Most groups choose to outsource the tech side of their mobile phone campaigns to Application Service Providers (ASPs) so they can concentrate their efforts on organizing. According to Mobile Actives’ Guide to Mobile Fundraising ASPs bring “mobile communication expertise to the table so that the nonprofit organization can focus on its operations and not get into the technical details of running a mobile marketing platform.”  Here’s are few things that are helpful to know before you start calling around for ASPs:

• ASPs are typically for-profit organizations although there are some nonprofits involved. The ASP typically owns the five- or six-digit short codes to which text messages are sent. The ASP also manages the keywords that are used for individual campaigns so that they do not conflict with other organizations’ keywords using the same shortcode. (Short codes are commonly shared codes that are delineated for specific campaigns by keywords. A nonprofit can lease it’s own shortcode if it desires but the costs for that are steep – anywhere from $500/month for a generic code to $1,000 month for a vanity code).
• The short code/keyword combination identifies the campaign and the donation amount. Consider the keyword ‘Haiti’ to the mGive shortcode 90999.
• ASPs often can provide a variety of additional services such as easy-to-use web platforms for managing campaigns and messages, metrics and analysis tools, and data integration with commonly used nonprofit databases.

What are the Fees?

Application Service Providers typically charge three types of fees.

• There is often a set-up fee that covers creating an account for the nonprofit organization at the ASP and the TTP. The Mobile Giving Foundation set-up fee is $350. This does not apply to signups through the Causecast agency); the set-up fee for mGive.com which is the for-profit ASP associated with mGive.org is $500 which covers both the ASP and TTP (here’s an explanation of TTPs) set-up fees.
• There is generally a monthly fee that is accompanied by a twelve-month contract between the organization and the ASP. This fee ranges from $99/month (Causecast) to fees of $250 (MobileCause), a number of $400-500 monthly fees (the mGive.com basic plan is $400 and $1,500 for the most expensive plan).
• Each donation that is processed through the ASP is charged a small transaction fee. This can be a constant amount (such as fifty cents on a $10 donation) or it can be a combination of a fixed amount and a percent of the donation amount.
• There may be some additional transaction fees that are paid back to the TTP by the ASP. Make certain to find out what they are so you are not surprised. These fees are not deducted from the donorʼs contribution which is passed on in its entirety by the TTP to the nonprofit; instead, they are charged back by the TTP and ASP to the nonprofit organization in the form of a bill. Because there are so many variations on the types of fees and the fee amounts, it is not easy to compare pricing. Read on for some suggestions.