Texting Service for Nonprofits

Does the following sound familiar? Your nonprofit organization offers a great product or service, or hosts some awesome events, but no one seems to know or 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!

They aren’t diligent about checking 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.

Here’s how you can take advantage of that for your own nonprofit!

5 Steps for Getting Started with Mobile Text Alerts

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.