Fundraising has come a long way with the rise of new technology. Developers have brought some of this innovation to smartphones and tablets with inventive applications that boost the efforts of organizations that rely on successful fundraising to accomplish their missions.
With people more connected than ever, accessing a group of potential donors and sharing a compelling story to encourage donations is easier than ever. These four apps are some of the best in the industry when it comes to recruiting supporters, taking donations, and tracking fundraising progress. Since each serves a different function, downloading all four will start you off with a dynamic mobile fundraising strategy.
PayPal
In a world of electronic payments, it’s rare to come across someone without a PayPal account. This convenient global e-commerce business allows payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet and can come in incredibly handy when used for fundraising purposes.
The PayPal app, available on most smartphones, makes an already convenient system even more convenient. Donors can make a transfer from their smartphone in seconds, without the hassle of going to the bank or writing a check.
The benefiting organization can receive the donation, check its balance, withdraw money, and more from inside their account in the PayPal app. Even if a willing donor doesn’t have his or her own PayPal account to donate from, the app is designed to snap a photo of a check and add the money directly to the receiving account. But this isn’t the app’s neatest feature.
Although still in the rollout stages, PayPal now offers NFC peer-to-peer transfers to all NFC-enabled Android phones, which at this point includes the Nexus S and Samsung Galaxy S II. This feature allows money transfers by tapping two equipped phones together.
Square
Square is a great alternative to PayPal for accepting donations from those without a PayPal account. Although Square is widely used by small businesses that often operate from multiple locations, it’s a strong application for nonprofits, organizations, and events with a bank account able to receive donated funds.
After setup, Square account holders can sign up for a free Square Card Reader with which to slide credit and debit cards to receive funds. The app works with Visa, American Express, MasterCard, and Discover and keeps 2.75% per swipe as a processing fee.
Square has no contracts, monthly fees, or merchant accounts, so you won’t pay unless you actually use the app – a pretty safe bet for organizations. Funds are deposited into your bank account the next day.
Built-in analytics allow for the tracking of sales, tips and tax, and send electronic receipts via email or text message.
Goba.Mobi
This app is fantastic for keeping volunteers and supporters in the loop about fundraising events and opportunities for your organization. Load your contacts into the Goba app and create an event to let them know what’s going on.
Goba allows you to select and invite contacts to join you via web, email, and text messaging, so your contacts don't have to be "members" of Goba or even have the Goba app (although they will love it when they get it!).
You can easily see who is attending your fundraising event and remind them beforehand to encourage more people show up.
Goba lets you spend less time organizing volunteers and more time planning an excellent event to raise money for your organization. This is definitely a must have for event coordinators.
JustGiving
All you need is a JustGiving fundraising page (built on www.justgiving.com) and you’ll be ready to start fundraising right from your T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S (or any other Android or iPhone powered operating system – sorry, it appears they do not have a BB app just yet) with the JustGiving app.
This application lets you track your fundraising progress, connect with sponsors, and receive instant alerts of new donations, so you’ll know exactly who has donated and when they do it.
You can view all donations, with the newest ones highlighted, and know at a glance who has already sponsored you and who you should still consider asking. And, with the JustGiving thermometer, you can see right from your phone how close you are to hitting your fundraising goal.
