5 Mobile Apps for Charity (And Things You Should Think About)

Mashable recently published a great post covering 6 Apps That Fit Charity Into Your Daily Routine and building on that, HubSpot had a similar rundown in their 5 Mobile Apps Nonprofits Can Use to Boost Donations. So instead of rehashing or covering those more in-depth, I’ll try to give you 5 things you and your organization should think about when contemplating mobile apps for charity.

1. What is your mobile strategy?

If you don’t have one then you should get one, but it most likely should not start with jumping on the app bandwagon. Having a mobile friendly or optimized website and emails where you can tell great stories and deliver your content comes first.

After that, a strong social strategy (which skews hugely mobile) where you can share content, engage donors in personal ways and, increasingly, even ask for donations, pledges and actions should be next. There’s nothing wrong with some experimentation with new channels and fundrasing in new ways but there is still vast opportunity for organizations in optimizing their web and social for mobile without going full third-party app.

2. What is the donor/user experience like?

You’ll be getting donors from this app and potentially asking donors to use this app so you might want to make sure it’s a good experience. Remember, fundraising isn’t about you — your donors are the hero’s of the story.

Is it an easy check out process? Is it safe and secure for them? Is it fun and easy? What is the cost to the donor/user? Is it on Android and iOS? Can they find your organization or give to you easily? Ultimately, the better the experience of the donor is using the app for you, the better the donor experience is supporting you.

3. How large is the apps’ following and/or user base?

One of the arguments for an app is that it can expose your cause, and possibly acquire some donors, that you would otherwise not be able to get and engage with. But with many of these cool, start-up apps there is actually a very little following or user base and they are relying on your organization to bring some donors and users to them.

Seeing how many people are following the app on Twitter and checking out how many, how large and which other organizations are involved with the app already (the more, the bigger, the better known) the better) the higher chance the app has, as a rough guideline, of having a bigger user base you might benefit from.

4. How will this app help build your relationship (trust) with your donors/users?

Would you rather get a $15 donation and no email or no donation but an email address from a fairly interested not-yet donor? I’ll take the email every day of the week and twice on Sunday. Why? Because that email gives me the opportunity of building a long-term relationship that can yield a lot more financial and other return. These third-party apps are just that — third-party. They are not the donor directly and they are not connecting donors directly to you.

Often in that transaction donor information is not shared. Some apps will let you post a project or share an update in app (or possibly even thank them and share a quick message) which is better but be sure you can “close the loop” and engage with these donors and there is some ability to build trust and hopefully a relationship with the donor/user.

5. What are the risks vs. rewards?

Low or no set up fee. A project you are already fundraising for. A non-competing mobile strategy. An ability to interact with the donor/user. With many apps the rewards may not be too high and there may be some questions (like mine) wondering about the true value and importance of the mobile app to your fundraising strategy.

But the flip side is, there is often little downside. A few hours, a few Tweets and Facebook posts, maybe a blog or story in a newsletter and that’s it. As long as you have some of the more core elements of a digital fundraising strategy in place and use an app that has little risk it might be worth a try.

So with those questions in mind, check out some of the apps suggested by Mashable and HubSpot and see which one, if any, is right for you and your donors.