The Disasters Emergency Committee ( DEC ), the umbrella organisation for 14 UK humanitarian aid agencies, is using the leading mobile engagement solution provider OpenMarket to drive mobile fundraising for its Philippines Typhoon Appeal. OpenMarket’s Mobile Engagement Platform is powering the appeal’s mobile donation channel, which has raised over £1M in mobile donations since the campaign launched on November 12th.
DEC launched its Philippines Typhoon Appeal to raise money to help the millions of people affected or left homeless by the devastating Typhoon Haiyan that struck the country on November 8th 2013. The OpenMarket platform processes incoming donations made using Premium SMS ( PSMS ). Donations are made by texting DONATE to 70000, a designated DEC short code. Donors then receive a PSMS confirming their donation. DEC also uses OpenMarket to engage with donors on an ongoing basis with opt-in SMS appeal updates and invitations to make further donations.
In addition, DEC uses SMS to invite donors to register for Gift Aid, which increases the value of donations by 25 per cent. OpenMarket is the only provider in the market that enables donors to register for Gift Aid using SMS. Donors are invited to register for Gift Aid by texting back their name, first line of address and postcode. The Mobile Engagement Platform checks that the format of the details is accurate and then sends a confirmation message. Other providers typically direct donors to websites: this disrupts the registration and can potentially obstruct the Gift Aid process entirely, especially for websites that are not optimised for viewing on a mobile phone and when impulsive donors are on the move. Using SMS for Gift Aid continues to convert interest in about 2/3rds of donors.
OpenMarket has been DEC’s partner of choice for mobile engagement since its Pakistan Floods Appeal in August 2010. OpenMarket also worked with the DEC to deliver the mobile campaign for its East Africa Crisis Appeal in July 2011 and the Syria Crisis Appeal in 2013.
“OpenMarket is one of our longest-standing fundraising partners and we’re thrilled to work with them again on this important appeal,” said Adil Husseini, Head of Fundraising at the DEC. “OpenMarket has consistently proven their ability to handle our sudden and highly demanding needs. We had less than 48-hours to launch a massive media campaign and once again OpenMarket did not fail to seamlessly deliver our mobile fundraising needs.”
The OpenMarket Mobile Engagement Platform processes billions of transactions worldwide each month for high-profile global brands, companies and organisations. Charities can use the Mobile Engagement Platform to build specific use-cases for both one-off and on-going donation and donor engagement. Most importantly, it is totally flexible to the charity’s unique needs.
“OpenMarket is a trusted mobile engagement partner of the DEC, and this relationship has built up over several years and over several successful projects,” said Adrian Sarosi, Head of Marketing for EMEA at OpenMarket. “The cost of implementing mobile donations is minimal and allows charities to spend less on face to face fundraising and call centres. The DEC’s use of SMS for its Philippines Typhoon Appeal reinforces the impact and value of mobile as an important fundraising mechanism.”
