Most donors who give to charity via text message prefer to have the option to give higher amounts. Almost three out of four text donors (72 percent) are inclined to continue giving by texts but even more would like the added option of giving $25 rather than just $5 or $10. Nearly 85 percent of donors would like to contribute $25 to $50 through text donations, up from 82 percent last year.
The Denver, Colo.-based mGive Foundation recently released its donor survey report, which is based on 20,445 responses received between April 23 and May 22.
Online is the preferred method of charitable giving while text donating ranked third, just behind special events. Mobile donating was among the top three choices among all age groups. Eighty-five percent rated experience with text donations as “excellent or good” compared with just 8 percent as fair and 2 percent poor.
Three-quarters of respondents have had their mobile number for more than five years, with nearly half (48 percent) keeping the same number for eight years or more.
Television or radio continues to be the most likely way to hear about text donation campaigns, at 67 percent, down from 68 percent, but social media experienced a 6-percent jump, from 22 percent to nearly 28 percent. Public or special events were the third most likely way to hear about text donation campaigns (19 percent, up from 16 percent), followed by email (12 percent) and friends and family (10 percent).
Disaster relief organizations (87 percent) were by far the most common recipient of text donations, followed by human services organizations (51 percent) and health organizations (41 percent).
More than two out of five respondents said they give more than $250 annually to charities through multiple channels, and 14 percent give more than $1,000.
Almost 85 percent of respondents said small gifts via texts do not make them less likely to give by another channel, such as online or direct mail. The number of respondents who would be willing to give $25 to $50 via text increased from 82 percent last year to 85 percent.
Seven out of 10 respondents said they would like to receive donation information by text and 37 percent said they’d like to receive news and updates. A third said they’d like to receive volunteer information, which was up from one quarter last year, while one in five favored receiving advocacy calls to action.
Saturday is the most popular day to make text donations with 29 percent completed that day. Total weekend (Friday through Sunday) donations are 56 percent. Most donations are completed between 9 p.m. and midnight (21 percent) and 9 a.m. and noon, Eastern times (20 percent).
Tuesday (7 percent) and Thursday (8 percent) are the least popular to complete donations. For mGive clients, however, Tuesday is the most popular day to communicate, at 40 percent, and outbound traffic for most nonprofits peaks at 3 p.m. Eastern (31 percent) and again at 5 p.m. Eastern (18 percent).
