Text fundraising for nonprofit organizations is on the rise — in the last year, fundraising revenue from text messages grew by 14%, according to the latest benchmarks. More and more nonprofits are finding success with SMS (short message service) messages, thanks to the channel’s high open rates and the ease of donating from mobile devices.
If you’re ready to tap into this growing fundraising avenue, you first need a way to create, personalize, and send text messages at scale. That’s where text-to-donate platforms come in. In this guide, we’ll review the top options available and tips for choosing the right software.
What are text-to-donate services?
Text-to-donate, also known as text-to-give, is a type of fundraising that asks donors to give via their mobile devices. While some text-to-give campaigns work by charging the gift to donors’ phone bills, most campaigns use the following process:
- A donor texts a specific keyword (like “DONATE”) to your organization’s designated text-to-donate phone number.
- Your nonprofit immediately responds with a link to your mobile-optimized donation page.
- The donor fills out the form on your online donation page to make their gift.
Instead of having to navigate to your website and track down your donation page when they want to give, all donors have to do is text one word and click on a link.
To run a mobile giving campaign successfully, your nonprofit needs a text-to-donate service or platform to streamline and manage this process. Intuitive text fundraising software allows you to leverage automation, easily track fundraising results, and boost the efficiency of text-to-donate for you and your donors. Below, we’ll explore several platforms that help you do just that.
1. Bonterra Fundraising and Engagement
Our number one pick for the best text-to-donate software is Bonterra Fundraising and Engagement (formerly on EveryAction).
With Bonterra, you get a dedicated toll-free number that supporters can text anytime to engage with your organization. Create custom keywords with automated responses for text-to-give, surveys, opt-in, event registration, and more. Then, seamlessly track and analyze all your communications from one central database.
Our text-to-donate platform gives you access to powerful, intuitive features like:
- Mobile messaging: Further your fundraising and engagement goals by sending personalized SMS and MMS (multimedia message service) messages to any supporter who opts in.
- Mobile-friendly payment methods: Go beyond credit card giving and securely accept mobile donations via Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, PayPal, and more.
- Automated, multichannel campaigns: SMS is integrated with the rest of our fundraising solutions, so you can create cohesive multichannel campaigns combining texts and emails. Use branching logic to design automated donor journeys that enhance your fundraising.
- Dynamic segmentation: Create supporter segments based on giving and engagement history, then automatically update them as donors take new actions.
- OneExperience back end: Get a 360-degree view of your donors and all your engagement with them — including fundraising data, text messages, event attendance, volunteering history, and more.
Want to learn more about leveraging Bonterra’s features for maximum mobile engagement? Watch our free, on-demand webinar here.
What makes Bonterra stand out
The best part of Fundraising and Engagement is that it’s much more than a text-to-donate platform — it’s an unparalleled one-stop solution for all things fundraising and supporter engagement.
Our full-suite software helps countless organizations like yours give supporters a single, unified experience that inspires them to support their causes long-term. Manage fundraising campaigns, marketing, advocacy, events, and relationship-building from one centralized solution. See the full picture of your donors and learn the best ways to reach them, ultimately improving relationships and boosting your fundraising results.
Not looking for a full-suite solution? No problem. We also offer two point solutions that give you access to our text-to-give functionality along with other specialized features: Engagement and Giving Days.
Focus on improving supporter relationships through multichannel communications with Engagement, or design and run exciting 24-hour fundraising events with Giving Days (formerly GiveGab). No matter which solution you choose, you can leverage our text-to-donate tools and add SMS to your powerful, multichannel fundraising campaigns.
Pricing
We offer three tiers of our fundraising software to meet the needs of any nonprofit: Essentials, Pro, and Enterprise. Explore our pricing to find the best solution for you and get a custom quote that meets your organization’s unique needs.
Ready to give donors a seamless text-to-donate experience? Request a demo of Bonterra Fundraising and Engagement today.
2. Pledge
Pledge offers fundraising software for both nonprofits and businesses. Its nonprofit platform includes very basic fundraising functionalities like donation form and landing page creation, virtual event management, recurring giving, and text-to-give.
Pledge’s core text-to-donate features include:
- One free keyword for each fundraiser that supporters can text to the platform’s only shortcode: 707070.
- Custom keywords and QR codes for each fundraising campaign or form you use to collect donations.
- Conversion reporting that provides detailed donation data and fundraising statistics from an Impact Dashboard.
Pricing
Marketed as a free fundraising platform, Pledge charges no monthly or credit card fees for donations under $1,000. However, you must let Pledge collect optional tips from donors, or it charges a 5% platform fee.
3. Tatango
Built for nonprofits and digital agencies, Tatango is a solution that focuses solely on SMS messaging. Their scalable text-to-donate software offers:
- Broadcast messaging, which enables you to send millions of text messages in seconds to your entire support base.
- A/B testing to help you determine the most effective SMS and MMS strategies for securing donations.
- Integration with your website so your contact form automatically syncs with your text subscriber list.
Pricing
Tatango’s website doesn’t list its full pricing options, but the provider does offer a 60% discount on SMS shortcodes for nonprofits. Contact Tatango for full pricing information.
4. Handbid
Handbid’s software focuses on auctions — this provider offers mobile bidding, ticketing, auction management, and peer-to-peer fundraising features for nonprofit and commercial events. However, the Handbid platform also includes “Text2Give,” which lets your nonprofit:
- Choose custom keywords that event guests and other supporters can text to receive a link to your donation page.
- Go beyond text-to-donate by creating keywords for other important links, like registration pages and online auctions.
- Integrate text-to-give with auction guest profiles and existing donor payment information to streamline payments.
Pricing
The complete Handbid auction platform starts at $1,396 for nonprofits, with both single- and multi-event packages available. You must purchase the full software to access its text-to-donate features.
5. OneCause
OneCause is another software solution that started as a nonprofit auction platform. However, OneCause now offers a range of fundraising tools, including a separate solution for online fundraising and text-to-give. Its main features include:
- Unique keywords for fundraising campaigns on a first-come, first-serve basis.
- Custom donation amounts and the ability to make one-time or recurring donations via text-to-donate.
- PCI-compliant payment processing with direct deposits into your nonprofit’s bank account.
Pricing
OneCause offers pricing plans for three different solutions: Online Fundraising & Text2Give, Auction & Event Fundraising, and Peer-to-Peer Fundraising. SMS messaging is included in both the online and auction plans, which you can request pricing for on the OneCause website.
6. Snowball Fundraising
Snowball is a full-suite fundraising software for growing nonprofits, including text-to-donate in most of its plans. The Snowball text-to-give functionality provides:
- Local, toll-free, or short-code phone numbers, depending on your organization’s text fundraising needs.
- Unlimited custom trigger words for local and toll-free numbers to customize various text fundraising campaigns.
- Text-to-bid and text-to-ticket options to streamline participation in online and hybrid events.
Pricing
While Snowball does offer a free plan, text-to-donate is not included. To access mobile giving, choose a plan starting at $549 annually.
7. QGiv
Donorbox offers several online fundraising and donor management solutions powered by AI. Its text-to-donate services enable nonprofits to:
- Get set up in 60 seconds so donors can start texting their new mobile giving number right away.
- Choose custom keywords donors can text to either a unique toll-free number or the short code 801801.
- Integrate text-to-give with their CRM if they use Donorbox’s constituent relationship management software.
Pricing
If you want a custom keyword, Donorbox’s text-to-donate starts at $50 per month, which is on top of the monthly fee if you choose the Pro or Premium plan.
9. Tithe.ly
If your nonprofit is a faith-based organization, ministry, or church, you can access specialized fundraising and messaging tools through Tithe.ly. This provider’s donation tools include:
- One-time payment setup for text giving so donors only have to input their credit card details once. Then, they can give immediately just by texting a dollar amount.
- Automatic thank-you texts and email receipts once a supporter sets up their text giving account.
- ChMS integration so you can seamlessly add your text-to-donate data into your church management system.
Pricing
Tithe.ly’s text giving solution costs only $19 per month. If you want access to its complete fundraising platform, the cost is $119 a month.
10. GiveWP
GiveWP is a WordPress donation platform and plugin that allows nonprofits using WordPress to easily create fundraising forms. The solution’s text-to-give add-on comes with:
- Native mobile donation forms that are responsive to your website’s existing WordPress theme.
- Text-to-donate powered by Twilio and Stripe that routes donations to your GiveWP donation forms.
- Mobile payment options including Venmo, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
Pricing
The GiveWP text-to-give add-on costs $79 per year. However, you also have to pay per-message fees to Twilio and credit card fees to Stripe.
11. Give Lively
Give Lively is another free fundraising platform that provides nonprofits with the basic tools they need to raise money online. Its text-to-donate features include:
- A free short code that’s the same for all nonprofit customers: 44321.
- Unlimited text campaigns with unique keywords for fundraisers, events, and other campaigns that never expire.
- Donation tracking thermometers you can view from your campaign pages and live displays.
Pricing
Give Lively is free for registered nonprofits that submit eligible applications. However, you must pay transaction fees to third-party payment processors, including Stripe and PayPal, and give donors the option to tip Give Lively.
How to choose the best text-to-donate platform
Now that you’ve explored some of the top text-to-donate platforms and services, how do you know which is right for your organization?
The answer depends on several considerations. When it comes to the platform, you’ll need to consider factors like budget, number of available keywords, and additional features beyond text-to-donate (like outbound donor texting, integration with your CRM, and donation page creation, to name a few). It’s also important to evaluate your current systems and determine if you want a platform that integrates with them or a new, full-suite fundraising solution.
Once you’ve had a few initial conversations with your nonprofit’s leadership team, take the following steps to select your provider:
- Consider your needs and budget. Do you only need a standalone text fundraising solution or a comprehensive platform? Is it important to have custom keywords, your own short code, or a toll-free number? Before moving forward, define your needs, goals, and budget for a text-to-donate service.
- Outline key features to look for. Once you know what kind of solution you’re looking for, decide which features are most essential. These may include unlimited custom keywords, integration with multichannel campaigns, or intuitive reporting features.
- Research text-to-give providers. Dive deeper into the text-to-give services discussed here by visiting their websites, reading reviews from other nonprofits, and requesting more information as needed. You might also ask for recommendations from peer organizations or staff members who have worked with other nonprofits.
- Demo your top choices. Request live demos of the software you think might be the best fit, and prepare several questions in advance. Discuss your organization’s needs with the provider and see what the platform looks like in action.
- Choose the best fit for your organization. After evaluating the features, pricing, and integration options of your top choices, work with your nonprofit’s board to choose the best fit.
As you take these steps, don’t forget to consider your nonprofit’s strategic goals and potential for future growth. Ideally, you should choose a text-to-donate platform that can scale with your organization as you explore new fundraising strategies and expand your support base.
Jumpstart your text-to-donate campaign with Bonterra.
If you’re looking for a robust, centralized text-to-donate solution that meets all your fundraising and relationship-building needs, choose Bonterra Fundraising and Engagement. Contact our team to see what text-to-give looks like in action and learn how our platform can help you surpass your fundraising goals.
