Does the following sound familiar?

🔹 Your nonprofit organization offers a great product or service, or hosts some awesome events, but sometimes no one seems to care. And no one shows up.

🔹 You fulfill some need or fill some void, but no one notices. And you think, “Why can’t I get people to take advantage of this?”

Here’s one answer: people just don’t know... or they forget!

❌ People don't always check their email, and they hate getting phone calls. Social media is unreliable, and snail mail is a thing of the past.

❌ Plus, people’s lives are incredibly busy and hectic, and it’s easy for things to slip through the cracks.

A nonprofit texting service helps by pushing updates to the one place people pay undivided attention to: their phones.

Discover how Nate Lewis uses Mobile Text Alerts to communicate with donors, volunteers, & coaches.

Step 1: Create an Account

Getting started is as easy as a few clicks! Just head on over to the Sign Up page and type in your info to create a free trial account.

Once it’s created, it will log you right in so that you can send your first test message.

Step 2: Load in Existing Numbers, or Have People Opt In

As a nonprofit organization, you may already have a database of contacts who have agreed to receive texts. If so, you can load it in via a spreadsheet import.

This will save you the time and hassle of having to add people in individually, or of recollecting their opt-in consent.

If you haven’t collected your opt-ins yet, you can utilize our free sign-up options (such as text-in keywords, QR codes, and an online sign-up page) to get people to subscribe to your texts.

Learn more about how to add contacts here.

Step 3: Plan Your Reminders, Check-Ins, and Follow-Ups

In order to properly plan your messages, you have to first think of your goal.

Are you trying to drive up attendance for your next conference or meeting? Do you want to let people know about an upcoming program you’re hosting in their community? Do you need to simply let people know about important information such as changes in your hours of operation or weather-related closures? Or maybe all of the above?

Step 4: Send or Schedule Your Messages

Once you’ve decided how you want to use the system, in many cases you can go ahead and schedule some of your messages then and there.

Or if your notifications are regarding events that are unpredictable (such as unexpected office closure notifications), you could set up templates in advance so that when the need arises, your message content is already there ready to be sent.

Otherwise, you can log in to the online site or access the mobile app and send messages whenever you need.

Step 5: Watch Engagement Soar

Since people will actually be seeing and paying attention to your messages, you’ll see engagement rise!

Whether you use it for reminding people to come to your events, to communicate important information with members, to update staff on office announcements, or for whatever other reason, text alerts can help drive that engagement you’re looking for.

Do you have nonprofit pricing?

Yes! You can receive 10% off any of our plans by entering the promo code “nonprofit” when signing up.

Do you have a “text to donate” feature?

Yes! You can set it up so that when people text in a particular word, they will receive a link to your donation page. (This feature comes for free with all accounts.)

I already have a list of contacts. How can I load them in?

If you already have a list of contacts who have agreed to receive texts, you can add them to your text database by importing a spreadsheet.

How do I get people to sign up for texts?

People can easily subscribe for your alerts by texting in a particular opt-in keyword that you set up for your account. They can also sign up by scanning a QR code, or by visiting your account’s free online sign-up page.

Is there free mass texting for nonprofits?

While free mass texting services exist, they will (virtually) always come with some kind of a catch.

Perhaps the "catch" is a poor user interface or a lack of customer support or a lack of functionality.

(And what else could you really expect from a free platform?)

Your best option is to use a fully-featured paid platform if possible.

What is SMS for nonprofits?

SMS for nonprofits allows nonprofit organizations to send out text messages to promote their products, services, or their organization in general.

Since texting is such a prominent way for people to communicate in today's current climate, SMS is an invaluable solution to help you get your messages in front of people.

Should I send text messaging for nonprofits?

The short answer is yes! You should send text messages for your nonprofit.

Everyone reads (or at least sees) their texts, so by sending texts, you'll make it a lot more likely that people will actually see and pay attention to the messages you're sending.

And if more people pay attention, that can lead to more engagement (not to mention more donations).