Top 8 Text-to-Give Platforms for Nonprofits

Text-to-give is a text fundraising method, similar to text-to-donate, that allows your supporters to donate to your organization using their cell phones via text messaging. Text-to-give allows your donors to give through their phone bill, while text-to-donate takes your donors to a mobile donation form to complete their transactions. Despite their differences, text-to-give and text-to-donate are often used interchangeably. This makes giving convenient and accessible for your donors who prefer quick and easy ways to give. 

There are many reasons your nonprofit should utilize text-to-donate tools. Firstly, text fundraising capitalizes on the widespread use of cell phones–providing a direct and immediate channel for donor engagement. It also makes giving more accessible because your donors can contribute to your cause without needing a computer or to visit your organization in person. Mobile fundraising helps you reach a broader audience while also encouraging spontaneous giving.  

Implementing text fundraising software

Implementing text fundraising usually requires you to use text-to-give software. Most text fundraising software has a monthly cost, but some text fundraising platforms offer free (excluding third-party payment fees) or low-cost options to nonprofits.

Text-to-give software allows you to register for a dedicated text-to-give number (or shortcode) and promote the designated keywords associated with your cause. Once set up, your donors can simply text your keyword to the provided number to initiate the giving process. Then, your donors will receive a reply with a link to complete their donation, and the contribution is seamlessly processed, making text-to-donate an efficient and user-friendly method for raising funds. 

Check out these text fundraising platforms to find the best solution for your organization: 

• Qgiv
• Handbid 
• Give Lively
• Snowball 
• Tatango 
• GiveWP
• Pledge 
• Tithe.ly

8 text-to-give platforms for nonprofits

1. Qgiv | Best text fundraising platform 

Qgiv’s text fundraising tools are robust and versatile, designed to elevate your nonprofit’s fundraising through the power of text-to-donate. This text-to-give software provides you with a seamless solution for collecting donations via text messages with a user-friendly interface, making it simple for your donors to contribute to your cause with just a few taps on their smartphones. 

Some key features of Qgiv’s text fundraising platform include:

• Customizable campaign options
• Real-time donation tracking
• Integration with Qgiv’s other fundraising solutions

These key features provide you with an end-to-end fundraising solution through one platform, rather than needing to use different platforms for different types of fundraisers.

Security

Qgiv also prioritizes security for both you and your donors to ensure all private information stays secure, providing your donors the confidence to give to your organization. Qgiv provides extensive reporting and analytics, allowing you to evaluate the effectiveness of your campaigns and make data-driven decisions.

Integrations

With Qgiv’s integrations, you can export this data directly into your CRM or accounting software. Overall, Qgiv’s text fundraising tools are powerful and adaptable to empower your nonprofit and enhance your fundraising efforts. 

What we love  

• Outbound messaging helps you engage your donors, allows you to send reminders to them about completing pledges, and helps you provide other important information. 
• Segmented donor lists help you to customize your donation appeals to provide your donors with a more personalized experience.  
• FundHub Live allows you to screencast your fundraising thermometer during events and show an activity feed that features your donors’ messages from their text donations. 
• Data reporting provides you with an easy way to track your text campaigns to see which keywords and other fundraising strategies drive more donations.    

Pricing  

Qgiv’s text-to-donate tools cost $159 per month or $387 per quarter for 2,000 outbound messages per month, plus processing, eCheck, and AMEX fees.  

Learn more about Qgiv’s pricing here. 

2. Handbid | Best text fundraising platform for virtual auctions 

Handbid’s Text2Give software focuses on adding text donations to work in conjunction with a silent auction event. This product allows organizations to collect donations through text messaging during an auction event. Text2Give can be used to create customized campaigns to boost engagement with event attendees. The platform offers a secure and user-friendly donation process, allowing contributors to support causes from their mobile devices. 

Text2Give includes real-time tracking of donations for insights into campaign progress. The platform’s versatility allows nonprofits to tailor campaigns to their specific needs, enhancing donor engagement. Handbid’s Text2Give follows their commitment to leveraging technology to make charitable giving more accessible and efficient. 

Pricing 

Handbid’s pricing for one event starts at $792 per year, and pricing for multiple events starts at $2,496 per year. All packages include a credit card processing fee of 3.5% + 0.30.  

3. Give Lively | Best text fundraising platform for newer nonprofits 

Give Lively’s Text-to-Donate platform helps simplify and enhance fundraising efforts through mobile giving. This text-to-give software helps harness the convenience of text messaging to make donating quick and secure.  

Give Lively’s Text-to-Donate features a user-friendly interface, customizable campaign options, donation tracking, multiple payment options, and integration with Give Lively’s other fundraising tools.  

The platform offers an engaging experience with detailed reporting on campaign progress. Give Lively aims to enhance the reach of charitable giving by making it easier to contribute to different causes. This platform relies on voluntary contributions from donors to provide their services to nonprofits in a “pay free forward” business model.  

Pricing  

Give Lively is free for nonprofits, but there are fees from third-party payment processors, such as Stripe and PayPal.  

4. Snowball | Best text fundraising platform for multiple shortcodes  

Snowball’s Text-to-Give platform is designed to allow quick and secure donations via text messages. This platform offers three types of text-to-give numbers: local, toll-free, and shortcode. Both local and toll-free options include 10-digit phone numbers instead of the 5-digit shortcode that is more commonly available for text fundraising. The shortcode option is the most expensive text-to-give option on Snowball but provides the least amount of customization. 

This text-to-give software features an intuitive interface, customizable campaign options, gift tracking, and integration with other Snowball fundraising tools. This platform aims to boost donor engagement effectively and drive fundraising campaigns. Snowball emphasizes simplicity, customization, and integration to facilitate efficient fundraising. 

Pricing  

Snowball’s text fundraising tools start at $549 per year plus a transaction fee of 2.5% + 0.30.  

5. Tatango – Best text fundraising platform for political nonprofits 

Tatango offers an SMS marketing platform to streamline communication strategies. This text-to-give platform revolves around three steps: creating the campaign text, sending it to potential donors, and tracking the campaign results. Tatango helps enable audience segmentation based on preferences, behavior, or demographics to create targeted and personalized messaging. 

The platform offers engagement tools, drip campaigns, and interactive communication. Additionally, real-time analytics help measure campaign performance and learn how to boost donor engagement. Tatango’s platform aims to grow donor bases through automated and personalized campaigns for continuous giving. 

Pricing  

Tatango pricing is broken down into setup costs, software fees, and messaging costs.  

6. GiveWP | Best text fundraising platform for WordPress websites 

GiveWP is a WordPress plugin that helps integrate fundraising tools into WordPress websites. While the basic plugin is free to install, the platform provides different plugin add-ons at a cost, as well as different transaction fees. Their Text-to-Give add-on helps integrate text messaging into the donation process and is powered by Trilio and Stripe.  

This mobile fundraising software offers a user-friendly interface, customizable campaign options, real-time tracking of donations, and integration with GiveWP’s other fundraising tools. GiveWP also offers many add-ons for payment gateways, recurring donations, peer-to-peer fundraising, and more that can be purchased individually with Text-to-Give or as part of a plugin package. 

Pricing  

Text fundraising is an add-on service that starts at $79 per year with additional fees from Stripe and Twilio.  

7. Pledge | Best text fundraising platform for small text campaigns 

Pledge offers text-to-donate features that help activate the donation process in two clicks. For simplicity, Pledge provides a custom keyword and simple shortcode phone number to make it easy to remember all the information needed to initiate the donation process.  

Pledge’s text-to-donate tools include donation reporting, donor conversion tracking, fundraiser statistics, and digital wallet payment options. It can also integrate with live broadcasts to show the text campaign’s progress during an event. Pledge relies on an optional tipping model to cover operational costs and other fees. 

Pricing  

Pledge only charges organizations a $5 disbursement fee to receive the funds and credit card fees on donations over $1000.   

8. Tithe.ly | Best text fundraising platform for churches 

Tithe.ly’s church text messaging and email tools are tailored for religious organizations. This platform helps churches engage and connect with their congregations effectively through mobile devices. Tithe.ly focuses on modernizing the tithing experience for religious organizations to motivate congregants to give. 

Tithe.ly’s text-to-give tool features the ability to send both text messages and emails from a unified platform and supports targeted messaging, enabling churches to tailor their communications to specific groups within their congregation. This software helps religious organizations foster community, share important information, and engage with their members for a connected and informed congregation. 

Pricing  

Tithe.ly’s messaging addon costs $19 per month for 500 messages per month plus transaction fees.  

Getting started with Qgiv  

Kickoff your next text fundraising campaign with Qgiv’s text fundraising tools. Use these key steps to start your campaign: 

1. Set up your campaign. Create a new fundraising campaign on your Qgiv account specifically for text-to-donate. Customize your campaign details, including the donation amount options, campaign name, and description. 

2. Create your custom keyword. Choose a keyword that is unique to your organization and campaign, and Qgiv will provide a shortcode for your donors to text your keyword to. This text will initiate the donation process. 

3. Promote your campaign. Market your text campaign through multiple marketing channels, such as email, social media, and direct mail. Encourage your donors to text your unique keyword to the designated shortcode. 

4. Track and manage donations to your campaign. Monitor your text-to-donate campaign’s performance in real-time through the Qgiv dashboard. Utilize reporting and analytics features to gain insights into donor behavior and campaign success. 

5. Engage with your donors post-campaign. Send thank-you messages or updates to your donors to foster a continuous relationship with them. 

Final thoughts  

Text fundraising is a convenient donation method that enables individuals to contribute to charitable causes through text messaging on their mobile phones. To get the most out of text-to-give fundraising, you need software that supports all your giving needs. Research your mobile fundraising software options to find the best platform for your organization!  

Additional resources

If you want to learn more about text fundraising, take a look at these additional resources:  

• Text Fundraising: The Ultimate Guide. Use this guide to get started on your next text fundraising campaign to boost your fundraising efforts! 
• Text-to-Give vs Text-to-Donate: The Complete Guide. Learn more about the difference between text-to-give and text-to-donate.  
• Mobile Fundraisers: Explore Best Practices & Campaign Ideas. Check out these best practices and campaign ideas for a successful mobile fundraiser! 
• Use a Mobile Fundraising Platform to Boost Events. Take a look at how mobile fundraising can help increase your event revenue.  
• Using Text Fundraising to Grow Annual Fundraising. Don’t limit your text fundraising to events or individual campaigns! Utilize mobile fundraising to expand your annual fund.