Text Giving is here to stay (for now at least).
Julian Lomas
Keeping abreast of, and adapting to, changing supporter needs and motivations is what charity fundraising is all about. It’s not just about knowing what people want and why they might give to a particular cause or charity. it’s also about making it easy to donate. Enabling an immediate response to a fundraising ask without lots of fuss and form filling helps; a lot!
The advent of text giving (many years ago now) appeared to herald a real break-through. With mobile phones now ubiquitous it provides a simple, instantaneous tool for donors to respond to an ask, almost wherever they are at the time.
But then it appeared by 2017/18 that text giving was dying off (although £37.5m was still donated by text that year). JustTextGiving closed down in March 2019 on the basis that technology had “moved on” with people apparently seeming to prefer to give through online giving (through range of internet enables devices, including Smartphones). Other issues such as Gift Aid and Data Protection compliance and donor perceptions that they are hassled for further donations if they give by text were also cited as possible reasons for the decline.
Only a year later, the figures showed significant growth, with £49.6m donated by text in 2018/19 (albeit a high proportion was through major telethons such as Red Nose Day and Children in Need) and the current prediction for text giving in 2019/20 is £43. Furthermore, the value of text donations appears to be creeping up (albeit there remains a £30 maximum).
The message seems to be that text giving is here to stay (at least for now) as part of an ever wider range of donation channels being made available to supporters (see for example our recent blog on voice giving through smart speakers). Despite the demise of JustTextGiving, a range of platforms remain available including for smaller charities, such as Donate, Donr and Instagiv
If you’d like to chat about your charity’s fundraising strategy please contact us at julian@almondtreeconsulting.co.uk to arrange free initial telephone discussion.