Why nonprofits need to be mobile first

Are you set to take your mobile fundraising to the next level? Read on for 6 ways to optimise mobile giving.

Millennials are reshaping the future of fundraising – and these people LOVE to give.

84% give to nonprofits, and they prefer to do so via mobile devices —phones, tablets, laptops. The future is literally in their hands as they research, advocate and donate.

It isn't just millennials regularly reaching for their phones. In 2021, 28% of Americans donated from mobile devices, with even higher figures in Australia - 65%! (This is our data and is already 54% higher than surveys from 2016!)

This 'mobile first phenomenon isn't restricted to donations.

Mcommerce figures (mobile commerce – shopping through a mobile device) are forecast to double between 2020 – and 2025.

6 Ways to Optimise Mobile Giving

On average, smartphone users spend almost 5 hours each day on their devices. (Are you on your phone right now?)

Keep up to date, and try these six tips to make your fundraising more mobile-friendly 😊

1. Digital Wallets – a more powerful purse!

Once referred to as 'alternative' methods of payment, digital wallets are now firmly cemented in the mainstream. Digital (or ‘mobile’) wallets made up a whopping 44.5% of e-commerce payments in 2020!

Over 150 million Americans use this payment method instead of carrying cash and cards, with 98 million saying they prefer it!

So, why are digital wallets so powerful?

They eliminate the need to remember card details. Donors on-the-go don't have time for that! Our data shows that donor drop-off on the final step of donation forms (where we ask for card details) is 30% higher on mobile than on desktop.
They optimise mobile giving when donors forgo the need to enter names, email, and credit card details. This information has already been collected through Apple Pay, Google Pay or PayPal.

Are your forms optimised for mobile giving?

Raisely's data indicates that 48% of P2P signups come from mobile devices. Your donors will love this form.

It has just three simple steps:

1- Choose donation amount and frequency

2 - Enter details

3 - Complete payment

Basically, the less information donors need to provide, the more likely they will complete the giving process. If you already have donor data from previous campaigns, pre-filled forms will make the retention process seamless - and save you money! The dollar amount spent on acquiring new donors can be 50-100% more than the dollar amount given by them!

3. QR Codes AKA Touchless Tech

If you haven’t used a QR code today, you’ve probably at least seen one this week!

Though they’ve been around for a while, QR code interactions jumped 94% from 2018 to 2020 (Thanks, Covid).

And what’s more? The highest growth rate (98%!) comes from the number of interactions per object. Customers are not only used to scanning codes - but they’ll scan them more than once!

It may have taken a pandemic to push QR codes to the forefront, but now they’re everywhere, all the time - embraced by (almost) everyone!

Most smartphone operating systems support QR detection straight from the camera. Forget long searches (or even longer URLs), with a QR code you just scan and swipe, and you’re set.

They’re a quick, easy way for any mobile-user to access online content - including web pages, socials, contacts and more.

Nonprofits can use QR codes in multiple ways:

📲 Place on merchandise

📲 Include on printed materials

📲 Add to partner/sponsor websites or products

What could be easier than being taken directly to a mobile-friendly donation page? Read more on how to use QR Codes!

4. Mobile-Friendly Fundraising

Flashy may be fabulous - but functionality is key! When it comes to your website's design, it helps to think about translating across devices.

If it doesn't translate to mobile, it can be clunky, slow to load and frustrating to use.

You can get mobile-ready super simply with responsive web designs. You can even try using a platform that is automatically responsive (like Raisely).

Before you go live, check:

📲 Logo- Do they need to be resized?

📲 Images - Do the dimensions need to be adjusted?

📲 Layout - Make sure padding and margins are displaying correctly.

📲 Browsers - Mobile browsers include Safari, Android Webview and Google Chrome. How does your campaign appear on all three?

A mobile-friendly fundraising website allows you to reach donors anywhere, any time, on any device.

Ready to share and promote campaigns? 88% of smartphone users check email on their phones…but almost half will delete messages which aren't optimised for mobile.

As above, just like optimising website design for mobile use – emails should follow the same principles. Keep it short and sweet and readable (check out this blog for tips on your fonts, too!)

Today's readers want quality information fast.

They won't scroll forever. (unless they're on Instagram) 😝

6. SMS – Speak to the Source

Text communications allow nonprofits to speak directly to donors. It's a powerful tool, which explains the growth in nonprofit mobile audiences (95% of text messages are read and responded to within 3 minutes of being received🤯).

SMS helps empower supporters to share their campaigns. Our data tells us those who share fundraising pages on social media raise 79% more!

Meet supporters where they're at. SMS marketing has the highest average CTR when compared with email and Facebook marketing.

If you’re keen to amp up your comms, why not try our messaging feature? You can use it to send one-off, bulk emails or SMS messages to a segment of your supporters!