Salvation Army Goes Digital

Salvation Army will ring in the holiday season with new digital channels to drive up donations for its annual Red Kettle Campaign, Mobile Commerce Daily reported.

Now instead of relying on in-person donations, the nonprofit organization can continue to cast a wider net of contributors by leveraging social media and text-to-give options on mobile devices to help boost its 124th annual campaign. This also streamlines the payments process for Salvation Army and gets the money to the head organization quicker. The social media campaign is being driven with the #RedKettleReason hashtag to include to their followers why they are donating. More than 40,000 donations have been submitted since the social campaign launched in mid-November, the article reported.

“We have seen great success building awareness through our viral giving campaign called #RedKettleReason which equips supporters to educate their social connections about the breadth and depth of services The Salvation Army provides – specifically those services that are related to basic needs of children and families,” Lt. Col. Ron Busroe, the national community relations and development secretary for The Salvation Army, told Mobile Commerce Daily.

Black Friday was also a big day for the Salvation Army as the organization reported that 48 percent of donations came from mobile devices. Mobile users wishing to donate can text the word “KETTLE” to 80888 and reply “Yes” to donate $10. The mobile option also opens up the option for individuals to host a Red Kettle drive online to support a specific community. Team Kettle and Company Kettle are other options being leveraged by online and mobile donations this year.

Mobile isn’t new for the Salvation Army as it began its Mobile Ringer campaign in 2010, but their efforts are growing. The nonprofit also has an iPhone app for users to track donation progress and share updates via social media.

“We’re designing our social media images and advertisements to be mobile-friendly, with larger text and impact stats more visually stimulating from phone or tablets,” Busroe said.