “keyword”, like “GiveFLHW” to a “short code”, like 20222.
2. The user receives a confirmation text message — just to make sure the phone owner really wants to make the contribution.
3. The user confirms the contribution (usually by texting back “yes” or something similarly easy).
4. The amount contributed is added to the user’s phone bill — and the nonprofit organization gets the money!

It’s super-easy, and the method is growing exponentially. Here’s a news story about how the NY Philharmonic is using it to support summer concerts.

Photo from mGive.com

Once you’ve established the ability to accept contributions this way, you have a lot of flexibility about where you ask for impulse contributions. Just integrate it into your normal advertising strategy — brochures, billboards, magazine ads, on your Facebook page and your website, in your email signature or in a Tweet, or even in your own iPhone mobile application.

In fact, the Keep A Child Alive foundation recently raised more than $130,000 during the BET awards ceremony, after Alicia Keys made an unscripted comment asking people to donate! Imagine that — an off-the-cuff remark nets $130,000 for an organization!

For more articles about nonprofits benefiting from SMS giving, visit this blog or just search for “SMS Donation”.

If you haven’t learned about Google Grants yet, you’re missing out. The program offers enormous benefits to small-to-midsize non-profit organizations, including up to $10,000 a month in free Google Adwords advertising, PLUS free contribution processing through Google Checkout. The money saved alone is an enormous in-kind contribution from Google, and the extra web traffic you can drive with effective use of Adwords can have a major impact on your revenue.

If you’re not familiar with Adwords, that’s what Google uses to drive the paid advertising that shows up when you do a Google search, and that also shows up on a variety of websites. Basically, you choose a set of words you think people who would support your organization might be searching for, like “advanced prostate cancer”. Then, when someone uses that search term, Google serves up your ad along with the unpaid “organic” search results. If the searcher clicks on your ad, your account is “charged” for the click.

The program requires very little in the way of qualifications – you must be a 501(c)3 registered with the IRS, you must submit some thoughts about your keywords and your ads, you must measure the effectiveness of the ads (which you should be doing anyway!) and you must stay in touch with Google regularly – that’s about it!

Here’s a valuable blog post about the experiences of one non-profit, the National Women’s Law Center, as they got up to speed in making use of their Google Grants advertising budget.