A recent NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network) post asked readers to think about a world where computers had been outlawed. The post starts like this:
“Effective immediately, PCs and computers will no longer be manufactured, nor supported worldwide. I repeat, effective immediately, PCs and computers will no longer be manufactured, nor supported worldwide.
With a unanimous, although abrupt, decision, the Federation voted today to prohibit any further manufacture or support of non-mobile devices by any hardware and software providers worldwide.”
This post, and I, ask you: Are nonprofits and fundraisers ready for a mobile world? What would it mean if your entire technology infrastructure had to change in an instant? Is your organization ready for mobile computing and what this means for your fundraising?
In my work I come across nonprofit staff as well as board members, who proudly tell me they have not succumbed to having a smart phone, or they don’t “waste their time” on social media, or their website has worked just fine for years and they have more important things to do than make it “mobile friendly.”
The truth is, the mobile shift is already in full-swing. Just yesterday I:
- Accessed my contact management system from my smart phone to find a phone number of someone I needed to reach.
- I also entered notes into their record so I could remember what my “to do” is from the call I had made.
- I accessed the stats on visits to my website.
- Checked the status of my Facebook page after posting the daily coaching tip.
- Accessed documents from the cloud via my Dropbox account.
- And reviewed copy for a project with a tight deadline from my email that I was able to access from my smart phone.
All of this was accomplished with the phone paid for by my business. I was more efficient with my time, and more effective in my day.
Today’s fundraising staff members are expected to move mountains and maintain contacts with hundreds of donors, keep up on current events and hopefully raise more money than ever. But they need the tools to do so.
I say: Don’t make the mistake of NOT upgrading your mobile technology and policies to support your expanded programs and efforts to increase your impact by serving more men, women and children.
If you don’t know where to begin Socialbrite has a great guide on getting your organization onboard with mobile.
