Soapbox Engage Blog

Think of everything you do on your phone each day. Ordering groceries or takeout, connecting with friends and family, listening to podcasts, depositing checks, and even paying at a store are now more easily done on smartphones. So, why shouldn’t donating at fundraising events take place on mobile phones as well?

With text-to-give, it’s easier than ever to incorporate mobile giving into your nonprofit event strategy. It’s a convenient way for event guests to donate and you can use it to drive engagement through the event.

We have a full guide to text-to-give fundraising on the Handbid blog which fully breaks down the process and explores how this feature can be leveraged to maximize funds across your campaigns. However, we’re going to give a crash course on mobile giving here— specifically, how you can use it to level up your next fundraiser.

Before we dive into how text-to-give fundraising can transform your next event, let’s first cover an overview of text-to-give.

What is text-to-give fundraising?

Text-to-give fundraising empowers anyone with a smartphone to give to your nonprofit from any place and at any time using their mobile phones. Supporters simply text a designated keyword to a designated phone number to kick off the donation process.

The power of text-to-give is that it’s mobile. The numbers speak for themselves— according to 360MatchPro’s fundraising statistics:

• Half of nonprofit website visitors were mobile users last year.
• 33% of online donations last year were made by mobile users.
• 62% of Gen X donors are willing to give via a mobile device, whether via a website, app, or text-to-give.

Following the trend, you’ve probably seen your nonprofit move toward mobile giving as a way to accommodate supporters’ evolving needs and preferences. This could mean optimizing your website for mobile visitors or embracing mobile bidding at your charity auctions.

When it comes to the actual functionality of text-to-give, there are two main ways it could play out. Supporters either:

• Text a keyword to a designated number and are sent your nonprofit’s mobile-responsive donation form to complete the giving process. Users then complete the form, enter payment information, and finalize their donation.
• Text the keyword and a donation amount. Then, the amount is billed to the donor’s cell phone carrier who charges the donor. In this scenario, the user does not have to register or complete any forms.

While the second option may seem like the better approach, it comes with the following drawbacks:

• Setup fees for campaigns with cellular carriers can be prohibitively expensive, often costing tens of thousands of dollars.
• These methods rely on the mobile user having premium billing setup on their device. This is not typically the case these days, meaning your campaign may only work on a small subset of phones.
• You will not be able to recover information about the donor, making it difficult to send thank you notes or add them to your donor database for future outreach.
• It often takes months to receive the funds from the carriers.

In almost every case, the first option is the best choice for text-to-give fundraising.

A good first step is to pick a partner that can provide a shortcode (the number that donors text to) and the ability for you to customize your response message. With your chosen partner, you will need to select a keyword that will trigger your message. This is the fun part— choosing the right keyword to align with your nonprofit overall or specific fundraiser. Choose a keyword that’s not only relevant to your cause or fundraiser but also memorable and easy to spell. For example, an animal shelter would be better off with the keyword “Dollars4Dogs” rather than “DonateTo[NameOfShelter]2022.”

Why does text-to-give work well with fundraising events?

Just like popcorn and movies, peanut butter and jelly, and Shaggy and Scooby-Doo… text-to-give pairs best with fundraising events.

Text-to-give works well for fundraising events for a number of reasons, including (but not limited to) that it:

• Can drive further engagement. Imagine you’re at an in-person fundraising event and you’re about $2,000 away from your ultimate fundraising goal. You have a massive fundraising thermometer set up on a big screen, front-and-center, that shows how much of your goal is remaining. In the final thirty minutes of the event, you make a live appeal and ask all guests to make a text-to-give donation to drive you toward the goal in the final stretch. Give your guests some time to text that keyword and place their donation while you monitor their response. When your thermometer exceeds your goal, throw it back up on the screen and celebrate! The fundraiser goes down in legend.
• Is convenient. Not every supporter wants to sit down at their desktop to make a donation (especially if they’re feeling pandemic-era burnout!). This could deter them from making a gift at all. However, let’s be honest— they’re probably spending more time scrolling through their phones than they’d like to admit (in fact, Americans are spending an average of 5.4 hours on their mobile phones daily). It makes sense that they would prefer to give on a device they’re already looking at vs. firing up that desktop.
• Is not location-specific. With many virtual events, where guests are not physically present, collecting donations means allowing the donor to engage from anywhere. Text-to-give and other virtual event mobile innovations like mobile bidding empower guests to participate in and give to your event while knocking out much-needed grocery shopping/house cleaning/soccer-practice-watching/general socializing.
• Removes some of the pressure of deadlines. During giving day events, nonprofits ask supporters to make donations within a 24-hour period to see how much the organization can raise in one day. It’s hard for donors to give during those 24 hours when they’re constantly out and about. Text-to-give allows a user to give at any time and anywhere, which would support the nonprofit’s goal to raise as much as possible during the giving day.

No matter what type of event you're hosting, text-to-give empowers your donors to contribute and help you pursue your mission from anywhere at anytime. That said, text-to-give pairs particularly well with peer-to-peer events and auctions— mainly because their atmospheres are energetic and focused on achieving a fundraising goal throughout the course of the event.

How can you use text-to-give to elevate your events?

When you got your first cell phone, did it immediately start “blowing up” with calls as your popularity skyrocketed through the roof? Probably not. Similarly, simply setting up a text-to-give number isn’t enough to successfully incorporate it into your next event.

To successfully elevate your events with text-to-give, keep these tips in mind.

Educate donors about text-to-give.

Text-to-give is straightforward, but that doesn’t mean that every event guest is familiar with it or has used this method in the past. Without clear instructions, you could end up with a number of invalid text messages sent your way by well-meaning supporters who are unfamiliar with how to text a keyword to a shortcode.

Before and during your event, share short, step-by-step instructions for how to give via text-to-give. The instructions will vary depending on if the donor is already registered with the text-to-give system.

For pre-registered users, they’ll be able to simply text [Keyword + Donation Amount] to the number and the donation will automatically be added to their bill. For unregistered users, the process is:

1. Text [Keyword] to [Code].
2. The system will respond with a message that includes a link to the donation form.
3. Complete the form (payment information and donation amount) to complete the donation.

Beyond these initial instructions, share and re-share your keyword and shortcode with supporters throughout the event. Avoid only speaking the keyword out loud. If you’ve ever played the game “Telephone,” you can probably see why that would go awry quickly. Instead, post the keyword somewhere at the event so guests can reference it as needed. And, if you ever share the keyword aloud, make sure you spell it letter by letter to make sure it comes across clearly.

Additionally, partner with a text-to-give provider that offers shortcodes (six or seven digits) rather than a long code (the standard 10-digit phone number). This is because texting to a long code has more regulation— plus, it’s much easier to avoid typos with a shortcode than a long one!

Drive real-time excitement with gamification.

Earlier, we mentioned how text-to-give can elevate the excitement of virtual and in-person fundraising events. One of the best ways to do this is to gamify your text-to-give fundraising.

Gamification essentially refers to making giving a game or competition. For example, you could add virtual prizes or other incentives to reward individuals for giving generously.

You can also create a sense of competitiveness between guests by showing a leaderboard of the top supporters at the event. For example, let’s say you’re hosting a peer-to-peer fundraising event that has teams working together to reach their goals. Set up a leaderboard that shows which teams have raised the most, and then use a real-time text-to-give appeal to inspire team members to battle it out for the first spot.

Encourage recurring gifts to fundraise beyond the event.

So far, we’ve discussed text-to-give as it relates to one-time gifts given in real-time. However, it’s also true that recurring gifts are one of the best ways to make the most of technology in your organization’s fundraising strategy. Not only does it lead to a steady stream of revenue that you can plan for, but a year of smaller recurring gifts often adds up to be more than a one-time gift would have been.

Clearly include the option to sign up for recurring gifts in your text-to-give online donation form. This could be a checkmark, button, or another obvious marker that allows the donor to choose whether they want their donation amount to be a one-time or recurring gift.

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Text-to-give is a valuable addition to any nonprofit fundraising event, from auctions to peer-to-peer events to galas. Because it’s so convenient to give via a mobile phone, your event guests are likely to appreciate the opportunity.

By educating donors about text-to-give, driving real-time excitement with gamification, and encouraging recurring gifts, you can successfully incorporate it into your nonprofit’s next event.

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Guest Post by Jeff Porter, Founder & CEO of Handbid

Jeff Porter has spent 18 years in the nonprofit industry. In 2004 he founded the Prader-Willi Syndrome Association of Colorado where he still resides as board chair. Jeff learned early on that nonprofits desperately needed better and more affordable fundraising solutions. Leveraging his software background, he built most of the tools his charities used, and in 2011 he launched Handbid at his own fundraising event. The goal was to improve the guest experience, reduce administration and increase revenue. Handbid accomplished all of those goals, effectively doubling revenue in its debut. Nine years later, Handbid's suite of tools has delighted over a half-million guests, generated millions of bids, and helped thousands of charities raise well over $100 million.