
Text messaging for nonprofits is a great tool for organizers and fundraisers to cut through the noise and stay in touch with supporters in a compelling, effective way. With text messaging, you can keep donors and volunteers updated on your organization’s activities. It’s also a very good channel to engage them by sharing your mission and ideas; and even open the door for them to share their invaluable thoughts and feedback.
There are some basic ways to use text messaging for nonprofits:
- Mass text messaging: you can send thousands of messages to different lists of subscribers at once.
- Text Keywords for opt-ins: You can share these keywords so people can text them to a short code number and opt in to an SMS campaign.
- Two-way texting: this feature enables one-to-one text conversations with your subscribers; making it easier and faster to answer questions, clarify concerns, and get feedback from them.
- SMS appointment reminders: boost attendance, avoid no-shows, and even share useful details (e.g.: parking situation) in any event or activity you organize.
Now, let’s explore some more specific ways to apply SMS messaging to your non-profit organization’s strategy.
How to Use Text Messaging for Nonprofits
Increase Event Attendance
As mentioned above, SMS appointment reminders and text keywords are crucial to make it easier for people to join your lists and get informed about your vents. Both reminders and keywords can also be used for people to RSVP. It’s advisable to add clear, specific information like date and time. You can even attach media like pictures, animated GIFs or videos using MMS.
You can also use texting to make it easier for people to acquire tickets for the events. With a link shortener, you can attach a link for recipients to buy tickets using their smartphones. When you use Trumpia, you can be peace minded that those links are compliant with SMS marketing regulations; so they won’t get flagged as spam.
Another benefit is that our links include click-through tracking; so you can get valuable information on who clicked them, how many people did, and more.

Communicate and Organize Volunteers
With mass texting, you can reach out to your volunteer base no matter how big it is. Once they opt-in, you can send information about opportunities in your organization, events, fundraisings, and more. You can also send messages sharing your organization’s visions and ideas; which can also be enriched with MMS messaging and/or links to relevant content.
As for organizing those who are already volunteering, text messaging is extremely useful to confirm appointments and schedules; find replacements when someone can’t participate, recruit new volunteers, and send out emergency communications.
Mobilize Donors, Volunteers, and Beneficiaries During Emergencies
This applies especially to nonprofits dedicated to disaster relief. You can mobilize people during calamities with text messaging in a timely, more effective way than phone calls or other mediums. You can reach out to donors to engage them in time-sensitive fundraising campaigns; send updates to volunteers, and share useful advice during alerts to those that are being affected.
Use Text Keywords to Engage Beneficiaries
Keywords are also a proven way to engage those your organization intends to help. You can set up specific keywords for each one of your campaigns, share them in those channels that your beneficiaries use the most, and attract them so they can join your non-profit initiatives. Here’s a real-case example on how this can be implemented:
The 100,000 Opportunities Initiative, one of the largest employer-led groups focused on hiring young people who are not currently in school, printed the text keyword “Jobs4u” in business cards volunteers could share with those young people in need of work. Through those keywords, these young beneficiaries could join lists to receive job opportunities.
Here are some more success stories of non-profit organizations that used Trumpia:
Donations and Fundraising
You can reach potential donors to request funds via text messaging. Starting a timed campaign is a great way to meet certain donation goals using SMS messages. You can text information explaining what your organization needs funds for, and what your goal is. In these occasions, it’s also advisable to be open about the costs of the item or service you’re trying to raise funds for.
The Best Text Messaging Service for Nonprofits
Trumpia has helped many nonprofits improve their campaigns, engage more people, and create effective campaigns by providing the ultimate texting software. Our platform is easy to use and intuitive, and can be easily adopted by you and anyone in your organization’s staff. You can cover the basics of text messaging for nonprofits in no time; and go for more complex tasks in no time.
Start our 14-day FREE trial and get the best out of the most advanced text messaging platform in the market. For more information, call or text 1-888-707-3030.