Tag Archives: sms donations

Running happy kids in green field during summer time

What summer fundraising ideas have you got in your pipeline?

Running happy kids in green field during summer time

It might be hard to believe, but summer is almost here, and if you haven’t already, you should start to think about your fundraising ideas for the next few months.

While it might be effective, standing on the street with collection buckets in the pouring rain just does not sound appealing to anyone. Fortunately for us, there are loads of other fundraising ideas that don’t involve a raincoat and an umbrella.

Institute of Fundraising

According to the Institute of Fundraising’s most recent giving report, SMS donations are on the rise, and with the help from Instagiv, we can help you get the most out of your text message campaigns. By creating a fundraising campaign with us, you can take the time and hassle out of fundraising, freeing up your staff and volunteers to use their time much more effectively.

They’re quick and easy, as well as being user-friendly and have a very fast turnaround. Not only that, but Instagiv’s mobile fundraising and engagement platform will let you send donors a response message instantly, thanking them for their donation. You can enter information relevant to your charity response message, as well as adding a short URL link directing more traffic to your website if you wish.

Track in real time

By using Instagiv’s platform, you can log in, receive SMS donations from your keywords and track the progress of the campaigns in real time. Another great feature that we can offer you is to send outbound text messages to anyone who has previously donated and given consent to your campaigns so that you can create a long-standing relationship with your supporters. A quick text message can prove too much more effective and prompt donations than a phone call. Just upload a list of phone numbers to the Instagiv platform, and you can start to send out and schedule messages in advance, which is great when you are busy with other fundraising campaigns.

90% of texts are read within three minutes

While it might seem that text messaging is a thing of the past, 90% of texts are read within three minutes of being sent, and the end of the day will have read 98%. It is still an extremely effective marketing channel, which is also cheap and easy to set up and maintain. The great thing with SMS donations is that no matter how old it is, any mobile phone can receive a text message.

Regular giving, competitions via SMS, address capture, response SMS’, bulk outbound sends – we have it covered.

Why not request a free live demo with one of our experienced team members and see what Instagiv can do for you?

Text to donate

How often do you contact your donors?

Text to donate
Text to donate

With all the hype about GDPR and opting in vs opting out, many charities refrain from communicating with their donors and supporters. We believe it is essential to stay in contact with those who give to your cause, to keep them in the loop about how their donations help, what projects you are working on, upcoming events and much more.

Automated updates

Our system is designed to allow you to send your donors on an SMS journey, you can begin with a Single Giving campaign with consent enabled to gather opt-ins and from this, use our outbound SMS tool to keep in contact with them. Also, with having consent enabled on your campaign, you can also make use of our “extra response SMS” tool which allows automated texts to be sent to your opt-in donors weekly, monthly or at a delay of your choice.

When someone opts into future contact by your charity using InstaGiv’s SMS services, they are always sent a text in response, to acknowledge their consent preference and to give them the opportunity to opt-out again.

Recorded and trackable

All SMS correspondence between any mobile and your text campaigns with InstaGiv are fully recorded and stored on your account within the mobile history section; this information is stored for the benefit of the charity should they ever need this traceability information, and acts as an additional safety net. Our system has the intelligence to block any mobile number from receiving any SMS’ from you if they have opted out at any time post opting in.

When someone opts in, and their mobile number is on a recipient list for you to use within outbound SMS, if any mobile number, later on, opts out again, you do not need to scan through lists upon lists to remove their mobile number.

85% of people prefer SMS

From a recent survey carried out, we discovered that over 85% of people prefer SMS communication over phone call, I suppose it is because people do not need to take much time out of their day to read and respond to a text message, however an information call can take up to 30 minutes on some occasions.

From some client research, we can also see a trend in the times of outbound SMS’ being scheduled; most clients tend to send or schedule their sends for the late evening time after 6 pm.
At this time, most people are on the tube, trains, bus or at home, so they have time to check their phones.

Keeping in contact with your donors has never been easier, let us know if you would like one of our friendly advisors to give you a 1:1 demo.

Written by Caitriona McCarry
Client Accounts

Why are charities using text-to-donate?

I am sure you often wonder when you’re working within your charity or fundraising role, what is the best way to go with your next campaigns? Or why are charities starting to use SMS donations more and more now?

We have put together a few of our main thoughts as to why charities may choose text-giving over other methods, or else to add to their list of donation collection methods.

User-friendly

Our first thought is that text-to-give is incredibly user-friendly. There are no forms, fuss or verification checks required. The donor simply texts their chosen charities “keyword” to the 5 digit shortcodes and a donation is made.

People don’t often like to partake in anything that takes up too much of their time or requires long-haul forms. It is also user-friendly for the charity. Text campaigns can be created and inactivated in a matter of minutes. This helps to reach deadlines that little bit easier.

Quick and Easy

SMS Giving is also quick and easy to do. It takes around 60 seconds or less to send a donation by text. If someone wanted to give a charitable donation without much effort – SMS is the answer.

Most people within the UK today either own or have access to a mobile phone, therefore, it is one of the most effective ways to make a donation. If you are at an event with no change in your pocket, no problem – you probably will most likely have your phone with you so the donation can be made easily through your phone. Donations can be as little as £1 too.

Detailed reporting on progress

Reporting is so important when it comes to SMS fundraising, you need to be able to monitor the progress and measure the success of your campaigns.

Mobile Fundraising and Engagement with InstaGiv has a realm of various reporting functions from your inbound campaign report, consent and opt-in report, Gift Aid collection report and much more.

Our regular giving reporting displays everything from the number of subscriptions per month, number of new sign-ups, gross donations per donation, number of skips and stops, retention percentages and much more. This is essential and is readily available with InstaGiv campaigns.

These are just to name a few; the reasons are endless as to why charities continue to choose SMS giving as part of their fundraising efforts. Other thoughts we had include:

  • It’s cost-effective
  • Has a fast turnaround
  • Works in real time
  • It can be accessed 24/7 among lots of other benefits

We hope you enjoyed this week’s blog if you have any thoughts you would like us to focus on we would be happy to hear them. Reach out to us at help@instagiv.com.

More from instaGiv

Top Tips for your SMS Campaigns

Charities and Social Media

The Growth of SMS 

 

Social media for charities

Charities and Social Media

Almost all businesses, organisations, charities and not for profits have a social media presence, why is this? Well because the likes of Facebook has 2.3 billion users, meaning social media is one of the easiest and direct methods of promoting your cause and reaching out to your supporters.

It’s not that easy though, you need a following of supporters who are legitimately interested first, which can be somewhat difficult to build.

To enhance the engagement and conversation on your social channels, it may be a good idea to have cause-related content.

Content

Have content that encourages people to stop scrolling through their feed and stop at your post. Have something engaging, something that is eye-catching and encouraging people to comment or share, which is more likely to spark a discussion among your supporters.

Having content that drives engagement will also give your charity the opportunity to gain feedback, as many people tend to put their thoughts and opinions into the comments section below a post.

Credibility

Ensure your social profiles are credible, when someone visits your page for the first time, they are most likely going to form an opinion or thought instantly, first impressions are everything and all that! So, make sure you have got your page fully up to date, giving visitors an insight into the hard work you do to fight your cause. The use of visuals also ways work a treat – people love images and videos over long reams of paragraphs.

Increasing your Following

Everyone knows how difficult it is to increase your followers and supporters on social media. Engage in conversations and posts related to your cause or sector, this can be sort of like “online networking” as such.

Lastly and most importantly, promote, advertise and scream from the rooftops as much as possible. Try to get your cause into the limelight at every possible opportunity. Have your social icons on everything you do, all merchandise, email footers, advertising materials and so on.

There was a program on BBC 1 NI last night called “The Search”, it was actively advertised and promoted over social media the days leading up to it. The program was about missing people in Northern Ireland. This show zoomed in on the work carried out by the CRS – Community Rescue Service. A charity that is run entirely by volunteers. This was an eye-opener into the work that this cause and these people do, which is all voluntary.

It had encouraged me to donate as well as look into how I sign-up or help to be a part of their rescue team.

A lot can be done when actively promoting your cause as widely and as much as possible.

Check out our latest blog post on key dates for your diary, and you could use some of these in your upcoming social media strategy.

Use PSMS in a broadcast or DRTV appeal

Premium SMS
Premium SMS

Trying to get your supporters to actively engage and donate on a regular basis can be tricky – especially heading into the new year. A great way to get in front of them at the right time is with Premium SMS (PSMS).

You can use PSMS in a broadcast outbound text, DRTV appeal, social event or any type of fundraising activity.

Last minute crisis

Sometimes things pop up last minute or unannounced, like an unfortunate incident. This could result in a disaster appeal and you may choose to send a broadcast SMS to gather donations or actively advertise your text code as widespread as possible, to raise awareness and ask for donations.

In terms of the outbound SMS, if you have a list of recipients or a database of opted-in supporters gathered from using our consent feature. You can use these to send an urgent text asking them to reply with one of your donation keywords, to give to your cause. You can use this as a single one-off donation, or to subscribe your supporters to regular giving which is monthly gifts.

To use PSMS as a standard text-to-donate campaign it is as simple as creating your text code, customising your campaign and advertising it to your supporter base. The journey is very straightforward as we like to focus firmly on the donor experience.

Keyword

Texting a donation is as simple as texting a KEYWORD to 70###. While we have fixed price points for all our donation keywords, we also offer our clients the full flexibility of giving their donors the option to give more or less than the default amount, without having to create additional keywords and campaigns.

All donations and responses to outbound texts are recorded on your InstaGiv platform. You can view your inbound report which captures the finest of details right down to the donation amount, date and time and content of inbound texts.

Our regular giving reporting is something we often get praised on also, keeping tabs on donor retention can be somewhat exhausting and hard to do, with our regular reporting we make it so much easier for fundraisers. Our system is equipped to capture and record data right from the number of sign-ups per month, repeat donations, number of SKIP/STOPS per month, cumulative retention statistics and much more.

Quick turnaround

Our turnaround time is very quick. We aim to have all new requests actioned and set up within the same working day. Often enough, we can do this very soon after the request or registration is received.

Find out more information

If you’d like to find out any more information on PSMS, shortcodes, a member of our team would be more than happy to talk you through the process. Fill in the form on our contact page and we will be in touch as soon as possible.

Alternatively, please contact us directly on 028 7087 8220 or email us at help@instagiv.com.

Instagiv
Instagiv

 

Halloween fundraiser ideas

Halloween Fundraising Ideas

Halloween is fast approaching and there is no time like the present to organise a festive fundraiser. Halloween gives the perfect backdrop for any kind of party or event. Why not spice up your spooky get-together and raise some money for charity too.

To get your creative juices flowing, we’ve come up with 5 great fundraiser ideas. Whether it’s in work or just for fun, you could organise a ghostly gathering this Halloween for a good cause.

Halloween
Halloween
  1. Pumpkin Carving Competition

This is something we’re having in our own offices and I cannot wait. My carving skills are next-level and I think I have a great chance of coming in 1st place.

Get your work colleagues together and gather up your pumpkins and have some fun. Donations can come in the form of an entry fee.

  1. Spooky Sponsored Walk

A well-organised run or walk in your local town is a fantastic way to get everyone together and raise as much money as possible. If you have the funds, you can give out medals to those who cross the 5K finish line.

Again, you can ask people to donate a certain amount to enter the race and ask them to raise their own sponsorship funds a week prior to the event.

  1. Dunking for Apples

If you host a Halloween party every year, why not make it exciting and have a ‘Dunking for Apples’ competition this year. You could ask people to donate for every dunk and raise much-needed funds really quickly.

  1. Pumpkin Pie Bake Off

Forget about the Great British Bake-off, this year it’s all about the Pumpkin Pie Bake Off. Get your friends together and have some fun in the kitchen. After you’ve carved your spooky Halloween decoration, you can use the contents to make a tasty (or not so tasty) treat. The winning pie can win a prize!

  1. Bonfire event

This one might be a bit harder and will only work if you have the space and health and safety for it. A festive bonfire event with sparklers and fireworks could be the event-of-the-year. You could ask your local council are they doing anything for the Halloween holidays and suggest they partner up with a local charity to raise some funds while doing so.

InstaGiv

Using the different holidays throughout the year is always a wonderful way to help promote your cause, by launching a fundraising campaign. At InstaGiv, it is around this time of year that all the different holiday friendly keyword requests start to come in, recently we have had some of our clients request new campaign keywords such as; scary, fright, Halloween, ghost, creepy, Santa, merry, Christmas and much more.

Why are they doing this? Well because SMS is the quickest most effective and user-friendly method of collecting donations. It beats standing out in the freezing wintry weather with collection buckets. In addition to that, each donor gets an instant “thank you” response message, this is fully customisable to the charity, allowing you to increase engagement with your donors further by perhaps, inserting a link into the response message or asking them to opt-in to hear more about your cause.

Book a Demo today

To find out more, request a demo or a call-back today. One of our friendly team members will go over everything in more detail with you.

 

Top tips when organising a fundraiser event

Organising an event can be stressful and frustrating, never mind organising a charity event. Not only do you have to think about the basics such as venue and invitations, but you also have to worry about collecting cash.

As the age old saying goes, if you fail to prepare you can prepare to fail. (Sorry for the cliché, but it really is true). To help you prepare and get the most out of your fundraising event, we have come up with our 5 top tips that will help you along the way.

Fundraising event

Top Tips

  1. Draft a budget

A budget is important for any event but even more so with a charity event. You need to ensure you are minimising expenditure and maximising the fundraising.

  1. Ensure you have enough time

Time is everything, and if you try and launch your fundraising event too quickly you will only add to the stress and frustration. Give your self a realistic time frame. An absolute minimum of six months is recommended. In this time, you will be able to take care of sponsorships, vendor bookings and selling tickets.

  1. Pick your venue carefully

Location is everything, and you should look at a few different ones before making up your mind. The location will impact the atmosphere of the event and will add to the overall theme so choose carefully.

  1. Look for sponsorship

The more money you can get from sponsors, the more opportunities you will have. The less money you spend on things such as venue costs, printing, marketing materials, refreshments etc, the more money you will have raised for the charity. Spend wisely and try your very best to get a sponsor on board. Don’t be scared to approach business, they might be more than happy to be involved.

  1. Assess your available resources

Do you have enough resources on hand to execute your event? If you need help, make sure you get it and don’t try to do everything yourself. However, before you start to outsource, make sure you research and budget.

If you follow our top 5 tips, we’re pretty sure you’ll organise the best fundrasing event possible.

You’ve got it!

How can InstaGiv help

Our Event Fundraising tool is used for several types of campaigns among our charity clients. If you have supporters fundraising on your behalf, you can easily issue them with a

unique text code, allowing them to gather donations via SMS for your cause.

Unique codes are typically attached to a keyword and you can generate over 100, 000 codes at no additional cost. Each supporter is given a fundraiser code, attached to a keyword such as GIVE_H7Y5, which acts as a tracking device that captures their fundraising journey directly on the platform.

In real time, you can see who is raising which funds and when. We also have what we call, a totaliser page. This is displayed as a search bar and when a keyword + fundraiser code is entered, the total raised will be displayed.

This is commonly used by charities to give to their corporate partners. Our event fundraising tool is used for some of the UK’s biggest annual fundraising campaigns, such as Macmillan’s Coffee Morning. Each year we issue Macmillan with their keywords and unique codes to add SMS as a donation collection tool for their UK wide campaign.

We can create hundreds of thousands of unique codes, and with our built-in formatting and reporting, there are various elements you can use for tracking and matching records on your end such as adding supporters’ full names and giving each code a custom reference.

Find out for yourself

To see a live demo of our software and how easy it is to use, contact us at any time. A team member will be more than happy to schedule this in at a time that suits you.

Closing the Deal – Tips for Donor Engagement

Improve donor engagement with our tips

Finally you’ve cracked your landing page for donations. Your technical wizardy has reached such dizzy heights that you’re expecting the invite to Hogwarts any day now.

But while potential donors are flocking to your donations page, your donations don’t seem to be increasing much. It looks like some donors are getting cold feet at the last minute. They check out your page, but rarely actually hand over any of that much-needed cash.

You’re in good hands though. Your friends at instaGiv can show you how to close the deal with people humming and ha-ing on your donations page.

Tips for Donor Engagement – Be Upfront with Potential Donors

Be extremely clear about how donations will be used – donors appreciate an open and honest approach when it comes to their money.

A good way to show how your charity uses donations is to select a popular campaign from the past and put together a detailed breakdown of the donations that were taken and what they were used for.

Also be as clear as possible about the methods of donations and demonstrate the security measures in place to protect their money. Make it clear to donors if they are making a one-off payment or if they are signing up to regular payments.

Tips for Donor Engagement – Make the Page as Engaging as Possible

Although your charity may deal with some serious issues, it can help to have a sense of humour where possible and include some fun and interesting content.

Bright and colourful videos can also be particularly effective, particularly if you can find a way to squeeze in the internet’s favourite subjects – puppies and kittens.

Try to make any images as bright and engaging as possible and ensure you include a big thank you in advance of your donations.

Tips for Donor Engagement – Give Donors a Range of Options

It can also prove effective to provide potential donors with a number of options for donations.

Allowing donors to choose the amount they wish to donate can result in some small donations from people who may have contributed nothing at all.

Don’t be afraid to experiment where you can. For example, encourage visitors to your page to vote on ideas for fundraising events, like a month-long Marmite diet or a week where every day in the office begins with a compulsory karaoke session.

Tips for Donor Engagement – Find Out More with instaGiv

Get in touch with instaGiv to find out how your charity can improve the rate of donations.

We use SMS marketing to help boost fundraising for more than 300 UK charities.

If you have any questions or need any assistance, email help@instagiv.com or give us a call on 028 7087 8220.

Get in touch, you’ll be amazed at what we can do with a few humble texts.