Sam McKelvie, Head of Mobile Strategy, Mobile Commons Twitter Handle: @SamMcKelvie Whether your organization’s mission is to educate, empower, or encourage positive behavior, text messaging is a proven effective medium to reach people regardless of preferred social media, access to smart phones, or the digital divide. In this session, we’ll discuss how you can use text messaging to best communicate with the populations that your non-profit serves.

1. TEXT MESSAGING TO SERVE
OUR COMMUNITIES AND BUILD
OUR ORGANIZATIONS
Sam McKelvie | Head of Mobile Strategy
Mobile Commons
@sam_mckelvie

2. Text Messaging
• 97% of mobile phones are text enabled
• 99% of text messages are read

3. Incorporating SMS in to your Programs
• Text messaging can help your organization engage the
populations you serve by:
• Giving people educational information and tips
• Helping people find resources close to them
• Getting people the right message at the right time
• Helping people get the right answers

4. Education & Tips
University of Maryland
Food Supplement Nutrition Education
• Communicating nutrition information
and increasing access to healthy
food to lower income parents.
• “We decided to implement a texting
program to reach parents in their
own time and in their own space” -
Laryessa Worthington, EatSmart
Coordinator
• 73% of parents take the action from
the text all of or most of the time.

5. Education & Tips
AARP
ACA Enrollment
• Educating the public about the
ACA, deadlines, and how to
enroll.
• Available in both Spanish and
English

6. Education & Tips
NYC HRA
Text-2-Work
• A 2011 HRA survey of 2,000
cash assistance and food
stamp clients reported:
• 88% said they use a mobile
phone daily vs 61% internet
• 73% prefer text to get
updates on available job
opportunities

7. Education & Tips
NYC HRA
Text-2-Work
 “It's very hard for me to get to the
Internet, texting is great for me to
learn what jobs are out there”
 “It's convenient because job leads
come straight to my phone and save
me time”
 “It lets me know about what's
happening in the job market instead
of me having to call a number and
hearing recorded messages”
 “It gives you hiring contacts/address,
no need to call anyone to find out”

8. Education & Tips
Citizenship Works
Path to Citizenship
• Sends immigrants information
about US citizenship & helps
them access low cost legal
help
• New program will walk them
through the entire
naturalization application
process on their mobile phone.

9. Finding Resources
CA Department of Public Health
Flu Shot Locator
• Linked people in low income
communities to H1N1 vaccinations.
• The CDPH sent out a survey one week
after people used the flu shot locator:
• 33% of respondents got vaccinated
that week.
• 30% said they were planning on
getting the flu shot soon.

10. Finding Resources
Share Our Strength
No Kid Hungry, Summer Meals
• Connecting parents to free
summer lunches for their
children.
• More than 24,000 messages
received in the summer of
2013
• Over 3,400 calls generated to
the National Hunger Hotline as
a result of texting efforts.

11. Right Info, Right Time
National Cancer Institute
SmokeFreeTXT
• Messages are sent relative the users quit
date
• The typical quit rate for teens that do not
receive text messages is only 2-3%.
• After six months of messaging, teens
using SmokefreeTXT had a quit rate of
6%.

12. Right Info, Right Time
NYC Department of Health
Mobile Milk
• Women get a slate of support,
tips, and resources leading up
to their due date
• Once their baby is born they
get another schedule of
messages relative to the age
of their baby.

13. Right Answers
Planned Parenthood
PPINFO
• Health educators “chat” real-time
with teens via text.
• The ability to deliver sexual
health information immediately
and without judgment has made
the program wildly popular: over
250,000 teens have used it in the
past three years.
• Users report lower levels of
anxiety in post chat surveys

14. Right Answers
Crisis Text Line
• Gives teens emotional support
& info they need via a medium
they trust.
• Live specialists respond to
texts with counseling and
referrals to crisis centers and
youth-serving organizations
• CTL has exchanged nearly 1
million texts with over 19,000
teens.

15. GETTING PEOPLE TO
ENGAGE
Use All Available Forms of Media

16. Getting People To Engage
Social

17. Getting People To Engage
Print

18. Getting People To Engage
Print

19. Getting People To Engage
TV | Video | PSA

20. Getting People To Engage
Web

21. ENGAGING SUPPORTERS
Action comes from regular, varied
conversations that move supporters up
the ladder of engagement.

22. Engaging Supporters
• Event Invitations & RSVPs
• Updates & Awareness
• Donation Asks
• Polls, Quizzes & Contests
• Share Experiences
• Ask to make Phone Calls
• Collect Petition Signatures
• Share Content with Friends
• “Chat” with experts
• MMS – Picture & Video messages

23. THANK YOU!
Sam McKelvie
sam@mobilecommons.com
@sam_mckelvie