The best mobile apps for charities

Mobile phones may be distracting, but they provide organisations with advantages. In this article, we take a deep dive into useful apps and examine the apps that can improve your operations, efficiency, fundraising, and sustainability.  

 

 

Best apps for smooth operations

 

Working in operations means taking care of finances, expenses, and general admin. Our top apps for teams in this area include some of the following.

 

 

Concur Expense and QuickBooks for finance teams

 

Aimed at the finance function and those on-the-road, Concur and QuickBooks both have mobile apps to make expense tracking painless.

 

Concur’s app accesses the camera, so expenses can be captured immediately – no more paper receipts to collect. QuickBooks has similar functionalities.

 

Both Concur (through its parent company SAP) and QuickBooks offer accounting software. For finance teams, that means expenses and finance operations are automated.

 

 

Taking control of the mess with Asana and Trello

 

Project management software helps you avoid reliance on paper and to-do lists. Asana organises large projects. Features include task management, responsibilities, and multiple project outlooks.

 

Trello helps charities complete much simpler projects. The sticky board format is great for short to-do lists and assignments.

 

 

Getting the 30,000ft view with ClickUp

 

ClickUp is a powerful project management and productivity platform. It pulls together information from every project, task, staff contributor, list, calendar, and just about every metric.

 

Customised dashboards then sweep up all the details and show leaders what’s happening in the overall picture. The best part: the app is accessible across every device, including phone.

 

 

Use Shortcut to make life more efficient

 

Adding another layer of speed, the Shortcut app works on both Android and Apple phones. The premise is simple – personalising shortcuts in the home screen to exactly how you work.

 

Examples include a direct tap to your favourite play list. In other words, doing without accessing media apps, then the list, and then play. Users can even instruct Shortcut to download specific items – say, from a WhatsApp group.

 

 

Fundraising is still front of mind

 

Fundraising is at the heart of most charities. Getting onto an app, linking up with developers, and being part of the digital fundraising channel is crucial. Here are our top picks.

 

 

JustGiving is a staple

 

A huge marketplace for charities and donors alike, the platform and mobile app are perfect showcasing campaigns. Charities can integrate mobile donations onto pages with JustGiving.

 

 

Kindred Shop ‘n Save app

 

Being one of the chosen charities on the app means accepting donations while audiences are shopping. The app has partnered with various shopping outlets to offer cash back options.

 

One of the options is for shoppers to donate their cash back to charity – on average, £150 per annum per user goes to charity. For charities, it’s a passive way of fundraising.

 

 

Tackling sustainability one phone at a time

 

A hot topic to address across every sector, having a mobile app to hand means priorities are focused. The top apps to use for charities and staff are:

 

 

JouleBug for everyone in the organisation

 

Touted as an employee engagement app, the platform works for all charity staff. The platform gamifies sustainability challenges, educates, and supports collective action.

 

There are more than 70 measures of sustainability so you can tailor your mission to match objectives. The best part is that the app can be used for both corporate and individual goals.

 

 

Earth5R for those who want to align with UN

 

Awarded by the UN and listed as one of UNESCO’s top sustainability initiatives, Earth5R is a module-based activity app. The modules include noise and water pollution, deforestation and desertification, waste management, Sustainable Development Goals, and more.

 

Each module has actions for completion. To stay on top of news, there’s also a feed.

 

 

Earth Hero for climate change

 

Earth Hero’s app is for charity staff who want to reduce their carbon footprint. The reduction journey starts by assessing where carbon emissions come from.

 

Next, individuals’ targets are set, along with suggested actions of how to reduce impact. The best part of this app is the social element.  Participants can be connected with those in their local area or go even broader.

 

The app helps channel group action towards Citizens’ Climate Lobby, The Sierra Club, and other non-profit lobby groups.

 

 

Ecosia search engine plants trees

 

A search engine and browser extension, Ecosia is a green alternative to Google. The platform generates fees from advertising revenues. Then, they use the profits to plant trees in over 35 countries worldwide. The app works on any device.