Use your mobile phone to donate todayIn January 2010, a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, and an incredible $43 million was raised by disaster relief organizations all in $10 increments added on the cell phone bills of the donors. The amazing success of the text to give campaign in the aftermath of the Haiti earthquake ushered a new era of mobile giving. Since then, this form of giving has only gained in popularity.

Text giving has been a talking point for many nonprofits and churches since 2010. Some organizations such as the Salvation Army have enjoyed massive success with this form of donations. Other agencies have been wary of adopting the system. If you are a nonprofit, church, or any other donor-funded organization and have not yet adopted this system, it is now time to embrace it.

Text-based giving has many potential benefits to offer both organizations and donors alike. This article will look at each of these benefits in great detail.

Benefits of Text to Give For Nonprofits, Churches, and Other Donor-Funded Organizations

1) Raising Funds Quickly

Text to donate is very convenient for organizations since donors can make their donations with just a few clicks to support a cause. Since the donors can make their donations so easily and most providers of the service deposit the funds directly into the bank account of the organization, there will be a shorter turnaround for receiving funds. Having those donations sooner in the bank account means that organizations can start effecting change faster.

2) Efficiency in Donor Data Capture

Text to donate services can help organizations capture valuable donor data including names, email addresses, payment details, and various other insights. You can even decide to integrate text to donate software with your CRM to ensure that all the data collected is recorded automatically in donor profiles for easy future reference. Using text to donate, the process of collecting donor data is more seamless than it would be using offline channels because manual data transfer is minimal.

3) Massive Reach

Over 90 percent of adults in the United States own cell phones, and over 80 percent of them use them for sending and receiving text messages. This means that if you implement text to donate in your organization, you gain access to a huge segment of the population. You might be surprised to learn that the demographic that uses text to give is not even millennials. A typical user of text to give is a woman between ages 49 and 59 with a college degree.

4) No Sophisticated Equipment Required

Text to donate does not require the use of any commitment equipment. This means that organizations can depend on users with different types of phones to make donations. Text to donate does not necessarily require the use of a smartphone and does not require any advanced knowledge to use. This means that an 80-year-old grandfather using an old phone and his 23-year-old grandson on his smartphone can both make donations via text to donate.

Image of a microphone on background of people listening to sermon

5) Unique Engagement Opportunity

Mobile is so prevalent today that it is likely that the supporters of most donor-funded organizations prefer engagement over the phone. Text to donate allows for your donors to interact with the organization via mobile at the pinnacle of engagement, which is making a donation. Implementing text message giving can offer more variety to the overall fundraising strategy helping you appeal to more of the giving preferences of donors.

6) Increased Giving

The more the options that are available for people to give the more likely people are to give consistently. Even during the summer months when a good portion of your actual and potential donors is on vacation, your organization can maintain regular giving since it is not limited to a particular time or day of the week. People can use text to donate to make their donations whether they are next to the organization’s headquarters or five hundred miles away.

7) Comparable To an Impulse Purchase

Text donations are similar to impulse purchases since they involve little to no forethought or research on the part of the donor. This means that organizations do not have to capture the attention of their donors for a long time to be effective.

8) It is Cheap

On the whole, text to give is quite affordable for most institutions even though some vendors still do charge a lot. Text to donate vendors typically offer different price levels to accommodate the budgets of various sized organizations. Organizations can expect to pay as little as $500 annually with other companies with Digigiv it’s $ 60 per year.

9) Saving Money

Organizations of different calibers are always looking for effective ways to save money, and the situation is no different for nonprofits, churches, and other donor-funded institutions. Text to donate means that a smaller portion of the marketing budget is spent on promoting fundraising events, planning big galas, or even managing email campaigns. The money saved can be used where it matters i.e. making a difference.

10) No Caps on Donation Amounts

In the past, there was a maximum amount that organizations could get from donors in a single giving. The gift size was set at $10. However, things have changed and most text to donate services allow you to collect donations of any size. Since it is possible to customize the donation forms where donors land to finish the transaction, you can easily set your preferred gift amounts. It is even possible for donors to enter their preferred amounts.

11) Secure

Text to donate is extremely secure for nonprofits, churches, and other donor-funded institutions. The 2-factor authentication is great for ensuring that donors are exactly who they claim to be. It means that robots cannot try to spam and spoof your organization with fake donations. Sensitive data pertaining to donors is stored in very secure facilities meaning that you will never have to worry about hackers trying to get information. Text to donate is one of the safest ways for organizations to raise money from donors on the move.

Benefits For Donors

Also, there a number of benefits to donors… Let me cover those in the next section.

1) Secure

Leading text to donate systems abide by strict safety standards meaning that it safe for donors. The top, industry-leading platforms have several fail-safes in place for identifying any fraudulent purchases and preventing identity theft. The greatest worry that some donors have is that text to donate can link their credit card details to their mobile devices in such a way that they are vulnerable to fraud. However, measures are in place to eliminate the possibility of any other entity besides the payment processor getting ahold of the donor information. This means that text to donate is as safe for donors as any other donation platforms.

2) Donations Can Be Done Quickly & From Anywhere

Text to donate means that donors are no longer required to attend events to make donations, mail in checks, or even log onto their computers to make online donations. Text to donate enables donors to make their donations to their preferred organizations at any time and from any location. The only thing that can affect text to donate is cell service.

person holding a Donate here sign3) Recognizable Giving Platform

Text to donate means that the potential to donate is right in the pockets of donors and potential donors. Donors and potential donors already use text messaging on a regular basis. Thanks to the familiarity of the platform, it is easy for them to grasp. This platform effectively meets donors where they already are and which they use regularly. Given that text to donate has such a low learning curve, it should be relatively intuitive to donors, and they should have no problems starting to use it immediately.

4) Convenience

Out of all the donation platforms out there, text to donate is probably the most convenient one. The robust technology used in the text to donate means that transactions are completed in just a couple of clicks. This means that donors can make their gift submissions in a matter of minutes. The more the convenience donors enjoy the more the donations an organization is likely to receive.

5) Fast, User-Friendly Process

Text to donate is considerably fast and involves a very user-friendly process. Donors never have to fill out any online forms or even possess credit cards. They also never have to remember to send checks or even pay separate bills. All that they have to do is send and confirm a text. It simply does not get any faster or simpler than that.

6) Platforms Are Optimized For Mobile Devices

Text to donate platforms are mobile optimized making them easy to use on different types of mobile devices including Android, iOS, and Windows. This means that donors using different types of devices or on different platforms can easily make their donations.

Final Thoughts

It is quite sad that it was a tragic event that ushered in the era of text to give but nonprofits, churches, and other donor-dependent organizations are now enjoying its benefits. Text to donate is a very powerful and convenient way for donors to donate to a worthy cause and for recipient organizations to enhance their donation collections.

If your organization has not yet implemented text to donate, you are missing out on all the numerous benefits it offers that are discussed here. However, be wary of fraudulent organizations and only work with reputable ones. Digigiv is a reputable brand in the online giving and donations industry. Feel free to visit to learn more about text message donations and other online donation solutions.