1. Mobile &
Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins
Unsummit | 26 June 2010

2. Biographies
Lisa Foote, President | MixMobi
• Innovation enthusiast
• Corporate refugee, VP at CapitalOne
Curt Prins, Executive Director | District 202
• 16 Years in Technology Marketing & Nonprofits
• D202 empowers LGBTA youth ages 13-21
• D202 earned a 2010 Dot.Org Award for
leveraging technology to engage youth.
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

3. What we’re covering
1) Research on youth & mobile phones
2) Talk toys & tools
3) Take a peak at our first campaign
4) Review @#$%! moment how we adapted
5) Results from the changes
6) Open discussion
7) Questions?
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

4. Research
• Youth’s lives are integrated with technology
• Over 78% have mobile phones (Pew Research)
• Guess the average teen SMS volume/month?
• They send/receive 2,272 (NYT-AT&T)
• Over 73% use Social Media (Pew)
• Compared to 40% adults ages 30+
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

5. Mobile Toys & Tools
• First experimented “Toy”: FrontlineSMS
– Built for NGO’s in developing world
– Hardware based & remarkably slow
• Moved to SaaS Platform: MobileCause
– Initially for text2give—Raised $15K
– Added SMS Broadcasting Tools—built a list of 2K
• Mobile Web Platform: MixMobi
– Integrated for education
– Later use for fundraising
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

6. First campaign
• Goals for the effort:
– Youth email and SMS list building
– Introduction to greater LGBT community
– “Guinea pigging” youth for an adult version in Fall
• Tools:
– MobileCause for broadcast & list building
– MixMobi for education & enrichment
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

7. First campaign
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

8. 70’s Sitcom Tune:
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010
“Who can turn the world on with her smile?”
Text “MARYTYLERMOORE” to 27138
Text “MARYRICHARDS” to 27138

9. Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

10. First @#$%! campaign
• Faults were not technically based
• 13-21 year-olds not mobile—transportation-wise
• Our locations were in a circular path around
Minneapolis/St. Paul
• 13-21 year-olds need greater incentives to act
• Keep it simple and brief
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

11. Remedy
• Focus only on the area within Twin Cities—
Loring Park during Pride Weekend
• 7 Locations with easier hints
• Beefed up prize money
• Invited general community
to participate—sans prizes
• Added other organizations to
introduce youth to them
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

12. Results
• Over 250 participated—20% were adults
• 86% of the participants were new to D202
• Strengthened relationships
with key partners
• Raised over $500 (unsolicited)
• Recruited 20 new volunteers
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

13. Open discussion
• How to implement do you best mobile in your
organization
• Understanding your audience
• What’s a fad?
• What’s here to stay?
• How do you integrate mobile into other efforts?
Mobile & Youth Engagement
Lisa Foote & Curt Prins | Unsummit 2010

14. Questions?

15. Thank you!