Great Response to The Ottawa Mission’s Text a MEAL Donation campaign on Bus Boards

Mobile Giving effectively operationalize a Bus based Call to Action

The Ottawa Mission, a 230 bed homeless shelter in Ottawa, wanted to raise its profile in the community. It decided to include a text donation component in its message to try and acquire funds for special community meals that are held for the homeless 3 times a year – Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.

After receiving help from ZipGive to acquire its text to donate key word and short-code, the Mission chose to have donors make a $10 donation since the average price of a meal served at the homeless shelter is $2.97. A $10 donation was the way anyone could provide a homeless person with food for the day.

The Promotion

The text donation option was promoted via bus boards for 10 weeks in the fall and there were also radio and television ads taken out around Thanksgiving and Christmas. The Mission also tried to use Twitter and other social media channels to promote the text donation information as much as possible. The text info was given out anytime there is a media event or inquiry about the needs of the shelter.

Results

The ongoing campaign raised $7,000 in 4 months and there has been a significant amount of positive feedback from the community about the campaign. More advertising will be done in April leading up to the Easter Dinner for the homeless.

Through ZipGive and the Mobile Giving Foundation, Registered Charities such as the Ottawa Mission can leverage the widespread use of mobile devices to expand donor opportunities and outreach to new donor segments.

For more information, please email Ursula at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it