11 posts categorized "Charity"

Service-Based Marketing For Your Small Business is the twelfth in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Jason Brick

The great thing about mobile media is that it's so cheap and easy anybody can do it

The bad thing about mobile media is that it's so cheap and easy anybody can do it. 

This double-edged media sword makes it hard for small businesses with small marketing budgets to stand out in the noisy crowd of electronic voices. Service-based marketing, though, will let you stand out in the best possible way: by giving back to the same community that keeps your business afloat.

Step One: Find a Cause
Choose a cause you care about, preferably one served by an agency or non-profit in your local area. Some examples include:

• Reducing pollution
• Hungry families
• Homeless families
• Diabetes (or Cancer or AIDS) awareness

Once you've chosen your cause, reach out to a nearby group dedicated to that problem. Most major metro areas will have one or more. Local chapters beat national organizations here because you'll have better opportunities for "face time."

Step Two: Plan an Event
Host an event – either at your location or in a prominent area like a parking lot at a major intersection – to raise funds for that cause. Use a "hook" somehow related to your business to make it memorable. Print coupons or gift certificates for everybody who participates.

Bushido Martial Arts of Hillsboro, Oregon, for example, collected over three tons of food by having students stand outside local grocery stores with signs saying "Will Teach Karate For Food." Everybody who came out of a store with a can for the l ocal food bank got a coupon for a free week of lessons.

Your event doesn't have to focus on fundraising; you can also focus on awareness – such as renting an air compressor to "top off" cars for free and improve gas mileage.

Step Three: Tell Everybody
Once you've set a date, it's time to activate your social media team.  Use every media channel you have access to, and spread the word. It's rarely worth it to pay for advertising, but you can write a press release for the local paper. The local group you've partnered with should help you with this – either with their own publicity team, or by providing graphics or other support.

Step Four: Broadcast Live
Use SMS, Twitter and Facebook to post ongoing progress reports on the day of your event. Let recipients know how many people are already there, about upcoming special speakers or other activities, and your progress towards your goal. You can also use the feed to organize a "flash presentation," by encouraging hard core fans to show up all at once.

Step Five: Recap
Send a follow-up press release to the local paper if you didn't get a reporter on scene. Send a mobile broadcast with thanks and final results. When you present your earnings to the local charity, get photos and post them on your website. Tell everybody about it, and include a coupon offer for  anybody who brings in a copy of the story.

Service-based marketing requires some creativity and a front-end filled with hard work. Used successfully, it's worth the investment of time and effort.

Post By Angela Stringfellow

Imagine this: You’re sitting in church listening to the choir finish up your favorite hymn, when you hear a distinct buzz.  You turn around to see a church deacon pull out his phone and begin the two-thumb dance of replying to a text message.  

There’s can’t be much worse than seeing someone sitting in the middle of a religious service, listening to the sermon and texting.  But is there a way to blend the power of the SMS message with religious activities?

It's not a blasphemous question at all. Here is a list of 7 powerful ways SMS messaging can be used to better the religious community:

1. Prayer lists: The power of prayer is astonishing and there is power in numbers.  Often times, prayer lists are included in church bulletins and quarterly newsletters, often getting into the hands of the congregation days or weeks after the need first arises.  Miracles happen every day, most attributed to some sort of divine intervention.  Using text messaging can instantly get information into the hands of those who can provide prayer, positive thoughts and support to a family in need.

2. Message of the day: We’ve all seen quote-of-the-day calendars offering scripture or words of encouragement.  The quick quotes are designed to be motivating, re-affirming or simply just a reminder to live life honorably, graciously and with faith.  The simple task of sending an SMS message to the congregation will offer the same words of hope, faith and love.

3. Sermon /Bible study suggestions: For religious leaders who write their own sermons, writer's block is inevitable, and they often find themselves scrambling at the last minute to complete the story they want to share. A quick text to the congregation for suggestions can not only provide good ideas, but allow the congregation a sense of ownership over the content of the services.  In addition, having an interactive process allows the material to be relevant.  A quick poll can take a national statistic and make it local. In addition, SMS can be used to discuss topics for discussion at Bible studies or other educational forums.

4. Social service events/notifications: A flood, a fire, a family’s medical emergency. The need for help is often immediate. SMS texting can provide the perfect opportunity to reach out to vast numbers of people who can provide the resources needed in a time of crisis. Whether it’s rounding up the troops to help in the aftermath of a natural disaster or reminding volunteers of the canned food drive, the simple and quick notification can be the difference between a turnout of five and a turnout of 100.

5. Recruitment campaigns: Many churches, synagogues and religious institutions are struggling with attendance. Younger members are simply not attending as they once were. SMS messaging can be used to supplement recruitment campaigns by providing information on congregational meetings, religious services, youth group activities or simply to invite the community to a meet and greet.  The call-to-action alone may be enough to get a few people in the door.

6. Fund raising: If the church is in need of a new elevator, a roof, or perhaps a new organ, the contributions of its congregation are vital. Notifications used to be hung in parlors or on bulletin boards in the community. Now, the unobservant can be notified quickly and easily with a text message announcing the fund raising event. After the initial message it’s easy for those who received the message to pass it along to their social network.  Not only does this help raise the funds, but will help the organization gain community exposure and potentially bring new members through their doors with the event.

7. Religious news: People like to be informed.  Many young families are too busy with their lives to stop and take a moment to read the paper or even watch the news. What better way to share news that is pertinent to your congregation than to send a link via SMS.  On smartphones, the quick and simple links can be viewed and the congregation is now up-to-date on the latest news surrounding the religious community.

The fact of the matter is that texting is quick, easy and efficient.  The challenge is finding appropriate ways for the religious community to take advantage of the technologies available. By providing opportunities for members to interact, the community as a whole grows stronger; thus, accomplishing the ultimate goal: spreading the word.

How is your church or religious center using technology and SMS messaging? If you’re not using it, would you consider it?

Learn how other religous groups are using text messaging right now.

Shane Neman, Ez Texting's CEO, recently presented our case study of Saddleback Church at the DMA/Mobile Marketer Nonprofit Mobile Day:

Saddleback Church has a 360-degree mobile strategy in place that it uses to build a sense of community and increase charitable donations throughout its eight houses of worship.

The nonprofit uses SMS to make its services more interactive and to engage prospective members by integrating text messaging

...

The Church first began mobile marketing via SMS. The church used SMS to poll audiences. This was a means of building a sense of community. However, Saddleback also used the answers it got to segment its audience.

Consumers were asked to text SADDLEBACK to 313131.

Consumers that participated in the polls were asked a question, which they replied to with three possible answers. They were then asked to provide their email address.

Saddleback Church was able to send emails to participants based on their poll responses. There were three variations of the email communication; one for each of the possible poll answers.

Read the entire article at Mobile Commerce Daily

“I just texted a contribution myself, because we know from our own experience, particularly in Haiti, small donations can add up to make a big difference,” Secretary Clinton said earlier this week. “Americans have always shown great generosity to people facing crises worldwide. So I urge Americans to join this effort and send some much needed help to the people of Pakistan.”

Public Knowledge is a Washington, D.C.-based public interest group working to defend citizens' rights in the emerging digital culture. They have filed an important petition with the FCC:

Text messaging is a part of everyday life for people—a fast and convenient form of communication useful in every situation. Because of its importance, in 2007 Public Knowledge and others filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking that it clarify that text messaging is subject to the same nondiscrimination rules as voice communications.

You can learn more about the petition (and sign on) @ http://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/text-message-petition

So why is this an issue? Let's look at an article in yesterday's New York Times:

When the earthquake devastated Haiti, Catholic Relief Services tried to gather contributions for its efforts using the hottest trend in giving: donations via cellphone.

But the charity wanted to try a twist on the technology: when people sent a text message to donate, they got a reply offering to connect them via phone to the charity’s call center. The group hoped that the calls could build a stronger bond with donors, and garner larger contributions as well.

But just three days into the effort after the Jan. 12 earthquake, the charity got word that Sprint Nextel was demanding that the “text-to-call” effort be shut down. The charity had 40 days to abandon the feature or lose access to millions of Sprint customers.

Sprint’s original motivations are murky; it said that an intermediary company had failed to properly fill out a form to verify that it was dealing with a legitimate charity.

The conflict underscores a problem that public interest groups asked the Federal Communications Commission to address more than two years ago: the hazy legal status of text messages, which are controlled by telephone companies without any real government oversight. The laws that prohibit phone companies from interfering with voice calls do not apply to text messages, a fast-growing medium.

“We should be able to communicate with people the way they want to be communicated with, not the way the phone company wants them to be communicated with,” said Jed Alpert, a founder of Mobile Commons, the company that connects Catholic Relief Services and 100 other nonprofit organizations with text messaging networks. 

Read more @ The New York Times.
Check out the petition here.

As you probably already know, Haiti has been devastated by 7.0 magnitude earthquake:

The earthquake, the worst in the region in more than 200 years, left the country in a shambles. As night fell in Port-au-Prince, Haiti’s capital, fires burned near the shoreline downtown, but otherwise the city fell into darkness. The electricity was out, telephones were not working and relief workers struggled to make their way through streets blocked by rubble.

So what can you do to help? The New York Times has a collection of information. If you want to donate money to relief efforts right now, using your cell phone, you have three options:

• You can text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts in Haiti.
• To make a $5 donation from your phone text "ONEHEART" to 85944 & confirm by replying "YES", or go to www.sophiasheart.org to make a donation.
• Text the word “Haiti” to 85944 to donate $5 on behalf of the Rescue Union Mission and MedCorp International.
• Text the word “Haiti” to 25383 to donate $5 On behalf of the Internal Rescue Committee.
• Or, you can donate $5 to Earthquake Relief In Haiti by texting YELE to 501501 and visit www.yele.org (supported by Wycelf Jean)
  

P.S.  In the past we've covered other mobile-based charity efforts. Read about them.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a grant program that will have interesting effects in the mobile banking sector:

"There's 1.7 billion people in the emerging markets who don't have a bank account but do have a mobile phone, so they could use their mobile phone to conduct financial transactions," explained Michael O'Hara, marketing director or the GSMA.

"The target is to reach 20 million additional unbanked people with the service by 2012," he added.

About 12 mobile phone banking programmes have been launched worldwide in the last few years, with about 10 million users benefiting so far.

The Gates Foundation said the grant was part of its programme to extend financial services to the poor who are often without access to a simple savings account.

Read more @ AFP.

We came across this interesting Q&A from Katrin Verclas about using mobile for advocacy groups, with notable examples from NARAL and Planned Parenthood:

Read the full Q&A here.

It seems that mobile donations are gaining more traction:

Taking a leadership role in the move to incorporate mobile technology into the world of philanthropy, the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation announced it will launch a new program designed to capture donations via text message. To power its mobile platform, the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation has partnered with Denver based Mobile Accord, Inc., the premier provider of mobile technology to the nonprofit sector.

"Virtually anyone with a mobile phone can make a donation to the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation by sending the text message "DMRF" to "90999" to make a donation of $5," says Janet Hieshetter, DMRF's Executive Director.

Read more here.