Call us on 01293 601111 or email us at info@rapidata.co.uk
13th
We’re excited to tell you about about the upcoming release of the Artez online fundraising system.
This update is full of new web, social and mobile fundraising features to enhance your online fundraising.
30th
Throughout November, three of the Rapidata team have been growing moustaches, much to the amusement of others, as part of Movember.
On this the final day of Movember, a big congratulations to Scott, Daragh and Adam for raising over £300 and to all those that supported their efforts. Rapidata will be matching the donations bringing the actual total to over £600!! The money raised goes towards Prostate Cancer and Testicular Cancer initiatives.
“This is the first time I have grown a moustache and possibly my last! It was however great to be part of a huge fundraising effort and I am very happy the Rapidata team reached it’s personal £300 goal.”
Scott Gray
“A Great cause supported, good laugh and impressive team result!
Though I think I can speak for all three of us when I say, we are looking forward to the shave tonight!”Daragh Everett
“I’m very pleased with the effort and it’s been fun (and itchy) raising money this Movember. I can’t wait to have a good shave later. You know what they say, hair today, gone tomorrow…”
Adam Denman
30th
It’s always great to report on what’s new in the Artez Online Fundraising Service released in September 2011 (release 150).
Here are some of the main highlights:
21st
Earlier this month the Rapidata team attended the Institute of Fundraising National Convention. This year’s conference was fantastic – attendee numbers were up, there was a huge variety of vendors at the expo and most importantly the quality and variety of seminars was really impressive. Since we launched our mobile fundraising app at the IoF and because we’re slightly obsessed with our own mobile phones, our team attended a lot of mobile and SMS giving seminars.
It was really interesting to find out how the sector is experimenting with SMS and mobile giving. One of the most common ways of leveraging SMS technology is via text campaigns that don’t include a fundraising ask. The examples given covered everything from asking people to text their support for a campaign to signing a petition, requesting more information, voting and more. Supporters who texted a reply were contacted via phone and asked to sign up as regular monthly donors. Most charities reported a 10% conversion rate from these calls and fairly low acquisition costs.
I think this is a great example of how to combine SMS communications with donor acquisition, but what are charities doing to make that process simpler? Will supporters make a gift via their smartphone if a donation site is sent to them via SMS? Does your charity offer supporters a quick and easy way to give online from their smartphone? How can charities convert more of these supporters to donors – particularly the ones who didn’t answer their phone when called?
In December 2010, a New York based charity called City Harvest tested QR codes on their print ads. When a supporter scanned the QR code with their smartphone they were redirected to a mobile optimised page that gave them 4 options; watch a video about the charity’s work, donate online, donate by phone and learn more about the charity. It’s a great campaign – but they missed a trick! Their donation form was not mobile optimised. It’s hard to use, hard to see and even the branding was vague.
Sadly, not that many charities have mobile friendly pages on their website. In fact, one presenter from the National Convention told us that only 16% of non-profits were planning mobile friendly pages on their website in 2011/12*.
It’s actually pretty easy to convert some key pages on your website to a mobile optimise version – although this does depend heavily on your website platform.
The key pages you should optimise are your donate now page, contact page, what we do/how you can help page, and maybe some video or image to bring your organisation’s role to life.
Rapidata launched mobile optimised donation pages last year to all of our clients. Now whenever a donation page is created on our platform, a mobile friendly version is automatically created too. Now you might be wondering what that looks like – well in a nutshell, the page is styled to fit nicely into a very small screen, the fields are easy to navigate and you don’t have to mess around with lots of extra questions. And we can incorporate PayPal as a payment option alongside all the standard cards (40% of PayPal donations to Red Nose Day were via an iPhone in 2011**). Our mobile donation pages are short, to the point, easy to use and our client’s branding is front and centre as always.
The best part about our mobile donation tool is that you can create multiple donation pages, each with a different look and feel to reflect your campaigns. And you don’t need to manage multiple online giving platforms. All your data is one place allowing you to track donor behaviour, find out who’s giving via their mobile, keep track of gift aid declarations and more.
Is your organisation planning an SMS or mobile giving campaign? Is your organisation planning on leveraging the power of mobile to raise funds? I’d love to hear about it! Please get in touch by leaving a comment below or email abono@rapidata.co.uk.
If you would like more information about mobile giving, please get in touch by emailing info@rapidata.co.uk or call 01293 524066
For more information about the potential of mobile phones for charities and non-profits, please click here to view nfp Synergy’s report.
12th
At last week’s Institute of Fundraising National Convention, we went along to a number of seminars. In one online fundraising session, we heard research that demonstrated just how important it is to include trust seals or trade marks, such as the VeriSign and FRSB logo, on donation pages to affect donor change and optimise online giving. It can make all the difference in a visitor’s decision to donate.
27th
On Sunday, the 26th of June, Daragh and I threw ourselves out of an aeroplane strapped only to a skydiving instructor to raise money for Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust. It was an awe inspiring experience. If not eye watering! After a short, but thorough training session at Headcorn Airfield, we adjourned to our picnic table to wait for the weather to clear. After an hour of pacing, the sun came out and the first skydivers took off! Daragh and I were one of the last groups to go and lucky for us we went with a group of very experienced skydivers. Their calm confidence definitely helped to soothe my nerves!
7th
…It’s all about you!
That’s the tag line for this year’s Institute of Fundraising National Convention 2011 taking place at the start of July.
Rapidata is pleased to be exhibiting and supporting the Convention for our eighth year. With the release of our third annual Charity Direct Debit Tracking Report and our recent iPhone and Android fundraising App, there are lots of new developments to come and see us about! As a Bacs Approved Bureau, we will of course also be on hand to help answer any Direct Debit, Auddis, Unpaid or Paperless Direct Debit questions you may have.
We are also pleased to be one of the few exhibitors signed up to the Institute of Fundraising early bird reward scheme, giving someone the lucky chance to win tea for two at the Ritz!
We will be on STAND 27, so please come and have a chat over a coffee, so we can all share and learn what the latest developments and requirements in fundraising are. If you would like to arrange a one to one meeting during the three days, please drop us a line info@rapidata.co.uk or call us on 01293 524066 and we will schedule it in.
For more information about the Convention, please click on the link below:
http://www.nationalconvention.org.uk/
We look forward to seeing you there.
6th
+++Press Release+++
LONDON, June 1st 2011 – Regular giving specialist Rapidata Services plc, announces the UK general release of a new Mobile Fundraising App – the first branding customisable app for iPhone and Android mobile phones – that provides an easy way for any charity, large or small, to break into mobile giving. The roll out follows its successful pilot for Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day that saw over 3,700 participants download the iPhone app. The Prince’s Trust is among several UK charities now trialling the app.
31st
The Artez Spring release (release 150) is now live. If you haven’t already seen the latest and greatest tools inside your Artez account, then login and check out the updates today.
There are lots of exciting goodies, but we’re especially excited about all the enhanced Facebook Connect and mobile web pages for your runs, walks, rides and campaigns.
What are the new features?
- Upgraded Facebook Connect tools
- Facebook “Like” button on your Artez pages
- Enhanced mobile event and donation pages for Smartphone browsers
- Enhanced E-Card layout options
- New donor management tools for administrators
To see a full list of enhancements, please check your inbox for the latest release notes or login to the Artez Client Resource Centre.
31st
Our support team paid a visit to our friends at Artez Interactive last week. It was a jam packed training session that ran the gamut from Google Analytics to Webservices and Mobile Apps. All in all a fantastic week. Most importantly Daragh got to meet the team who make all the magic happen. Later today we’ll be posting details about the latest Artez release, so watch this space! In the meantime, check out the fantastic group photo below:
