Red Cross’s Haiti earthquake relief fund campaign is one of the most notable fundraising campaigns in history. Many of us remember seeing: “Text ‘HAITI’ to 90999 to donate $10.”
This campaign raised over $43 million despite running just a few months.
How did they do it? Text-to-give. While the funds raised will vary in individual campaigns and organizations, a text-to-give campaign is still an exceptional tool for nonprofits. Get all the details of running your own text-to-give campaign below, including platforms to use and best practices.
What Is Text-To-Give and How Does It Work?
Text to give is a popular service that lets your supporters donate to your organization with a text message from their mobile phone. Supporters simply text a designated keyword to initiate a donation.
In January 2021, 55% of web page views came from mobile devices. Allow your supporters to donate from the mobile device they already have in hand with the text-to-give fundraising method. Your supporters can give in a few quick steps — without needing to grab their credit card! Here’s what this mobile fundraising option looks like for nonprofits and donors.
Text-To-Give for the Nonprofit Organization
Your organization will need to choose a text-to-give fundraising platform provider who will assign you a unique shortcode — essentially an abbreviated phone number. For example, in the Red Cross’s Haiti earthquake campaign, their shortcode was “90999.” You’ll then develop a unique keyword that your supporters text to your shortcode, initiating a donation. The Red Cross used “Haiti,” fittingly!
Text-To-Give for the Donor
Donors can trigger a donation request by texting the keyword you’ve chosen to the shortcode. Donors then receive a confirmation from their mobile provider indicating that their contribution was added to their monthly cell phone bill. No credit or debit card is required!
Text-To-Give vs. Text-To-Donate
While they are both excellent mobile giving options, there are a few differences between text-to-give and text-to-donate worth mentioning. Though frequently confused, there are some significant differences between text-to-give and text-to-donate campaigns. Take a peek at a couple of key differences here so you can better weigh your options.
- Donation amounts: In text-to-give campaigns, the donation amount is preset. Text-to-donate campaigns let your supporter decide how much they want to contribute. While features vary from platform to platform, donor data may be limited in text-to-give campaigns.
- Accessibility of funds raised: Mobile phone carriers process and then transfer the funds raised in a text-to-give campaign to your organization. In text-to-donate campaigns, your supporters receive a link to a responsive landing page or donation form where they will complete their donation by entering their credit card information, similar to any other online donation.
Here’s how it looks in action: This text-to-give campaign has the donor text “Skate” to 20222. Once the donor confirms their intent to donate, $10 is charged to their phone bill, which will then be passed on to the organization.
On the other hand, this text-to-donate campaign has the donor text “Gala” to a phone number. The auto-responder sends them to a landing page to complete their donation.
Benefits of Text-To-Give Campaigns
If you’re in charge of planning fundraising ideas or fundraising events for your nonprofit, you know how important it is to tap into all the fundraising tools you can to obtain donations. A mobile giving platform widens your reach to new donors that might not have been responsive otherwise.
One of the notable benefits of a text giving campaign is that it walks your supporters through the donation process, so even less tech-savvy individuals can donate with just a few text message exchanges.
Because the gift is billed to their mobile phone bill, your supporters don’t need to worry about fishing out a credit card when they feel inspired to give.
You’ve heard of impulse buyers — text-to-give donations can appeal to an impulse donor. Because the means to give (mobile phone) is typically in their hand and the donation amount is preselected, your supporters are more inclined to spend less time thinking and more time texting.
3 Popular Text-To-Give Platforms To Consider
Once your organization has decided to try text-to-give campaigns, you’ll want to research the platforms available. With varying features and pricing, the best platform for one organization may not be the best fit for another. Check out the pros and cons of three popular platforms right here.
1. Qgiv
Pros: Qgiv offers both a text-to-give and a text-to-donate option. The Qgiv platform provides both one-time and recurring gift options, and your organization can even link keywords to specific donation amounts. Donation amounts can be set at intervals ranging from $5-$50.
Cons: Depending on your budget and the number of keywords you need per year, Qgiv’s pricing could be prohibitive, with an annual rate of $1,788 per year for your first keyword and $1,188 per year for additional keywords. There is also a processing fee of 50 cents per transaction.
2. Give by Cell
Pros: Like Qgiv, Give by Cell also offers text-to-give in addition to text-to-donate and a handful of other mobile giving options. Give by Cell provides the ability to follow up with your donors by suggesting they sign up for a separate text message campaign or regular newsletters so that you can collect donor information.
Cons: Pricing is not publicized, and fundraising tracking does not appear to be included. Though there are several services listed as add-ons, these may indicate additional fees.
3. OneCause
Pros: OneCause offers three different packages, making it easy to choose an option that’s well-suited to your nonprofit. Packages range from including one keyword and 10,000 text messages to five keywords and 50,000 text messages. OneCause provides access to their online knowledge base as well as email and phone support in all three packages.
Cons: Convenience fees range from 3-5% and payment processing fees are 3.95-4.35% plus 35 cents per transaction. They can sneak up on you if you’re not clear on how they work!
Best Practices for Text Campaigns
As you can see, text-to-give campaigns are a quick and easy way for your supporters to donate — but that doesn’t mean you don’t need a robust messaging strategy to market your campaign. You can set yourself up for a successful campaign by getting the word out and encouraging others to share. We’ve put together a quick list of some best practices.
Be Strategic With Your Keyword
Put thought into the keyword you choose for your campaign. Be sure to choose something simple but not common. For example, “donate” or “tithe” may be overused. Think about terms specific to your organization. If you’re raising funds to send underprivileged children to summer camp, you could try “happy camper.” Keep your keywords memorable but stay away from anything that may be difficult to spell or has the potential to be autocorrected.
Promote Your Campaign
With enough promotion, you can get substantial text donations in a short period of time with a text-to-give campaign. While there might be some obvious places to promote this campaign, keep this comprehensive list handy for your next campaign:
- Social media: Share your keyword and shortcode loud and proud on all of your social media accounts to create awareness and donor engagement in real-time. Include the details in your bio for even more exposure!
- Email: Send an email blast to your supporters with details about your text-to-give campaign — create a sense of urgency by sharing your specific campaign goal and end date.
- Newsletters: Mention your text-to-give movement in your regular newsletters. Try explaining a bit about how the campaign works for the donors who might not yet be familiar with mobile giving.
- Press releases: Sending a campaign press release can increase the odds of getting free press coverage. Stagger your press release after your campaign launch, as people are more likely to donate after a fundraiser already has some momentum.
- Email signatures: You can add your campaign keyword and shortcode along with a quick tagline to promote your cause in your email signature. Have board members, volunteers, and ambassadors include the campaign details in their email signatures as well.
- T-shirts: If your organization orders branded T-shirts for your staff or volunteers, include the text-to-give details right on your apparel. You can quickly have a number of walking billboards promoting your campaign.
- Ad campaigns: Facebook and Google ads are a great way to spread the word fast. Be sure to craft your ads with a sense of urgency to the reader for a quick response.
- Website: Add mention of your text-to-donate campaign right on your website. You can include a banner at the top of the page, or even try a popup box putting the details of your campaign front and center.
- Text blasts: Use your existing text database to send out text blasts with campaign details. Send the details of your campaign in a text that simply requires a return text to initiate giving.
Create Engaging Content
According to HubSpot, 72% of consumers prefer to learn about services or products through video rather than other methods. A whopping 95% of viewers retain information in a video as opposed to only 10% who retain information in a text.
Video is a great way to quickly capture your audience’s attention and effectively convey the emotion behind your appeal. Try collecting videos from your volunteers and ambassadors demonstrating how easy it is to use text-to-give to promote your campaign in a fun and engaging video.
Show Your Appreciation
Be sure to send timely thank-you messages to show your supporters the impact of their giving at the end of your campaign. What better opportunity than a text-to-give campaign to send a personalized thank-you video via text!
For inspiration, check out this impressive thank-you video from the Oregon State women’s basketball team thanking supporters for their support for a new locker room!
Schedule a demo with our team today to see how your organization can share your story with a memorable, personalized video.