On Saturday, April 25th, an earthquake struck Nepal. Kathmandu, the nation’s capital city, has been overcome by shattered temples and toppled houses. Many citizens have paid their last respects to loved ones taken by the horrible natural disaster.
Photo courtesy of pbs.org
To date, over 7,300 people have been reported dead and more than 12,000 people are injured (Al Jazeera, May 3). Eight million people across the country have been affected, including one million children who desperately need assistance.
This is just a snapshot of statistics, barely illustrating the scale of the devastation from the earthquake. Unfortunately, these grim numbers are likely to continue rising as the likelihood of further rescues diminish with every passing hour.
And just last night, there was a tremor near Mount Everest that caused dozens of more deaths. The result of this will only be seen in the coming days.
But as they say, in the darkest hour the brightest lights can shine. Whenever there is a natural disaster, whether it is a tsunami in Asia or an earthquake in Haiti, the global community comes together to help those affected.
How can we help organizations become more effective and efficient in times like this?
In times of disaster, we know all too well that donation phone lines become jammed. We also know that money is desperately needed to allow organizations to make an impact on the ground in Nepal.
This turns us to mobile fundraising. You see more and more TEXT 2 DONATE campaigns happening, and while these definitely help, they can only help those that think to donate in this way first. What about those that are calling in to donate and are waiting for 20 minutes or longer just to give their hard-earned money to your organization? What about those that are potentially hanging up due to frustration and donating elsewhere or not at all?
Let’s fix this problem.
Picture this scenario: you are on hold with a disaster relief organization and it says wait times could be 20-40 minutes. However, within the first minute, the system recognizes that you are on a smart phone. It asks you to hit the star button if you are interested in making a mobile donation and avoiding any wait time at all. By hitting star, you are immediately sent a secure link at no charge via text message. You click the link and a browser opens. You are prompted to follow a few screens that ask questions about your donation, you enter your credit card number safely and securely, and then you are off the call in five minutes or less with a tax receipt emailed to you. How easy was that?! And you were able to opt-in to receive notifications with critical updates on how your money is now being used in Nepal. Not only was it easy, now you have some added value.
Now that makes sense.
This type of program for your non-profit organization could result in a diversion of up to 20% of people calling in, who may have alternatively hung up in frustration and donated elsewhere. You are potentially securing 20% more money to further your mission and help those in need.
Enter experienceONE.
ExperienceONE is a smart phone on-demand donation service solution that helps to capture approximately twenty percent of calls that will be missed due to high call volumes. It gives your donors a choice and – best of all – makes it easy for them to support you.
This distinctive platform integrates physical and digital experiences and provides donors with options for engaging with your organization – anytime, anywhere and with any device. With exponential adoption of smart phones, the program identifies donors that are using them and provides an option to interact efficiently and effectively.
With experienceONE, your organization can accomplish four major goals to improve the donor experience and more efficiently help the affected citizens of disasters everywhere:
1. You are able to handle larger loads of calls.
When thousands of caring people from all over the world rush to donate money to your organization to help the people of Nepal, you will be able to divert approximately 20% callers to an online gateway, allowing you to handle larger loads of donations.
2. Your online payment gateway systems will be prepared.
As the high volume of calls run through your organization’s channels, your online payment system (via experienceONE) will be ready and won’t slow down or cause problems in the system.
3. It costs less to capture mobile donations, helping your organization achieve more of its mission.
A Live Agent answering phone calls can be around $5 per transaction. By switching donations to a mobile switch, the cost can be significantly reduced to around $1.50 per transaction.
4. You can follow up with donors and keep them updated.
Lastly, the experienceONE program will keep a detailed and organized roster of all your donors. As a result, your organization will be able to follow up with donors after the initial shock of the crisis and keep them informed on the progress being made. This is an integral part of the system, as it allows your organization to build and nurture better donor relations.
When crisis hits, we want to know organizations are able to capture the monies needed to make an immediate impact where it is needed most. The potential for efficiency with experienceONE is beyond any other public sector program. Allow your organization to be better at doing good for the world.