How Text-to-Give Can Help to Meet Fundraising Goals for Nonprofits

Posted on November 3, 2021

As per the data recorded by Statista, there are 6378 billion smartphone users worldwide in 2021. And this number is expected to increase to a whopping 7516 billion by 2026! (Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/330695/number-of-smartphone-users-worldwide/) Therefore it comes as no surprise that businesses across the globe are ensuring that they have responsive website designs and facilitate multiple options on mobiles for users. Nonprofits are also adopting mobile-friendly technologies to increase their reach.

Mobile giving increased by 205% in the past year. (Source: https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/text-to-give-fundraising-guide/). This goes on to show that nonprofits must offer mobile-friendly options to donors.

Responsive website designs, QR codes, text-to-give, are some of the ways in which nonprofits are reaching out to donors.

Responsive website designs are web pages that are optimized for mobiles so that users can access the website through their smartphones. These websites also include donation pages that can be accessed on mobiles, where donors can donate directly.

QR codes have brought in the “scan to give” option where donors can scan the QR code and donate directly to the charity.

Text-to-give is another easy and secure method of donating that has become popular among donors.

Text-to-give Overview:

Text-to-give facilitates donations directly through smartphones using the phones’ native texting app or web browser.

How does Text-to-give work for Nonprofits?

• The nonprofit will need text-to-give software to facilitate giving through mobile text messages. Several vendors offer this software.
• Your vendor will provide you with a unique shortcode through which donations are made. A shortcode is a phone number reduced to 5-6 digits.
• The nonprofit can define a keyword that clearly indicates the cause to which the donation is to be made.
• Nonprofits need to promote their text-to-give campaigns to increase their exposure to a wider audience.
• Donors will need to send the keyword as a text message to the short-code provided.
• Nonprofits receive the donation either directly from donors or the donation is received from mobile service providers.
• After the donation is made, the nonprofit sends an acknowledgment that includes an automated receipt via email.
• Nonprofits can also include a repeat feature that encourages donors to repeat their donations.

How Text-to-give works for Donors?

• Donors can donate directly to a charity of their choice with a simple text message.
• The text message to be sent is known as a keyword that directly indicates the cause for which the donation is made.
• A shortcode is provided to which the message needs to be sent.
• There are two ways of donating through this method:
• Text-to-give: The donor messages the keyword to the shortcode, the amount being donated is added to his cell phone bill.
• Text-to-donate: In this method, the donors are directed to a mobile donation page after they message the keyword to the shortcode and they directly donate the amount to the charity.
• Donors can furnish the payment information like the donation amount, etc. in the online donation forms.
• After the donation is made, donors receive an acknowledgment along with a receipt for the donation made.
• Text-to-give makes it easy for donors to make recurring payments with the repeat option.

Text-to-give is becoming popular among donors because of the benefits they offer:

Fast and Convenient

Text-to-give does not take too much time to donate. Donors just need to text a keyword for donating. Donations can be made from anywhere at any time. Donors can donate even when they are on the go.

Secure

One of the main causes of concern while making an online payment is cyber security. Most vendors offer PCI-compliant text-to-give software that makes payments secure. Further tokenization process is used to prevent security breaches. Tokenization is when sensitive data like credit card details are replaced by a token between the text platform and the payment processor.

Intuitive

Texting has become a habit among most people. Hence, sending a text message to donate is almost an intuitive process. Besides, it is such a simple method of giving that it encourages impulse giving. For instance, if a donor notices a billboard, or a post on social media about a charity and feels inspired, he is likely to send in a text message to donate.

Increases the Donor Base

The text-to-give donation option is popular among donors and they are likely to encourage others in their circle of friends and family to donate.

Fundraising for nonprofits using text-to-give can be done either on its own or with other fundraising campaigns.

They are an ideal option for virtual fundraising events. For instance, in an online auction, text-to-give works perfectly. Donors can directly send their bids through text messages. They can be sent information if they have been outbid through push notifications.

You can create a fundraising campaign that relies soles on text-to-give.

Text-to-give is also suited for peer-to-peer giving where volunteers can raise funds via text-to-give.

You can also include the text-to-give details such as the keyword and the shortcode in your promotion campaigns online and offline to make it easier for donors.

Several vendors provide text-to-give software to facilitate donations. Each software has a specific set of features. The nonprofit must select the software that has features that are relevant to its fundraising campaigns.

Here are some features that are included in text-to-give software:

Customizable: Some platforms allow nonprofits to customize the text-to-give campaigns.

Fundraising Thermometers: Text-to-give platforms include fundraising thermometers that indicate the number of funds created at different stages. It also indicates how far or close are the funds collected from the goal of the fundraising campaign.

Number of Campaigns Supported: Some text-to-give platforms have a limitation on the number of fundraising campaigns they support while others may support unlimited campaigns.

Donation Pages: Text-to-give platforms also include donation pages where donors can provide their details and make donations.

Event Ticket Management: Certain text-to-give platforms facilitate event ticket management as well.

Repeat Donations: Some of the text-to-give platforms offer the feature of repeat donations where donors can repeat a specific donation they have made.

PCI Compliant: Most text-to-give platforms are PCI compliant and offer a secure means of donation.

Marketing and Promotion: Certain text-to-give platforms help nonprofits spread the word about their campaigns by offering tools for marketing and promotions.

Integration to Fundraising Campaigns: While some platforms offer only text-to-give features others facilitate linking the text-to-give feature with fundraising campaigns.

Analytics: Any fundraising campaign must be compared with certain metrics to assess its success or failure. Certain text-to-give platforms include a comprehensive reporting feature that provides valuable insights about the campaign.

Text-to-give platforms may include these and other additional features. Alternatively, they may not include all these features but only a few of them. A nonprofit organization needs to assess what features of the platform are relevant and choose a platform accordingly.

Nonprofits can choose a text-to-give platform based on the following criteria:

• It can meet your fundraising goals.
• It is within your budget.
• The platform must integrate with your existing CRM.
• Choose a platform that your donors are comfortable using.
• Choose a platform where the vendor provides support for setting up and maintenance.
• Make sure that the platform offers a secure environment to users.

While these are some basic features that any text-to-give software must have, you can select additional features as per the needs of your organization.

One of the best text-to-give platforms is iConnectx! It is well-suited for nonprofits and has a myriad of features that benefit nonprofits. iConnectx offers a secure and simple platform that delights the users.