Text giving is a modern and effective way to raise money for your organization while also making it convenient for your donors to give via text messaging right from their smartphones. Go through our list of text-to-give software options and choose the one that suits your nonprofit's needs.
![Top 7 Text-to-Give Platforms for Nonprofits [2024]](https://donorbox.org/nonprofit-blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Text-to-Give-Platforms-for-Nonprofits-e1699342179103.png)
Text-to-give is one of the quickest and easiest ways for your supporters to give. It’s literally at their fingertips, all the time. It takes just a few clicks for donors to access your donation form, fill out their information, and make a generous donation, all within minutes.
This fast and convenient mobile fundraising method should be in every nonprofit’s fundraising wheelhouse. But how do you choose the best text-to-give platform for your nonprofit?
To help you get started, we’ve put together our top seven choices for text-to-give services in 2024.
Text-to-give is exactly what it sounds like – a way for supporters to donate to your mission through text messages on their mobile phones. Text-to-give works for all nonprofits and has emerged to be a really popular and effective fundraising method.
You may have also heard the term text-to-donate. Although now often used interchangeably, there are differences between text-to-give and text-to-donate services.
With text-to-give campaigns, donors simply text a keyword to a specified number. Their service provider charges them a predetermined amount on their next phone bill. The phone carrier then passes on the text-to-give donations to the nonprofit at a later time, sometimes with an additional fee attached.
Text-to-donate campaigns involve a campaign ID that a donor texts to a specified number. From there, they receive a link to a mobile giving page, where they can make an online donation.
Many mobile giving tools technically use the text-to-donate method as it allows for larger donations and the gift to go directly into the nonprofit’s bank account. But they utilize the term text-to-give more frequently. Such as Donorbox Text-to-Give.
Donorbox Text-to-Give lets you choose from 2 available plans that both make text-giving simple and quick for your organization and its donors. You share a unique ID or a custom keyword (depending on your plan) and a texting number with your donors. As they text the ID or the keyword to the number, they receive a donation page link to complete the online donation. Repeating donations is even easier and quicker – they won’t have to go to the donation page again. More on this below.
Donorbox Text-to-Give is an ideal text-to-give tool for any nonprofit, no matter your goal, size, or mission.
Donors simply send the Campaign ID to a toll-free phone number (1888 575 7888) to receive a link directly to your donation form. For a small additional fee, organizations can instead use a shortcode (801801) and a custom keyword for their campaign – donors text GIVE to the shortcode before being asked for the campaign ID. The shortcode is easier to remember for donors and type in and the custom keyword adds a sense of branding to your campaign.
Here’s how giving with Donorbox Text-to-Give looks like –
What truly sets Donorbox Text-to-Give apart? The ability to easily repeat donations. After giving, each donor’s information is saved so that all they have to do to repeat their donation is text “YES” to the same number. Plus, Donorbox’s simple form includes the option to set up recurring donations.
Check out this short video to learn more about Donorbox Text-to-Give –
With no set-up fees and no contracts, Donorbox’s Text-to-Give add-on feature is available starting at just $19 a month. The shortcode plan comes at $50 per month. Know more about our Text-to-Give plans here.
Additionally, there’s a nominal platform fee of Donorbox that starts at 1.75% for the Standard plan. You can lower this fee to a flat rate of 1.5% when you upgrade to our Pro and Premium plans. These plans are tailored to fit your nonprofit’s need for growing and scaling your fundraising efforts. There’s also a payment processing fee of 2.2% + $0.30 (for Stripe/PayPal) for registered nonprofits. But with Donorbox, you can ask donors to cover these processing fees.
Nonprofits looking for a low-cost, easy-to-use, and effective Text-to-Give solution that offers repeat donations as well as several other tools available with this fundraising software.
Qgiv’s Text Fundraising platform has several unique features that make them stand out. For one, donors can include the amount they’d like to donate in their initial text message, and that amount will be automatically filled into their online form!
This text-to-give tool also offers outbound texts that allow you to connect with supporters in a new way, sharing news and impact stories as well as sending appeals during times of crisis. You can even send automated giving or event reminders!
And, with Qgiv’s FundHub Live, you can create a campaign thermometer to be shared and updated live on the screen at your fundraising events, including a real-time activity feed with messages and gifts from supporters.
With Qgiv, you start at a $25 per month fee for the basics, adding products as needed. The Text Fundraising product is an additional $129 per month, which includes text donations, outbound messages and reminders, screencast, and training, plus a 3.95% + $0.30 fee per transaction. Know about their pricing here.
Organizations looking to send outbound messages to their supporters to alert and remind them of appeals, events, and more.
Snowball‘s text-to-give tool recognizes that every nonprofit is different, so they offer local phone numbers, national toll-free numbers, and shortcode numbers, each coming with its own set of benefits and price ranges.
Depending on the selected plan, nonprofits using Snowball may have access to an unlimited number of keywords as well as a unique number to capture donations. Snowball also has options available for outbound text messaging, customized response messages, and more.
This tool is also a great option for auctions and events. Snowball users can utilize mobile bidding for everything from online auctions to both silent and live auctions during live and virtual events. Text-to-Ticket allows ticket buyers to receive a ticketing link via text.
Snowball’s unlimited Text-to-Give is built into several of their plans, starting with the Premium tier. This tier is $549 a year, plus a 2.5% + $0.30 fee per transaction, which donors can choose to cover. To utilize outbound text messaging and Text-to-Bid, the Professional plan is $849 per year. Know more.
Organizations looking for varied phone number options as well as the option to manage bidding and ticket purchasing via text message.
Text2Give by OneCause is another viable option for your nonprofit’s next text-to-give campaign. As with other options, all donors need to do is text a keyword to a given number to receive a link to your donation page for a fully mobile-optimized experience.
And the interactive Text2Give Scoreboard gives donors a look at the campaign’s progress in real-time, including acknowledgment of donor names and a fundraising thermometer.
With the standard plan, which costs $495 a year, your organization will get one keyword as well as one Scoreboard. Plans can be customized to fit your needs. Learn more.
Nonprofits looking to combine text-to-give or text-to-donate with event ticketing needs as well as those looking for an interactive scoreboard they can share on their website, at events, and on social media.
Pledge touts the ease of its platform, saying donors can complete their mobile giving in “just two clicks.” All your donors need to do is text your chosen keyword to an easy-to-remember number and then click on the link they receive in response.
From there, donors can give using Apple Pay, Google Pay, or via credit card, and each conversion is tracked in a detailed reporting tool available on your dashboard.
Pledge has an optional tip model and no additional processing fees are required. Standard credit card fees of 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction do still apply. All Pledge organizations receive one free text-to-donate keyword.
Nonprofits looking for a no-frills solution that will get them started with text-to-donate services.
Planning to use text-to-give/text-to-donate at your events or in conjunction with an auction? Handbid may be the way to go! They offer a mobile app as well as mobile and online giving and bidding options.
Handbid focuses on user experience to make virtual bidding as easy on your event attendees as it is on you. You can also stream live video through this text-to-give platform as well as display live stats so those tuning in know how close you are to meeting your goals.
Using Handbid for one event starts at $792 per year and using the platform for multiple events starts at $2,496 per year, plus processing fees for donations. Know in detail here.
Nonprofits who plan to utilize text-to-give or text-to-donate as part of an event strategy, especially if those events have opportunities for mobile bidding.
Tithe.ly offers its text-to-give tool for churches and ministries. The platform stores your donors’ information so that, after signing up, all they have to do is text a designated number with their gift amount to donate, time and time again.
You, as the organization, will receive a dedicated 10-digit phone number. All your donors need to do is text “GIVE” to this number, fill out their contact information and payment details, and make their first gift. From there, donors can give again by simply texting an amount (for example, “100”) to that same phone number.
Tithe.ly starts at $19 per month after a free trial (no contract required), plus a 2.9% + $0.30 processing fee per transaction.
Faith-based organizations looking to add a text-to-give or text-to-donate option to their offering time during worship, as well as during other events and campaigns.
There are several reasons your organization should include text-to-give/text-to-donate in your mobile fundraising strategy.
All these reasons have made modern nonprofits add text-to-give campaigns to their online giving strategy to collect donations and reach their fundraising goals. See how Florida Catholic Media has shared text-giving details on their website to encourage people to give via text.
There are many great text-to-donate and text-to-give software for nonprofits. But how do you select the right platform for your organization?
Here are a few things to consider:
Pro tip: Look for a platform that allows for repeat donations via text-to-give/text-to-donate. When donors can easily give again by texting the same number and without having to fill out a form again, you are likely to collect more funds. Donorbox Text-to-Give makes repeating a text donation quick and easy. Your donors don’t need to open the donation page link once again. They can simply send a text to repeat their donation, as shown below.
Text-to-give and text-to-donate really can be an easy donation process for both you and your donors – with the right platform, it is simple to accept donations, and giving is as quick as sending a text message to a friend. Add this option to your fundraising campaigns and watch your donations rise through the roof.
Don’t forget to first form a plan and determine your needs and budget before selecting the ideal mobile giving tool for you.
Donorbox, along with offering Text-to-Give, also helps nonprofits with simple-to-use, affordable fundraising features including Peer-to-Peer fundraising, Crowdfunding, Events, Memberships, Recurring Donation Forms, Customizable Donation Pages, and more. Donorbox Premium, on the other hand, enables nonprofits to reach their full fundraising potential with expert coaching services and high-performance tools.
Get more Text-to-Give resources and other fundraising and nonprofit management tips on our Nonprofit Blog. Subscribe to the Donorbox newsletter and receive a curated list of our best resources in your inbox every month.
Kara has several years of experience in communications and marketing for nonprofit organizations, with knowledge in social media, email, public relations, event promotion, appeal writing, and more. She specializes in writing and enjoys sharing her expertise and advice with others.
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Kara Schmid