How Reaching Fundraising Goals Could Be a Text Away

Reaching donors is not another checklist item for nonprofit organizations – it’s the one task that truly matters to make an impact. Today, those supporters are on their phones more than ever, and it is time for nonprofit, religious and fundraising organizations to connect with donors right in the palm of their hands.

The average donation size for text-to-donate is $107, according to Nonprofits Source.

Organizations are increasingly depending on touchless technology so they can collect donations quickly. Simple SMS communication solutions allow donors to give at any time without needing a checkbook or cash, plus they can set up one-time or recurring donations, meaning higher fundraising to reach long-term goals.

Ninety percent of text messages are opened within five minutes. With response rates that high, a simple campaign where donors text the word "give" to donate means quick and measurable results for nonprofits.

The beauty of using SMS to connect with supporters is that it’s more than just a way to appeal for donations. It’s an opportunity to connect with them and build lasting relationships through personalized two-way text messaging.

Here are a few simple steps donors can follow to get nonprofits reaching their fundraising goals with SMS:

1. Reach your Audience

There are various types of audiences when it comes to who nonprofits want — and need — to connect with. It could be lifetime donors who give recurring or annual donations, one-time donors, or even those who gave in the past and haven’t engaged in some time. This is an opportunity to promote your SMS messaging number at events, build up newsletter or subscriber databases and even partner with organizations or other advocates to cross use it as an opportunity to share organization updates, promote accomplished fundraising goals, send personal thank-you messages and more.

As more Generation Z members enter the workforce, engaging them will become especially important to sustaining nonprofit causes in 2021 as 59% of Gen Zers are inspired to donate to charity by a message/image they saw on social media, according to Nonprofits Source.

Gen Zers mostly use smartphones to engage with causes and charities. This means charities need to have a mobile-friendly platform for donors to engage with them because other generations also see mobile giving as an appropriate giving channel.

2. Connect Your Donors To Your SMS to Collect

A genuine connection starts with a genuine introduction to this new text messaging platform. Sending unwanted text messages is the No. 1 way to ensure your nonprofit is not receiving a donation and reduce your audience. SMS opt-in is required by local laws as well as phone carrier industry guidelines. An inaugural message to supporters can be something like:

“For your convenience, we now offer the option to donate and communicate with us via text message. Reply STOP if you would like to decline this convenient option.”

The introductory message could even encourage them to reply with a keyword that helps to identify what type of donor they are or a specific campaign they are interested in, ensuring they don’t receive future messages they may deem as spam.

3. Thank your Donors

Once the audience is defined and has agreed to communicate via text message it’s time to start the conversation. As mentioned, there are easy solutions that enable a donor to simply text the word ‘give’ for a touchless donation in the amount of his or her choice. Sending a "thank you" reply and continuing to engage with the donor results in long-term relationships and a growing supporter base that can exceed fundraising goals.

Contactless giving technology has built-in capabilities to support the unique needs of nonprofits, such as the ability to collect contact information required for tax purposes with each donation. In today’s contactless world, it’s an easy solution to integrate that will take a nonprofit’s fundraising to the next level. You're only as strong as your connection to today’s donors.