Rick Christ on instant messaging as a fundraising tool
Howard Lake | 12 January 2005 | News
Don’t ignore the potential of instant messaging as an online fundraising tool argues Rick Christ, Senior Consultant at US consultancy NPAdvisors.com, in an article for the Association of Fundraising Professionals.
Instant Messaging (IM) and text messaging are just as important as email as a fundraising and communications tool, says Rick Christ in his article. Indeed, the younger the supporter, the more likely they are to favour IM over email.
Christ quotes AOL’s second annual survey on IM which found that “half (49 percent) of teens and young adults (ages 13-21) say they send more instant messages than e-mails, while only six percent of those 55 and older say they do.”
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A Pew Internet and American Life Study confirmed this, finding that 46% of those aged 18-27 use IM more frequently than email, compared to just 18% percent of those aged 28-39.
In light of this, Christ poses three pertinent questions:
Some questions to ponder:
- do you and your organisation recognise that IM and mobile text messaging is rapidly catching up to email in usage?
- how do you plan to capture and use IM addresses and use them as part of your advocacy, communications and fundraising programmes?
- if young people today find even email less attractive than IM, what will their reaction be to paper-based direct mail when they are older and able to give more?
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.