With 87% of the U.S. adult population now carrying mobile phones, (52% of them internet-enabled smartphones), people are changing the way they buy things. According to a survey recently released by the Federal Reserve Bank, 15% of mobile phone users have purchased something with their phone in the past twelve months. The most common “purchase” is online bill payment, which may include a donation to your ministry organization.

Smartphones are also changing the way people make their buying decisions. 42% of smartphone users have used their phone to comparison shop while they’re at a retail location. And 32% of these users have used it to check prices by scanning a barcode.

How does this increasing use of mobile technology affect the way donors interact with our ministry organizations? It sure prompts a question: How easy do you make it for someone to donate using their phone? In a recent blog, Make Your Ministry Website Mobile Friendly, I offered eight tips that directly influence whether a mobile phone user will donate to your ministry.

All the experts I follow see an evolution in the way we interact and pay for things and say that the next two to five years will bring significant changes in how we handle our money. Many of these changes will be tied to the use of our phones.

What are you doing at your ministry to anticipate these changes? At my church, I’m thinking about printing a QR code in our program so people with smartphones can more easily go to our online giving page.