In 1997, online donations in the United States totaled a mere $300,000. In 2007, online donations were pinpointed at $10.44 billion reflecting exponential growth in overall giving and technology, according to a Harvard University study on innovation in Social Enterprise.
The latest wave of giving technology and the latest medium to propel charitable giving is the mobile phone.
In fact, this year saw the launch of the mobile giving channel in the U.S. with a 10 second United Way commercial during the Super Bowl in February. The channel became widely available to nonprofit organizations in May. The mobile channel will outpace the first year of online giving (1997) by raising a half a million dollars in $5 donations, representing more than 100,000 new donors.
The mGive service allows nonprofits to communicate with past, present and possible donors in ways traditional mediums cannot. In its first year, mGive added more than 100 national and international nonprofit organizations to its list of clients. The mGive client list includes household names such as The Salvation Army, Make A Wish Foundation, American Heart Association, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Public Broadcasting Systems (PBS), Children's Miracle Network and UNICEF among many others embracing this new fundraising channel. mGive.com is leading the technology and donations received from mobile users, five dollars at a time.
The recent conclusion of President-Elect Barack Obama's campaign is evidence that small donations from thousands of donors leads to significant, even unparalleled, dollars. Obama raised a record-setting $605 million for his campaign -- mostly from small, $10 and $25 donations from 3.1 million donors. Moreover, Obama's embrace of text messaging reflects the medium's growing popularity as a branding and marketing tool. In June 2008, 116.6 million people, or 52% of U.S. mobile subscribers, sent a text message, according to M:Metrics Inc., a mobile technology research firm.
Source: Mobile Accord, Inc. | mGive.com