17 Smartphone Apps Every Fundraiser Should Use

Photo by cote

I’m a big fan of iPhone apps that help me be a more productive cause marketer. The apps you use, regardless of which device you own, support your fundraising efforts. I’m curious what they are and which ones you use most during the day, beginning when you wake up in the morning.

By way of comparison and to get the ball rolling here are my top apps in order of daily use.

Keep in mind I’m interested in the apps that appear on your first screen. Those are the ones you use most!

7:00 a.m. – Email

Email is the first thing I look at in the morning, usually while I’m still in bed. I check my email all day long. I’ve tried picking set times to respond to it but so far it hasn’t stuck. I’ve never tried anything else for my email than the native app on my iPhone. I’d love to hear your suggestions, if you have any.

7:00 to 8:30 a.m. – NotifyMe

After I get up, I help my wife get the kids ready for school, feed myself, and pick up the house. During that time I can hear my phone buzzing with alerts from my NotifyMe app. “Email proposal to Jane today.” “Call John before 10am.” I like NotifyMe for a couple of reasons. NotifyMe is dead simple to schedule a to-do, how often it should repeat, and reminders (e.g. every ten minutes, one hour, etc.). Of all the task apps I’ve tried, I’m amazed how few have these few basic features. A lot of the them will just remind you once. I want to be reminded until the to-do is done! NotifyMe is a to-do alarm clock with a snooze button.

8:35 a.m. – Remember the Milk

After I get the kids to school, I check out my to-do list for the day on Remember the Milk. While NotifyMe is great for reminding me of time sensitive things that need to get done. I take the long view on my tasks with RTM. For every to-do, I enter the due date and give it a priority ranking from one (most important) to four. Each day I choose three important tasks and make them a high priority so I can get them done.

I add to my RTM list throughout the day and happily mark tasks completed.

9:00 a.m. – AnalyticsPro, Constant Contact Quick View

I usually check my numbers on my blog and newsletter a few times a day. With my blog, I try to look beyond the raw numbers to get a sense from where I’m getting traffic and what people are searching for on my blog. With my newsletter, I focus on click rate and attempt to send hateful telepathic messages to unsubscribers.

At $6.99, AnalyticsPro is the most expensive app I own.

9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. – Simplenote, Calendar, Dropbox, QR Reader for iPhone, Google Voice, Twitter

I generally work at home so I’m on my MacBook all day. Still, I rely on a number of apps.

I’m a big fan of Simplenote. I have the app on my phone and desktop. One touch of the Simplenote button and I can write a note, tag and save it. I use it for just about everything, even my daily workout.

My favorite app of all is Dropbox. If only other apps functioned as well as Dropbox! Honestly, I use Dropbox mainly on my laptop. But when I’m traveling and want to review a document or practice a presentation on the fly, this app comes in handy.

I use the native Calendar on the iPhone. I really like the weekly landscape view they added in the last major update. I’ve tried the Agenda app, and but I didn’t stick with it.

I use the most popular QR code reader in Apple’s app store, QR Reader for iPhone, for scanning codes for my second book, QR Codes for Dummies.

I have a Google Voice number that I use strictly for incoming calls from clients. I like Google Voice. I must say that I never tried Skype until last week, but I liked it. I might be using Skype more.

Being home all day by myself, my closest companion is Twitter. I never feel alone.

3:00 p.m. – Starbucks, Camera, Pinterest, Google Maps

For an afternoon break, I head to Starbucks and use their mobile payment app. If I have errands to run and see a cause marketing promotion I’ll snap a picture and upload it to Pinterest and ping Twitter and Facebook. I still use the Posterous app for pictures, but I’m finding Pinterest a better place to spend my time.

If I have to travel to an appointment I’ll use Google Maps, but I plan to give Waze a try.

Downtime – Google Reader, Music, Twitter

I’m not a big Music fan, but I find Barry Manilow’s Greatest Hits album as wonderfully alluring as the next guy. My number one destination for casual reading on my Google Reader are health and wellness blogs, including Mark’s Daily AppleTwitter, of course, is an endless source of education and amusement for me.

The last app I check before bed is AnalyticsPro. I check unique visitors and page views and promise myself to try harder tomorrow. Data drives the day.

That’s what is on my phone. What’s on yours?

10 thoughts on “17 Smartphone Apps Every Fundraiser Should Use”

  1. So, these aren’t apps for fundraising, just apps some fundraiser uses during the day. Here are user experience apps: Angry Birds, Email, Facebook, Pinterest, Stocks, Dropbox, Twitter, G+, Calendar, Instagram.

  2. Joe, this is a great list! I too absolutely love Dropbox. Again, mostly for my laptops, but it has been a huge timesaver. I’ll also admit to being a frequent user of the WEEI app to get my New England sports fix!

  3. Whew! Great list, although I’m tired just thinking about all the things I need to check.u00a0 Seriously though, thanks for sharing great tools and resources for busy people.u00a0u00a0

  4. You should add Voucherry’s app here. It’s free and let supporters contribute to causes at no cost to them. I hope you won’t consider this as spam, but as a good hint to what’s new on the market.

  5. Thanks for the list, could you please provide the list of music apps that specifically allow free bollywood song download. i tried couple of them from google play store but none of them worked.

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