Looking Forward to Increased Mobile Giving

It’s no surprise. You see it when you walk down the street, shop in a mall or wait at the airport. You see it everywhere. The number of smartphone users dramatically increases year after year. Not only that, but the growth in terms of time spent on these phones is on track to quickly outpace time spent on "traditional" computers. For many of us, the smartphone is already the CPU of choice.

In Australia, the number of mobile subscriptions is expected to rise from 24.04 million this year to 26.27 million in 2013 and increase even more to 27.99 million in 2015 based on figures from mobileSQUARED. In Canada, financial filings by Rogers indicate that 37 percent of its subscriber base is smartphone-equipped, a 9 percent increase from 2009. In the U.S., The Nielsen Co. reported that in the third quarter of 2010, 28 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers have smartphones.

The numbers from the U.K. are the most impressive however. According to comScore, smartphone adoption has grown by 70 percent to 11.1 million subscribers over the past year. The U.K. is the market leader in the European Union over France, Germany, Spain and Italy. These stats show a tremendous increase in smartphone users over the past year alone with only increasing numbers for the future.

It's important to look at these behavioral trends to see how mobile will help your nonprofit connect with supporters and raise funds. Several successful and high-profile text-to-give programs demonstrated to the NPO sector the true power of mobile giving. All of us took note of the Haiti text-to-give programs earlier in the year. Mobile donations are expanding rapidly beyond the text-to-give mobile donation roots. Despite some publicized drawbacks of these programs (lower gift amounts, NPOs having to wait to receive funds, not receiving donor data), in some cases these programs have demonstrated the power and potential of mobile-based fundraising.