(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?