Your Rally Point Episode 7: Text to Give vs Text to Donate
James Martin
Rally Corp is a specialized mobile engagement platform designed for nonprofits, churches, and charitable organizations. Rally's goal is to mobilize nonprofit missions and activate supporters through effective communication methods like SMS text messaging, making it easier to engage donors and drive fundraising success.
We explore the two approaches to text message donations and explain how text-to-donate offers security, higher donation amounts, and donor data for follow up. Text donations are a mobile fundraising method that allows supporters to give easily using their mobile phones, increasing accessibility and engagement.
Let’s talk how to do text message donations. Hosts James Martin and Jack Bobin explain the difference between text to give and text to donate. The terms can be interchangeable these days, but technically text to give is a donation process directly through the carrier that’s deducted from a donor’s cell phone bill, while text to donate sends a link to your donation form via text message and the donor completes the donation on your website. Most organizations now use text-to-donate with online payment processing instead of traditional text-to-give. Text-to-give campaigns can also increase the number of email addresses in your email list, helping you grow your supporter base.
They explore the history, why it’s changed (security!), and how using your existing donation form is ultimately better for your nonprofits—higher donation amounts, data for follow up, and more. With SMS open rates hovering around 95%, text messaging is a highly effective tool for engaging potential donors. Using a keyword and short code (for example, texting a memorable keyword to a dedicated short code like 24365), supporters can quickly access a mobile-friendly donation page, making the giving process seamless and accessible on any device. Text-to-give tools not only drive donor engagement but also help build relationships with supporters and further your nonprofit’s mission.
What You'll Learn
- The difference between text to give and text to donate.
- The actual text-to-give process, which is rare, can be expensive and limiting.
- Most nonprofits use text to donate, which goes through your online donation form.
- Donors can give using various payment methods, including credit card, debit card, and digital wallets, in text-to-donate campaigns.
- That online donation process is more secure.
- Using an existing donation process also means nonprofits get donor data.
- Using user-friendly fundraising tools and platforms enhances donor engagement and increases fundraising success.
- Text to give campaigns and fundraising campaigns play a key role in a comprehensive fundraising strategy.
- These tools help nonprofits collect donations efficiently and effectively.
- Reducing barriers to donation increases overall contributions.
- QR codes are great for live events, until WiFi doesn’t work—then texting is critical.
Resources
Quotables
- “People are realizing that we got to pick up our base foundational fundraising.”
- “A foster care place… they told me they have 13 kids in their office, sleeping in the conference room because they didn't have foster homes for these kids. And so our hope is that they can use our tools to go find and discover new volunteers and people that would gladly be foster parents. We talk business here and we talk about technology, but at the end of the day, that's what we're doing here and that's what we love.”
- “We're taking technology—ones and zeros—and meeting people in the moment who are doing the work. Our customers and those who are listening, we're helping them really create this perfect intersection between what wasn't and what now is. And if that results in kids getting into homes and food shelters being full, folks off the streets, people in rehab, the needy being cared for—man, I tell you what, that's a fantastic place to be.”
- “Everybody has a donation page.”
- “I'll meet with somebody and I'll go create a text program for them to show them what text to donate looks like. I do it myself and it takes me less than 10 minutes because you know what I do? I simply copy their call to action and their web address.”
- “When you reduce the barriers to someone donating to your nonprofit, your donations go up.”
- “Here's my promise to folks—it's not complicated. We're talking one more path to your donation form.”
Skip to What You Want to Hear
- 00:00 - Introduction to Text to Give and Text to Donate
- 05:28 - Understanding Text to Give
- 13:11 - The Evolution of Text to Donate
- 22:32 - Text to Pledge and Thermometers
- 26:53 - Future of Donation Technologies
Subscribe
Ready to mobilize better and grow smarter? Connect with your supporters using a text to give provider and a simple keyword to make giving easy and effective. The Rally Corp platform is designed to facilitate ongoing engagement and support, helping you build lasting relationships with your donors. Text-to-give fundraising can help convert one-time donors into recurring donors through ongoing engagement. Subscribe to Your Rally Point and listen wherever you enjoy podcasts. We’re here to help.
For more tips and insights, text COACH to 24365 or learn more about our weekly coaching tips delivered via text message.
