mobile campaigns

NEW! Third MobileActive Guide Released: Mobile Phones in Fundraising Campaigns

Posted by KatrinVerclas on Mar 24, 2007

MobileActive is announcing the third MobileActive Guide, profiling strategies and civil society organizations using mobile phones in their work to make the world a better place. The MobileActive Guide focuses on using mobile phones in fundraising campaigns. It features case studies from around the world, strategies for using mobile phones in fundraiaing, and a how-to section for organizations considering using mobile phones to support their causes.

Download the Guide here.

Mobile phones have become a powerful emerging tool for participation in civil society. This five part series looks ways nonprofits have used mobile phones in their campaigns and the effective strategies deployed, and shares lessons learned.
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Mobile Benchmarks 2010: How Are Non-Profits Using Text Messaging?

Posted by AnneryanHeatwole on Feb 19, 2010

We are releasing today the first-ever Nonprofit Text Messaging Benchmark Study (PDF) The study, sponsored by Mobile Commons and mGive, takes a look at how organizations in the United States are using text messaging and how subscribers are responding.  It reveals that mobile phones are becoming increasingly popular for advocacy with organizations.

Written by Michael Amoruso and Jessica Bosanko of M+R Strategic Services and Katrin Verclas of MobileActive.org, the report “provides benchmarks and metrics by which nonprofit organizations can measure their success with text messaging and illustrate the various ways in which organizations are using text messages.”

The earthquakes in Haiti earlier this year showed that SMS can be a powerful tool for fundraising (raising millions in just a few days); it’s clear that the time is ripe for non-profits to tap into the mobile market in order to engage their supporters. According to the Mobile Benchmark study (PDF), there are currently over 276 million wireless users in the U.S. and during the first half of 2009, users sent about 740 billion text messages. The report breaks down not only how non-profits can use SMS to interact with supporters, but also releases statistics on how specific organizations fared with their SMS campaigns.

Mobile Benchmarks 2010: How Are Non-Profits Using Text Messaging? data sheet 7843 Views
Countries: United States

United States Carrier Verizon reverses Refusal of Abortion Rights Text Messages

Posted by KatrinVerclas on Sep 27, 2007

In a quick move, the US carrier Verizon today reversed its refusal to issue a short code to abortion rights advocacy organization NARAL. According to a statement by Verizon:

"The decision to not allow text messaging on an important, though sensitive, public policy issue was incorrect, and we have fixed the process that led to this isolated incident. Upon learning about this situation, senior Verizon Wireless executives immediately reviewed the decision and determined it was an incorrect interpretation of a dusty internal policy. That policy, developed before text messaging protections such as spam filters adequately protected customers from unwanted messages, was designed to ward against communications such as anonymous hate messaging and adult materials sent to children.

"Verizon Wireless is proud to provide services such as text messaging, which are being harnessed by organizations and individuals communicating their diverse opinions about issues and topics. We have
great respect for this free flow of ideas and will continue to protect the ability to communicate broadly through our messaging service."

Mobile Phones and Social Activism - An Ethan Zuckerman White Paper

Posted by KatrinVerclas on May 09, 2007

Ethan Zuckerman has written a solid overview of mobile phones in international activism. It is re-posted here under its Creative Commons license. For additional resources, see also the mobileactive.org Strategy Guides on using mobile phones in elections, advoacy, and fundraising.

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