Meals on ... Mobile?

Photo by Share Our Strength

There's no doubt that mobile technology can be a powerful tool for social good. You can find great examples of initiatives going on worldwide at MobileActive.org. In Megan's post on mobile giving and the Superbowl, she referenced the progress organizations like Mobile Giving Foundation and mgive are making, and pointed to stats that show mobile giving is on the rise in the US. Thus, we were really excited to learn that Share Our Strength (SOS) was embarking on a text giving campaign back in January.

Now, a few months later, we wanted to check in with them to see how their foray into mobile giving is going. I caught up with Suzy Twohig, SOS's Director of Donor Relations to get the update. As we were talking about the new and interactive strategies SOS is experimenting with, Jeff Wiedner, SOS's Senior Manager of Online Marketing, joined the conversation to give more insight into their social media efforts. Check back next week for a post on my interview with Jeff. In the meantime, Suzy shares their learnings from their mobile campaign below.
 

Sokunthea: Can you tell us a little bit more about your text giving campaign and its different, multi-platform, aspects?

Suzy: Sure—our text giving campaign was launched in January along with AT&T, the Communications Workers of America and the Mobile Giving Foundation. Through the campaign, users of all major wireless carriers can donate $5 to Share Our Strength by texting the word "SHARE" to 20222*. AT&T is generously matching all gifts up to $100,000, and has been fantastic in helping promote the campaign.

So far, we’ve raised more than $12,000 to support Share Our Strength’s work to end childhood hunger in America. This amount is on par with other comparable campaigns that the Mobile Giving Foundation has enabled. As we enter phase two of the campaign, we’re integrating messaging about text giving into our other platforms, including our Taste of the Nation events across the country, and are exploring a number of other venues as well.

Sokunthea: What lessons have you learned so far from this campaign that you think others can benefit from?

Suzy: Text giving is still pretty new, and we’ve found that building the trust factor with donors and helping them understand how text giving works is crucial. To that end, AT&T generously produced a video featuring Olympic Decathlete Bryan Clay (see below), which effectively walks a potential donor through the whys and hows of making a text donation to Share Our Strength.

Overall, we’ve found text giving to be a great way to reach a younger demographic and augment other fundraising efforts. In addition, our involvement in this campaign has led to ripple effect gifts, greater awareness about the issue of hunger, and increased exposure for our brand. It has also led to our involvement in three recent social media campaigns that have together raised awareness and more than $25,000 for Share Our Strength: the Pledge to End Hunger Campaign, the 12for12K campaign, and the first Social Media Smackdown.

All in all, the text giving campaign has been a great experience so far and we look forward to building upon these various efforts in phase two of the campaign, which runs through 2009--so it’s not too late to make a $5 donation to Share Our Strength by texting SHARE to 20222!
 

*A one-time donation of $5 will be added to your mobile phone bill or deducted from your prepaid balance. Standard messaging rates and additional fees may apply. All charges are billed by and payable to your mobile service provider. Service is available on most carriers. Donations are collected for the benefit of the Share Our Strength by the Mobile Giving Foundation and subject to the terms found at www.hmgf.org/t. You can unsubscribe at any time by texting STOP to 20222 or text 'HELP' for more info.