Adding Text Messages into your Nonprofit Strategy

You're likely familiar with text messaging as a way to communicate with friends and family, but did you know that it's also an effective tool for nonprofits?

Texting is a more personal form of communication than email, and can be used by organizations to reach out to potential donors or volunteers who may not be aware of their work or would not be able to attend an event in person.

Why Use Texting?

Text messaging is a great way for nonprofits to engage donors and volunteers. Whether you're fundraising or just trying to keep in touch with your audience, text messages can be powerful in connecting with people who want to help your organization succeed in its mission.

As a nonprofit, you can use text messaging to get direct responses by sending out automated messages asking people to make donations or sign up for an event or you can but they can use this channel as another way of building relationships with supporters.

Give Updates with Texts

Texting is easy to do and can help you keep in contact with donors, volunteers, and other community members.

Text messaging works well for sharing stories about your nonprofit or its beneficiaries. You can send out regular updates on the work being done by your organization, or share photos of events that are happening in the community. This can help people feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves and could even encourage them to get involved!

Text messages also make it easy for people who want to support your cause, but don't have time (or money) to volunteer at an event or give regularly through donations. This way they still feel connected while doing something good for others.

Use Texting to Encourage Donations

Text messaging is a great way to ask for donations. Texting allows you to reach out to your supporters immediately and ask them for their support, which makes it more likely that they'll donate.

People are more likely to donate when they're asked via text message because it's immediate and convenient. They can respond right away with their answer, which means there's less of an opportunity for them to forget about your cause.

Many nonprofits find that sending regular texts asking people to donate helps increase donations by 20% or more with an average donation size of $107.

Send Appreciation Texts

After an event, send a text thanking them for attending. If they've donated money or time, follow up with a short message letting them know how much their contribution means to your org. This can help remind people that they are important members of your community who are making a difference in the world.

Where Do You Start?

• Investing in a Texting Platform

Signing up for a texting platform can be a game changer for your nonprofit to enhance your outreach and engagement strategy.

Dijy has done market research to find and recommend the best texting platform for our clients and recommend Sakari.

Sakari will allow you to easily manage and track your texting campaigns by integrating directly with your CRM, like HubSpot.

Ask Dijy if Sakari is right for your nonprofit! 

• Create a Signup Form

Creating a signup form on your website will allow new subscribers to accept texts rather than having to enter their numbers manually by hand.

When someone visits your site, they should be able to sign up for text alerts in a few clicks.

The key here is consistency: make sure all of the information required for signing up is available without having to dig deep into pages on other parts of your site where it may not belong. The goal here is convenience!

• Let Automation Work for You! 

Automate your texting campaign, so you don't have to spend time manually managing it.

Text message marketing automation is a great way for nonprofits to save time and money, reach more people and avoid human error. It also helps you reach people who aren't online or don't have access to email in the first place.

Use the power of automation to send event reminders, “thank you” notes for donations, or to encourage continued donations. This streamlines communication processes and helps foster stronger support.  

Interested in Texting?

If you’re interested in incorporating texting into your strategy, reach out to Dijy to explore how texting can amplify your outreach efforts and drive meaningful results!