With mobile giving up by a whopping 205% in 2018, it’s important that nonprofits large and small seriously consider investing resources into mobile fundraising options for future campaigns. Encouraging donors to "text-to-donate” is an easy, convenient and user-friendly way to get your donors involved!
How Does A Text-To-Donate Campaign Work?
In a text-to-donate campaign, the nonprofit sets up A) a campaign keyword, and B) a mobile giving page. Donors can then initiate fundraising by texting that campaign keyword (ex. "BUZZ”) to a short code, or specialized digit sequence (ex. "555888”). You can check out an example of this in action for Save The Bee’s Protect Our Pollinators mobile campaign below.
Upon texting the campaign keyword, supporters are then asked the amount that they’d like to donate and receive a text back that links them to the nonprofit’s mobile giving page. Here, they can enter their information and complete the donation process.
Did you know? Donor Engine supports text-to-donate straight out of the box! Our text-to-donate feature will easily display a mobile-friendly giving page for you. Plus, our software automatically fills in the donor’s information if their phone number already exists in your database — which means one less step in the way of your donor completing the giving process.
From start to finish, the entire exchange takes only a couple of texts and a few minutes. This makes it an increasingly appealing way for millennials and Gen-Z’ers to give in the moment to any cause they find inspiring.
Meet The Donor Where They Are
In today’s digital age, everyone seems to have a smartphone attached to their palm. This makes a text-to-donate campaign one of the most convenient fundraising methods for both the nonprofit and its donors!
Mobile fundraising methods tend to target a younger, more tech-savvy demographic — almost 60% of Generation Z are inspired to donate by a message they saw online. Still, a text-to-donate campaign has so few steps that nearly any donor with a mobile phone can participate! Because this method is so simple for supporters, nonprofits tend to see an increase in donor conversion.
Donors Can Act Immediately On Inspiration
When’s the best moment to ask a donor to give? Most nonprofits will tell you that it’s after you’ve helped supporters feel something for your cause — you want your donors inspired to support your mission, and to then act on that inspiration!
With a text-to-donate campaign, supporters may come across a Facebook video, walk past a bus stop ad, or watch a news segment on TV that compels them to take action… and within seconds are pulling out their phones to show their support.
Most other fundraising methods usually experience a delay between the supporter feeling inspired and actually making their gift. This can negatively impact your donor conversion rate. But with text-to-donate, the nearly instant jump from emotion → action proves to be a massive advantage for nonprofits.
Integrates Well With Your Other Fundraising Campaigns
Okay, so we’ve established text-to-donate is pretty great. But that doesn’t mean it should be the only way you raise funds for your cause. In fact, many nonprofits find that slipping a text-to-donate CTA in their numerous other fundraising initiatives gives their donors an easily accessible way to give.
For example, it’s almost a given that anyone with a smartphone is also on social media these days. These users are presumably on their phones while scrolling through their feeds (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter). These social platforms are the perfect place to urge viewers to stop what they’re doing and text in the campaign keyword to show their support.
Your direct mail outreach can get in on the mobile fundraising action too! Simply include your text-to-donate information in your fundraising letters, and ask donors to "respond” or give through their phone. It’s a win-win situation: donors don’t have to go through the hassle of physically mailing back a cheque, and your organization receives the donation right away.
The same goes for your email outreach. Over 50% of nonprofit emails are read on mobile, so try including your text-to-donate information in your upcoming newsletters and appeal letters, so donors can give the moment they read your message.
You might even decide to set up banners and distribute pamphlets promoting your text-to-give campaign at your future in-person events. Your supporters might not want to carry cash around during your organization’s next walkathon or 5K — but with the option to text-to-donate, they’ll be able to give no matter when inspiration strikes!
