Using SMS for Fundraising
SMS is a cheap and ethical way for charities and organisations to communicate with their supporters, notifying them of upcoming events or keeping them informed of what work they have been doing ‐ this makes the supporters feel more connected to the cause and more likely to contribute in the form of volunteering and donating.
Some of the sectors already benefiting from using SMS text messaging for fundraising include the following: Schools, Clubs & Societies, Political Parties but the most common sector using SMS this way is Charities…
Charities
Charities all over the world are already aware of how effective SMS can be in raising awareness as well as funds. These days almost everyone carries their mobile phone with them at all times, it is because of this that SMS text messaging offers an instant form of communication and response between charities and their supporters.
Raising Awareness
The support of like-minded individuals is essential for an organised charity to be able to aid its chosen cause. As a charity these like-minded people need to know that you exist before they can actively offer their support in your endeavours. A great way to do this is to identify groups of people who are likely to want to help and then send them a message to see if they’re interested. Profession and location are a great way to find supporters or perhaps people who have expressed interest in a similar cause in the past.
Organising Events
Once you have established yourself as a charity you will be running fund-raising events and programmes, many of which will rely on the volunteers who support you. SMS is a cheap and efficient means of contacting would be volunteers and updating those who have already signed up to help.
Gathering Donations
When your event is drawing near and your workforce of volunteers is in place you need to let everyone else the where and the when so they can participate in raising money for your cause, again SMS is a great way to do this – it is unintrusive and gets the message directly into their hands. You can even use a premium rate Shortcode to gather donations directly from their mobile phone bill.
Giving Thanks
Once and event is over and the donations have been counted up it is a great idea to let your followers know how much they managed to raise, you can even tell them how it will be spent to help the cause and in appropriate cases send them updates for ongoing schemes. All this is designed to increase the chance that they will donate again, and even persuade some who didn’t before of the good work that is going on.
For more information on how you could be utilising SMS text messaging within your business call us on 0800 954 5305 or email helpdesk@fastsms.co.uk
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