12 Simple Ways Nonprofits Can Use Text Messages Effectively

Many people think marketing is just for making a profit and nonprofit organizations can’t use marketing channels like SMS. This is wrong! In this blog post, we’ll talk about the benefits of SMS marketing for nonprofits.

In fact, SMS marketing is a great way to keep in touch with the community, not just a channel for increasing sales. We’ll also bring some tips to help you make the most of SMS marketing to grow your nonprofit activities.

You can also count on our help and use the WP SMS demo to see if it can help your organization.

Can Nonprofits Use SMS Marketing?

First, let’s give a short answer to this question: YES!

Just like for-profit organizations, nonprofits can benefit from SMS marketing to reach out to more audiences and increase their engagement rates.

Although new channels like social media platforms have changed the way we communicate, SMS is still one of the best methods to keep in touch with your audiences.

Estimations show that more than 90% of people open their messages within 3 minutes after receiving them. This means that SMS is great for any message that requires a fast reaction. For example, SMS is best for:

• Time-sensitive events
• Confirmations
• Updates
• Rescheduling
• Reminders

Imagine your nonprofit organization wants to change the schedule of your event. In this case, you can’t rely on any other channel to inform your audience.

SMS is a personal, immediate, and accessible communication channel for the majority of people from various demographics. 

Many people might not constantly check their emails or social media messages, but the majority of people read their text messages every day.

Stats show that around 80% of people prefer text messaging over other channels, while  66% of them like social media, and only 50% of them use emails​​.

Therefore, nonprofit organizations that want to reach out to as many people as possible, can’t ignore the power of SMS in their activities.

SMS Marketing for Nonprofits: 12 Tips + Examples

Some people think SMS marketing is all about sending text messages and asking people to buy something. If you’re one of those people, you’ll probably fail in your nonprofit SMS marketing. 

You need a strong nonprofit marketing strategy and clear goals to be able to outperform your competitors. Here, we’ve gathered some important tips and examples that help you optimize your SMS campaigns and get the maximum results possible.

Prerequisites: Clear Consent & Opt-Out 

SMS marketing has some requirements like compliance with communication and personal data protection regulations. If you’re sending SMS to European citizens, you have to comply with GDPR, and in the USA, you have to abide by TCPA. 

According to these laws, you need to get consent from your audience before sending ads to them. You have to do your best to grow your subscriber list using any channel like SMS, email, special media, and website. 

Also, you have to include an opt-out option in your text messages to let subscribers unsubscribe. This means, your recipients should have a simple way to unsubscribe. For example, you can ask them to send “STOP” if they want to opt-out.

Here is a template for a message containing an opt-out option:

“Hi Jean! help us bring clean water to communities in need! A small donation of $10 can make a big difference. Donate here: [Link]. Reply STOP to opt-out.”

1. Leverage SMS for Donation Reminders

Donation efforts are an important task of nonprofit organizations. SMS marketing is a great way to boost your donations.

You can regularly send donation reminders to your recipients and ask them to donate for special events.

Remember to include a clear and polite CTA to encourage immediate action and increase the chance of donation.

Below is an example of a donation reminder SMS:

“Hi Tom, we’re just $500 away from reaching our goal to build new homes for families in need. Can you help us reach that goal today? Text DONATE to 555-1234.”

2. Send Event Invitations and Updates

Nonprofit organizations hold many types of events from charity donations to food festivals. SMS is a great channel to invite people to these events and send regular updates about them.

Remember that instant updates about any rescheduling, reprogramming, requirements, etc. should be sent to all the audiences.

Of course, you can’t do that manually, so you’d better think of a good SMS marketing platform like WP SMS that offers advanced scheduling and automated notification features.

Here is an example of an event invitation SMS:

“Join us this Saturday for our Annual Charity Walk! Go to Charity.com and register or reply YES to receive a reminder on the day of the event.”

3. Notify the Audience of Volunteer Recruitment and Coordination

Volunteers are the lifeblood of many nonprofits, so you have to pay special attention to them.

You can consider a specific SMS marketing strategy for them to increase the rate of sign-up. Try to create compelling text messages to encourage people to volunteer recruitment.

You have to send regular notifications to let your audience know about volunteer opportunities and scheduled activities.

Remember to consider the history of your audience activities before sending them the SMS. Take a look at the following sample for the weekend’s beach cleanup.

“Hey, Jack. We need 10 more volunteers for this weekend’s beach cleanup. Can we count on you? Sign up here: Environmentvolunteer.com.”

4. Run Advocacy Campaigns

Advocacy is what you need in your nonprofit activities. No matter you’re working on environmental issues or pushing for legislative changes, you need to have advocates among various types of people.

You need to reach out to different groups of people from academics to students and leverage their power to support your cause.

Of course, you need to be careful to comply with all the regulations to prevent future problems for your organizations and also for your advocates. Try to avoid asking the recipients for unusual activities or otherwise, you’ll face troubles in the future.

Here is a sample text message you can use in SMS marketing for nonprofits:

“Help us ensure clean water access for all. Text SUPPORT to 555-1234 to send a message to your local representative.”

5. Send Thank-You Messages and Donor Appreciation

Although people don’t want anything in return for their charity and volunteer activities, everybody needs appreciation. So never underestimate the power of a personalized thank you. 

If you appreciate every donor in a personalized message, they feel respected and will probably come back to you in the near future.

Thank-you messages can strengthen your relationship with donors and increase your organization’s reputation.

Here is a template for thank-you messages:

“Thank you, Sara, for your generous donation to our food bank. You’ve helped feed 10 families this week!”

In this message, we’ve tried to include specific information about the donor and the effect of her activities. This way, they feel more happy because they understand their donation has been important and they’ll probably donate more in the future.

6. Inform the Community about Emergency or Crisis Updates

One of the most important activities of nonprofit organizations is their help in crises and emergencies. 

You need to be active in such situations, and SMS marketing can be of great help to you. You can use SMS to deliver crucial information rapidly. 

This way, you can help your society and also appear like a thought leader and social activist. Of course, you’ve to be careful about the correctness of your messages because any misinformation can cause future problems for both people and your organization.

Here is a sample message in times of hurricane:

“Due to the hurricane, our shelter is opening early. Please stay safe and spread the word.”

7. Run Surveys and Feedback Collection

SMS is one of the best methods to get feedback from your community. You just need to ask people to send a phrase if they agree with a specific activity. This way, you can understand what exactly your audience wants to optimize your future activities so that more people engage with them.

Take a look at the following sample and try to come up with new ideas for your feedback SMS:

“We’d love to hear your feedback! How was your experience at our Charity Walk? Reply with 1-5, where 1 is poor and 5 is excellent.”

8. Keep Messages Short and Clear

Apart from the type of SMS you send, it’s important to pay attention to the format of your messages.

You have a limitation of 160 characters for your SMS if you want to send a single message and save money. 

So keep it short, clear, and polite. In your message, you need to include a salutation, a previous history of your audience, a CTA, and sometimes something valuable. So you have to be creative enough to be able to include all of these items. 

9. Segment Your Audience 

As said earlier, you might have various types of audiences so you can’t talk to all of them the same.

SMS segmentation allows you to divide your audiences into various categories based on different factors like:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Previous activities
• Job
• Feedback responses

This helps you send laser-targeted messages to each group and increase your engagement rates.

For example, the following message shows how you can talk to an audience who has a specific history of partnership with your organization:

“Hi William, we’re kicking off our 2024 annual campaign, and your support last year made a huge difference. Can we count on you again?”

Fortunately, platforms like WP SMS allow you to segment your subscribers and send automated messages to each group.

10. Include Links to Social Media

You can’t get maximum exposure using just one marketing channel. So try to cross-promote your nonprofit SMS marketing campaign on all channels.

One good idea is to include a link to your social media in your messages and also invite you to subscribe to your SMS list in your social media bio.

This way, you’ll reach out to as many audiences as you can. You have to be active on all channels that your potential audience uses.

11. Integrate SMS Marketing with Your Website

Having a website can greatly help you in your nonprofit activities. Also, integrating your marketing campaigns into your website can boost your results.

Fortunately, SMS plugins like WP SMS will simplify this integration. You can easily send SMS to your audience directly from your website’s dashboard if you install the WP SMS plugin on your WordPress. You can also use pop-ups and ask visitors to subscribe to your SMS marketing campaign. 

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12. Analyze Your Performance

Last but not least, you need to constantly track your results and try to remove your weaknesses. 

Try to analyze your metrics like conversion rates, engagement rates, open rates, subscription rates, donation rates, etc. You can also run A/B testing to find the best version of your messages to get the best result. 

Final Thoughts on SMS Marketing for Nonprofits

If you’re running a charity or any other type of nonprofit organization, you can use SMS marketing to boost your activities. 

You can leverage the power of text messages to raise capital, send reminders, alert about emergencies, and keep in touch with your community. 

Remember that you can’t simply start sending SMS without consent. Also, you need to have a strong strategy and a set of advanced SMS marketing tools to get the best results. WP SMS is ready to help your nonprofit organization run a successful SMS marketing campaign. You can always contact us if you need more info.

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