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Sustaining Momentum in Text-to-Give Campaigns: 4 Tips

Picture this: Your nonprofit has just launched its first text-to-give campaign. At first, donors were giving left and right, pushing your nonprofit closer and closer to its goals. However, you noticed that as time went on, you started earning fewer donations and experiencing less engagement with your texts.

Just like with all fundraising campaigns, your nonprofit has to work strategically to capture your supporters’ attention and keep their motivation high. Use these best practices to sustain momentum in your text-to-give campaigns and maximize giving and engagement.

Vary your text messages

Your text-to-give campaign shouldn’t just be your nonprofit sending the same message to donate over and over again. To avoid leaving money on the table, incorporate these different types of texts into your campaign:

Provide fundraising updates: Share the results of your last fundraising campaign and the impact it has had so far on your mission.

Share engagement opportunities: Bring attention to your upcoming events, volunteer roles, advocacy activities, new blog posts, and any other engagement opportunities to get supporters more involved. According to Tatango’s text-to-donate guide, some of the top text messaging platforms even allow you to segment supporters according to their philanthropic interests to provide personalized engagement opportunities.

Educational content: Share educational content related to your nonprofit’s mission. Raise awareness around the biggest issues your nonprofit is facing and the steps you’re taking to tackle them.

Track engagement metrics like open rate and clickthrough to see which type of messages your audience tends to interact with the most. Then, use these insights to inform the content of your texts.

Leverage storytelling

Storytelling can help your nonprofit show the tangible impact that donors’ gifts have on your mission. To incorporate storytelling into your nonprofit’s text messaging campaign, use these best practices:

Focus your stories on compelling protagonists: Show their before-and-after transformation to illustrate the importance of your nonprofit’s work and donors’ contributions.

Tailor messaging to different audiences: Consider the interests, preferences, and motivations of different donor personas when crafting your stories to make them relevant and compelling for each group.

Keep it concise and engaging: Focus on key elements of the story, such as the protagonist’s journey and the role of donors in supporting their success. Use short paragraphs and bullet points. You can always link to a blog article or page on your website that goes into more detail.

Adapt your stories to the platforms you share them on. For example, you could post video testimonials on social media and add written stories to your blog.

Provide high-value visuals

Visuals can help to catch your donors’ eye and make them interested in reading your message and acting on it. Consider adding visuals like:

Photos of beneficiaries, volunteers, or your nonprofit’s staff to humanize your organization and bring attention to the people you serve.

Videos that show your nonprofit in action, such as volunteers setting up your next community event or interviews with your fundraising staff.

Charts and graphics to illustrate impact and create a story from data.

Ensure your visuals align with your nonprofit’s brand to boost visibility and secure donors’ trust. 

The right text messaging software will empower your nonprofit to easily send multimedia messages to thousands of people at once—and feel confident that they’ll receive them within moments.

Create strong calls to action

A call to action (CTA) is a brief phrase or sentence that spells out what supporters should do, why they should take this action, and how they can do so. Use these best practices when crafting CTAs:

Be straightforward: Clearly state the desired action you want recipients to take in your CTA, whether it’s donating, volunteering, signing up for updates, or visiting your website.

Use action-oriented language: Use action verbs to convey a sense of urgency and motivation. Phrases like “Donate By Midnight,” “Sign up to Volunteer Today,” or “Give now” prompt immediate action among recipients.

Highlight impact: Communicate the benefits or impact of taking action. For example, you might say, “Your donation of $25 today will help five animals in our care receive one month’s supply of food.”

Add a mobile-friendly link to the relevant page where supporters can take this next action. For example, you’d want to link to your donation page when asking supporters to donate.

Express appreciation

Supporters who feel appreciated and seen by your organization are much more likely to remain eager to support your nonprofit for a long time. eCardWidget recommends using these strategies to show your thanks:

Automate personalized thank-you messages right after donors give with the help of your text fundraising software.

Market upcoming donor appreciation events and communicate the location and time over text.

Provide updates on how your nonprofit is using donors’ funds to propel change.

Regularly showing your appreciation will help to boost retention rates, making text-to-give a sustainable donation pipeline for your organization. 

Wrapping Up

Even after you’ve encouraged supporters to opt into your text-to-give campaign with your keyword and SMS short code, you need to work hard to keep their attention. 

Use your text messaging software to check in on donors’ engagement so you can refine your strategy as needed to improve results.