The mGive Foundation, the leading 501(c)(3) public charity supporting U.S. mobile donation campaigns, released its annual mGive Text Donation Study today, a one-of-its-kind survey of text donors. The survey's findings demonstrated both the durability of text donations and the growing integration between social media and text-based communication between nonprofits and their donors.
"The take-away from this year's survey is that mobile isn't just for text giving anymore. Nonprofits should use text messages to engage their supporters in more robust ways than fundraising," said Jenifer Snyder, executive director of The mGive Foundation. "The survey also tells us that donors increasingly respond to text giving campaigns tied into their social media outreach. In short, say more with text and make it social."
Among the survey's key findings:
More donors are hearing about text donation campaigns via social media. Social media is second only to TV or radio as the method by which respondents reported hearing about text donation campaigns. In fact, social media as a source for text campaign information rose six points to nearly 28 percent from 2012 to 2013. Email as a source of information about text campaigns continues to drop, falling from more than 60 percent in 2011 to 11.5 percent in 2013.
Donor appetite for additional information from nonprofits via text is increasing. After donation information, respondents were more receptive to receiving other information compared to the 2012 survey, with 17.6 percent saying they would like to receive information about surveys (a six point increase over 2012); 32.8 percent said information about volunteering (a nine point jump over 2012); and, 18.7 percent said program information (a four point increase over 2012).
Mobile is one of the top three preferred methods of giving.
Donors reported they like to contribute online, with live events and mobile donations nearly tied as the second pick.Donors have positive experiences with text campaigns.
Eighty-five percent of respondents rated their experience with text giving as excellent or good.Donors consistently want to give more money through text.
Nearly 85 percent of donors would like to give $25 to $50 through text donations, a slight increase from 82 percent in 2012.
"Text donations are popular and increasingly important not just for donations, but for multiple types of information sharing," said Snyder. "We hear this from our clients, and the survey results add more proof that mobile communication is a central part of supporter outreach."
The survey also found that an overwhelming 85 percent are inclined to continue donating at larger amounts to a nonprofit via traditional methods after donating by text, clearing up a misconception that text donations can undermine other methods of giving.
The annual survey was conducted online with 993,672 donors who have completed a text donation through mGive. A total of 20,445 responses were received, a 2 percent response rate.