how to set up a text to donate campaign

by Kellen Macejkovic 7 min read

How to Set Up a Text-to-Donate Campaign

  • Choose an SMS provider.
  • Set up an SMS phone number.
  • Select a keyword.
  • Create SMS templates.
  • Promote your campaign. While you might have access to SMS messaging on your smartphone, it isn’t easy to send multiple...

Text-to-Donate is our easy, mobile-first method for capturing contributions when donors are on the go. Donors text/SMS a special “text code” to 44321 (valid with U.S. phone numbers on U.S. carrier networks) and receive a text reply with a link to a secure, mobile-ready fundraising page where they can then donate.

Full Answer

How do I set up a text-to-donate campaign?

How to Set Up a Text-to-Donate Campaign Choose an SMS provider. Set up an SMS phone number. Select a keyword. Create SMS templates. Promote your campaign. While you might have access to SMS messaging on your smartphone, it isn’t easy to send multiple...

How can I get people to donate by text?

Aug 07, 2018 · Select a memorable keyword. A keyword is a word or phrase that people can text in to your number to subscribe to your messages. For example, a nonprofit dedicated to saving the bees might choose the keyword “BUZZ.”. 3. Tell …

How do I set up text to give for my nonprofit?

Donr Dashboard > Text Giving > Create Campaign > (Assign to Activity, if a new Activity has been created) > Select from Donation & marketing consent, One-off Donation, Regular Donation or Send supporters to a Giving Page to donate The campaign you choose will be dependent upon your aims for your Text Giving campaign.

What is the average donation size for text-to-donate campaigns?

Jan 29, 2020 · Once everything’s squared away, you’ll need to promote your text-to-give campaign to donors. Share your organization’s number and keyword, and watch the donations fly in! For Donors Step 1: Text the nonprofit’s phone number. Initiate the transaction by texting the pre-selected keyword to an organization’s phone number.

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How do you set up a text to donate?

Add a banner to the top of your website with a call-to-action to text to donate. For example: “Text DONATE to 12121 to Give to the California Fire Relief Program.” Promote your keyword and short code on your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media profiles.Sep 28, 2020

How do I promote a text-to-give a campaign?

Promote your text giving campaign through channels that will reach your mobile supporters....You can promote your campaign across several platforms:Social media.Promotional t-shirts.Newsletters.Flyers.Print or online advertisements.Your website.Aug 16, 2017

How does Texting a donation work?

Using a text donation service, you can create a unique code that makes it possible for people to donate simply and quickly - typically, this donation is then added to the user's monthly phone bill or debited from available funds on a non-contract mobile phone.

What is text campaign?

Text-to-give is a new fundraising technique that allows donors to give to nonprofits with their cell phones. Supporters can text a keyword and donation amount to a nonprofit's predetermined number to give to the annual fund or to a specific campaign.

1. Convenience

Text messaging is popular because it’s convenient. Potential donors donate immediately when they see the campaign. They don’t have to navigate to a page. Just send a text from their cell phone. Often donors reflect their appreciation for the convenience of text-to-donate through larger donations.

2. Speed

Donors complete text-to-donate transactions within minutes. A few taps lead them from initial message to completed donation. Additionally, most recipients read a text within five minutes of receiving it.

3. Simple

We get text messages so frequently that navigating through text-to-donate messaging is easy for just about any smart phone user.

Set up the payments feature on your existing TextSanity account

Each TextSanity plan comes with the payments feature built in. Our payments feature is essentially a payment processor. Donors easily donate via text without being redirected to another payment processor.

Set up your donation campaign

When you have your donation campaign ideas planned out, implement your text messaging campaign with TextSanity.

Promote the text-to-donate keyword across various channels

Once you choose the keyword for your campaign, promote it on all your marketing channels. Make opportunities to publicize your campaign and your text-to-donate text message keyword.

Simplify

A text-to-donate campaigns are seamless. However, you don’t want to oversaturate donors with requests. Limit the amount of text-to-donate campaigns to a few each year. Also, simplify the process for your donors. Choose easy-to-remember, simple text message keywords.

Why are text to donate campaigns so popular?

Text-to-donate campaigns have risen in popularity because they’re easy to set up and have proven to work powerfully. These types of fundraising campaigns increase donor retention, often securing successful long-term donor engagement and boosting revenues.

Why do you promote text donations?

Promoting text donations on your other marketing channels helps spread awareness among your supporters and grow your donor list. People will be able to find your cause through the keyword (s) you choose.

What is a keyword for a donation?

A keyword is a dedicated word that your audience will text to initiate the donation process. Keywords are usually seven characters or less, easy to remember and hard to misspell.

What is SMS template?

Creating an SMS template is a huge time saver and keeps you from “reinventing the wheel” every time you launch a new campaign. SMS templates allow you to send bulk messages that dynamically add in personal information, like the recipient’s name.

What is a short code for a text to donate?

There are two types of phone numbers used for business SMS communications: long codes and short codes. An SMS short code is a 5 or 6-digit number used to send your text-to-donation campaigns to a mobile device.

What is a long code?

A long code is a unique 10-digit number used for the same purpose, although long codes are more commonly used for two-way communication. Before choosing which type of phone number to use for your text-to-donate campaign, read up on the pros and cons of long codes and short codes here.

Is it easy to text to donate?

Text-to-Donate Campaigns Are Easy: Setting up text-to-donate campaigns couldn’t be easier with an SMS provider like Textedly. Textedly helps get your campaigns up and running in just a few steps and streamlines the donation process.

How to implement a successful text to donate campaign?

How to implement a successful text-to-donate campaign: 1. Keyword: have a simple and memorable keyword. PAWS Chicago, an animal welfare organization, hosts an annual beach party and uses “BeachParty” as their keyword. The keyword is easy to remember because it’s also the name of the event. 2.

What is text to donate?

What is text-to-donate? Text-to-donate is a mobile fundraising tool using text messages to collect donations from donors’ mobile devices. These campaigns are effective because text messages have a 99% open rate! Donors are usually active on their phones, and this high open rate leads to increased donations.

Why is text to donate so successful?

Text-to-donate can be successful for your organization for many reasons: it increases your reach, collects donor data, and raise money and can be executed using a variety of platforms. Keep these tips in mind and you will be able to execute a lucrative text-to-donate campaign!

How to reach donors on their phone?

Email: another way to reach donors on their phones is via email. You can inform donors of the upcoming campaign and ask them to pre-register with their cell phone number so they will receive alerts when the campaign starts.

Why is the keyword easy to remember?

The keyword is easy to remember because it’s also the name of the event. 2. Display: make sure guests can easily find the keyword and number they need to text in order to make a donation. You can put the information on your event program, on tables, and/or on a digital display at the event.

What our members love

Help your supporters give on the go, directly from their mobile devices.

Great for your fundraising needs

Set up a fundraising page with text, images and videos for your Text-to-Donate campaign.

Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen

Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen uses social media to help propel its fundraising efforts, showcasing a Text-to-Donate code for mobile giving.

Works well with

Launch fundraising campaigns in minutes with beautiful, customizable and responsive donation pages.

What is text to donate?

Text to donate fundraising is a text message marketing feature that allows charities and nonprofit organizations to interact with their donors via text message. This can create increased transparency between donors and organizations, thus leading to an increase in total donations for the organization. Below are the steps you need to take ...

What is mass texting?

Mass texting is a cost-effective way to inform large groups about the issue at hand. We’ll explain how to do this in the following steps.

What is a keyword in texting?

A keyword is a word or phrase that people can text in to your number to subscribe to your messages. For example, a nonprofit dedicated to saving the bees might choose the keyword “BUZZ.”

Can nonprofits use SMS?

This limits the ability of nonprofits to fundraise directly through SMS if they don’t want–or can’t afford–to lease a short code. However, you can still use text messages as part of your nonprofit’s fundraising strategy by leveraging them as a tool to tell your organization’s story.

How to text to give a nonprofit?

Step 1: Choose a software provider. Pick a text-to-give platform that offers the features your nonprofit needs while keeping your donors’ information secure. Step 2: Receive a unique phone number. Your software provider will give your organization its unique phone number that donors can text.

What is text to give?

Text-to-give is using texting to donate to nonprofit, faith-based, and political organizations. It allows donors to give any time, anywhere in only a few seconds. Supporters will text your organization’s keyword and donation amount to your phone number, which is assigned by your provider.

Why is text to give important?

Text-to-give has quickly become a must-have in the nonprofit realm and for good reason: it works. In addition to boosting revenue, text donations enable nonprofits to improve donor engagement and retention, helping them to secure long-term support for their cause.

Why is Giving Tuesday important?

Giving Tuesday (and other time-based initiatives) represents a great chance to encourage donors to expand their giving as a result of an urgent push. Because there’s a limited time frame, donors are motivated to act fast, and texting their donations is the fastest way to give.

What is snowball fundraising?

Snowball Fundraising is a mobile-optimized fundraising suite for any organization, nonprofit, or church. With Snowball, you’ll receive more than the basics. Streamline all your fundraising efforts with these Premium features:

What is a pledge campaign?

A pledge campaign is a great twist on traditional text-to-donate campaigns. Since the average mobile donation pledge for fundraising events is $167, your organization stands a good chance at boosting donations. Have volunteers create their pledge pages.

How to multiply revenue at an event?

Multiply revenue at your events by incorporating text-to-give. Make sure to hang engaging flyers with your text-to-donate number and shortcode. This way, donors won’t have to worry about remembering their wallets. Chances are they’re much more likely to have their cellphones on them anyway.

What is text to give?

Text to Give is a fundraising method that empowers donors to give to organizations via their smartphones. Using their phones’ texting application, supporters can donate to their favorite nonprofits.

How to use Donorbox?

1) You create a Donorbox campaign for your fundraising project. 2) Your donor sends a text that contains your campaign ID to 1- (855)-575-7888. (A convenient 6-digit shortcode coming soon as well!) 3) Donorbox replies to your donor with a text message that contains a link to your campaign page. 4) Your donor clicks the link on their smartphone, ...

What is Quick Donate?

Quick-donate allows your donors to repeat their last donation without filling out any new forms or opening any webpages. By giving your donor an easy way to continue donating after a one-time event, it encourages regular giving to your cause. Great for recurring events and gatherings!

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What Is Text-To-Donate?

  • Text-to-Donate and Text-to-Give are essentially the same—both are ways to donate via mobile texting/SMS. Although both of these terms are used interchangeably, there are some technical differences between the two. Text-to-donate is a form-based method, meaning your donors tex…
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How to Implement A Successful Text-To-Donate Campaign

Why Use Text-To-Donate?

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Text-to-donate is a mobile fundraising tool using text messages to collect donations from donors’ mobile devices. These campaigns are effective because text messages have a 99% open rate! Donors are usually active on their phones, and this high open rate leads to increased donations. Remember these six things …
See more on givesmart.com