text donations

How to Incorporate Text-to-Give into Your Fundraising Events

Ann Green donation page, events, fundraising, text donations , , ,

Text-to-give and fundraising events go hand in hand. Discover how to make text-to-give a natural, effective part of your nonprofit’s next fundraising event.

By Sarah Lewis

Text allows you to stay in touch with donors on different occasions, whether you need to provide an urgent update, encourage them to make a timely donation, or send a reminder about an upcoming event they RSVP’d to.

Text-to-give is especially useful for driving donations by making giving as easy and efficient as possible. Since supporters are able to give while on the go, text-to-give can boost revenue across your nonprofit’s events.

To help your organization make the most of its next fundraiser, we’ll share how to develop an event-friendly text-to-give strategy.

Make text-to-give simple.

Text-to-give is already designed to be more straightforward than regular online giving. However, it’s still possible to make text-to-give confusing, resulting in abandoned donation forms.

Avoid this by taking careful note of these text-to-give tips:

  • Choose a simple keyword. Most text-to-give platforms involve donors texting a specific keyword to a nonprofit’s assigned phone number. When choosing your keyword, keep it as simple as possible to avoid event guests mistyping it. For example, “Trees4Life26” is easier to remember and type than “Trees4LifeBostonWalkAThon2026.”
  • Streamline your donation page. Text-to-give platforms typically use one of two approaches: ones that allow supporters to complete the entire giving process from their text messages and others that route supporters to your online donation page. If you are using the former, ensure your donation form is mobile-friendly with limited images, large buttons, and multiple-choice questions when possible. Plus, regardless of your text-to-give process, optimizing your donation form for mobile can help you bring in more gifts in general.
  • Send confirmation messages. Given the unique format of the text-to-give process, supporters may not be sure whether their gifts were processed correctly. Reassure them and prevent chargebacks by ensuring all donors receive a confirmation message immediately after their gift.

Keep these tips in mind when assessing text-to-give fundraising software solutions. Look for platforms with user-friendly, professional interfaces that event guests can navigate easily, so they can make their donation and get back to your event activities quickly.

Set up display signs.

Fundraising events are busy, and it’s easy for potential donors to get distracted. Provide reminders all around your event venue and make it easy for supporters to access your text-to-give platform at any time by investing in signage.

Create signs displaying your nonprofit’s text-to-give number and keyword and decorate your event space with them. For instance, you might hang signs on walls, place business card-sized paper slips at each table setting, or add your number to a rotating slideshow.

Bonterra’s guide to text-to-donate platforms advises nonprofits to go the extra mile by creating signage that lets supporters see your fundraising progress in real-time. For example, you might have a giant fundraising thermometer to give guests a visual indicator of how much closer their specific donation gets you to your goal, or create a leaderboard that encourages donors to compete to provide the biggest gift.

You can even entice small-dollar donors to give by adding a “Latest Donor Name” element to these visuals, giving every supporter the chance to earn a little public recognition at your event.

Plan key call-to-action moments.

Getting Attention’s guide to nonprofit marketing discusses how text-to-give is especially effective at “contextual giving,” which is when a supporter is motivated to give in a specific moment. Fill your event with opportunities that encourage supporters to act in the moment and make a text-to-give donation.

Remind your event guests to text your text-to-give number by:

  • Making a speech. Announce your text-to-give number and keyword in speeches throughout your event. These can grab the attention of any guest who missed your signage, while also spurring them to give at that exact moment.
  • Hosting a timed fundraising drive. Rather than hoping guests will passively give throughout your event, intentionally schedule a brief interval to ask supporters to donate as much as possible. For example, you might announce that all gifts made within the next hour will be matched, or a year-end fundraiser might devote the last few minutes until midnight on December 31st to encouraging supporters to make their last donations of the year before time runs out.
  • Leveraging peer pressure. In this case, peer pressure can be a good thing. When your event guests see everyone around them pulling out their phones to text-to-give, they’re more likely to follow suit. Wait until a moment when your guests are gathered to encourage them to give together, helping motivate even supporters who are on the fence about donating.

When creating your event schedule, plan exactly when you’ll make your text-to-give calls to action. For example, you might announce your text-to-give number and keyword in your opening and closing speeches when everyone is gathered together, or you might have an automatic recording that plays every hour to encourage donations and provide other event reminders.

Text-to-give is one of the most efficient fundraising appeals your nonprofit can use, and events can further improve its effectiveness by instilling a sense of spontaneity. For your fundraiser, make sure you’re equipped with the right text-to-give software and an event plan that sets it up for success.

Sarah Lewis brings energy, strategy, and a love for writing to her role as Content Marketing Manager at Bonterra. A proud Orr Fellowship alum, she’s spent the last six years creating high-impact resources – from fundraising guides to campaign templates – that make fundraising feel easier and more impactful. She’s passionate about helping nonprofits connect with donors and tell their story in ways that spark action. Outside of work, she’s a wife, mom, live music fan, and book lover who’s always on the hunt for her next 5-star read.

Using Donor Data to Personalize Your Text Donation Appeals

Ann Green database, donor retention, fundraising, monthly donors, text donations , , ,

Data can help inform your nonprofit’s approach to text-to-give and drive greater fundraising results. Use these tips to boost your text messaging strategy. 

 By Mike Snusz

In order for your nonprofit to effectively reach supporters via a text donation campaign, you will need to simulate an authentic, one-on-one communication experience. The best way to personalize your messages and create highly tailored donation appeals is to leverage donor data. 

A text donation campaign informed by donor data is more likely to inspire donors to act and bring in greater fundraising results. By segmenting your contact lists into subgroups based on data insights, your nonprofit can produce relevant text messages and donation requests that will resonate with supporters. 

Use these donor insights to support your nonprofit’s text-to-give strategies and drive a greater ROI: 

  • Donation frequency
  • Donation recency
  • Donation amount
  • Demographics
  • Level of involvement

To track these metrics and set your text-to-give campaign up for success, you’ll need the right tools. Tatango’s guide to nonprofit text messaging recommends looking for a text fundraising platform that will readily sync with your nonprofit’s CRM and provide your organization with real-time campaign analytics and performance tracking. This way each donor action will provide more information about their behavior and persona, allowing your nonprofit to leverage this data in the future for more targeted communications. 

Explore the following donor insights to make your text donation campaigns more engaging. 

Donation frequency

How often do your donors give to your organization? Do they give on a recurring basis? Annually? Monthly? Or, perhaps your organization has donors who used to donate regularly, but you haven’t received a contribution from them in a while. On the other hand, you may have one-time donors who never renewed their support.

With the help of your donor management software and text fundraising platform, track and use these data insights to inform how you frame your donation requests. Donation frequency can guide the type of segments your organization makes. For instance, you might create text donation segments that target:

  • Lapsed donors. Re-engage donors who you have not heard from in a while by reminding them why they should support your cause. Create a text donation segment that discusses upcoming projects and how your nonprofit is making a difference in its community. 
  • Monthly donors. Your monthly donors are already avid supporters of your cause, so you should go beyond sending a generic request to give to your organization. Instead, you can encourage these donors to increase their monthly giving amount. 
  • Recurring annual donors. Your nonprofit likely has donors who only give once a year. Create a separate segment to motivate these donors to sign up for monthly giving to maximize their impact and make a greater difference. 

As you send requests to these different subgroups, track any changes that take place in the frequency or amount of their donations. These insights will let you know whether your strategies are working or if you need to rework your content and segmentation strategies to better appeal to donors. 

Donation recency

Tracking donation recency can indicate whether donors are actively engaged in your fundraising efforts or if they need more prompting to reconnect with your organization. Plus, donation recency lets you know when it might be the right time to solicit another donation.

For example, suppose you have a donor who submitted a text-to-give donation to your organization last week. Your nonprofit is now hosting a text fundraiser to coincide with your upcoming fundraising gala. It would not be optimal to immediately ask this donor for another donation, as this can overwhelm your donor and make them feel more like a source of revenue and less like a valued supporter. 

Instead, you might choose to send a reminder in the middle of your text-to-give campaign. Make sure to consistently express donor appreciation and explain how the funds from this campaign will be used; this will help donors stay engaged and foster strong relationships. NXUnite’s guide to donor recognition suggests thanking donors as soon as they give to assure them that their important contributions have not been overlooked.  

Donation amount

Create segments based on your donor tiers so your donation requests are more likely to be met. For example, your nonprofit should create separate segments for your:

  • Small donors. 
  • Mid-level donors.
  • Major donors.

This way, the donation amount you’re requesting in your text messages is tailored to the individual and makes sense based on their past giving amount. For instance, if a supporter gives $100 every year, it would be unreasonable to try to upgrade their giving amount to $500. Instead, you might ask them to give $15 a month instead of a lump sum of $100, which would give your organization $180 a year.

Demographics

Demographic data, such as age and location, can make it easier to build relationships with donors. 

For example, a higher education institution may take advantage of this data while using text-to-give to raise scholarship money for current students. To better target its messages to alumni, the university might create a segment based on milestone anniversaries, such as former students’ 5-, 10-, or 15-year anniversary since their graduation. In this instance, age data can help the university leverage relevant milestones to build an emotional connection and encourage alumni to give. 

Continuing with this example of a college text-to-give fundraiser, the university could also create segments based on the locations of its alumni. For example, they might create a segment for alumni who still live near campus so they could invite them to sporting events and alumni gatherings year-round. Then, they could create a separate segment for alumni living outside of the local area and send reminders for major events that often bring alumni back to campus, such as homecoming. 

Level of involvement

Keep track of supporters who attend your events, volunteer at your programs, or get involved in other key ways. By doing so, you can create segments that are relevant to your supporters and send them information they would be interested in. 

For example, your nonprofit could create a segment for volunteers. Here, you can highlight your volunteer needs and explain how volunteers can further their involvement by giving. 

You can also break down this volunteer segment into supporters who frequently volunteer and supporters who used to volunteer but have not done so in a while. This is a great opportunity to re-engage lapsed volunteers with your cause, either by inviting them to volunteer again or to donate revenue in lieu of donating their time.

By tracking donor insights with the help of your CRM and text messaging platform, your organization can develop compelling text-to-give campaigns, leading to stronger relationships and more revenue for your cause. Do your research to find the best technology solutions that will meet your nonprofit’s unique needs and streamline the data collection and fundraising processes. This way, your nonprofit can save time and focus on generating text messages that inspire giving. 

Mike Snusz brings 19 years of digital fundraising experience to his role as Director of Nonprofit Customer Experience at Tatango, a text messaging platform for nonprofits and political campaigns. Prior to Tatango, Mike spent 15 years at Blackbaud leading a team of digital consultants that helped nonprofits improve their online fundraising, monthly giving, email marketing, and peer-to-peer fundraising programs. Mike started his nonprofit career managing the Ride For Roswell from 2003 to 2005 in his hometown of Buffalo, NY.