Is a Mobile App Right for Your Nonprofit? 5 things to consider

Get the right information to the right people at the right time

You know what they say about getting from Point A to Point B, right?

The shortest distance is a straight line.

That’s something to keep in mind when trying to decide if your nonprofit should invest in an app to use to communicate with your donors and other supporters, including sponsors, volunteers, board members and even staff.

A mobile app is a superhighway from Point A (your organization) to Point B (your donor) and from Point B back to Point A, bringing with it a desired action — whether it be a donation, signing a petition, signing up to volunteer at an event, etc.

Mobile apps eliminate the need to fire up a browser and navigate to your website, open an email and click on links, or navigate to your page from a Facebook post. They put you directly — and literally — right in the palm of your intended audience’s hands by sending notifications to their phone screens.

Sounds kind of like a text, no? But while texts get you there, to the recipient’s phone, that’s where they tend to stay until they’re swiped away. App notifications, on the other hand, are dynamic and give the recipient choices and calls to action and easy ways to answer those CTAs. (Another important difference: With an app there are no variable costs; nonprofits can send as many notifications to as many people as often as they want without incurring additional charges.)

Think of it as a bridge that gets people from their phones to your organization’s homepage, donation page, volunteer page, etc. Your nonprofit invested a lot of resources of time and money in that infrastructure, and an app is a more effective way to bring people to it. Mobile apps certainly help nonprofits reach a highly personalized and modern donor communication system, opening up a window of endless possibilities to enrich donor relationships.

Studies have shown that most people look at their phones on average 100 times a day. That’s some prime real estate right there. Shouldn’t your organization be on it?

It could be a good idea to start thinking about a mobile app for your nonprofit!

All the best,

– Your friends at NonprofitLibrary