In today’s fast-paced world, reaching your audience quickly and effectively is more important than ever. SMS text messaging boasts 5x more engagement than email, making it one of the most powerful tools for connecting with your donors. Whether you’re looking to update donors or drive action, text messaging ensures your message gets seen quickly.
We’ve developed a built-in SMS platform that allows you to send targeted messages to your past and present donors with just a few steps. This guide will walk through the setup and basics of your text messaging plan, from creating your account to managing your plan so you can make the most of text message marketing.
NOTE: Currently, text messaging is available for organizations that are based in the US and Canada.
It can take about upwards of two weeks for your account to be approved to send your first SMS message. We encourage you to start the approval process early so you are ready to send.
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Plans and Pricing
SMS text message pricing
Each text plan comes with:
Ability to pick your own phone number
Send to up to 30,000 recipients per text, per page
Basic Plan (for customers on GivingFuel Starter and GivingFuel Pro)
$19/month
$0.04/text
A $49 one-time brand verification fee charged by the carriers
Super Sender Plan (for customers on GivingFuel Starter and GivingFuel Pro)
$99/month
$0.02/text
A $49 one-time brand verification fee charged by the carriers
Customers on GivingFuel All-In can use this feature at no additional cost.
NOTE: A text is considered 160 characters or less. Messages above 160 characters will be counted as two messages.
NOTE: SMS plans are setup on the per-product basis. So if you use both TicketSpice and GivingFuel for example, you'd need to setup a separate plan for each product. This is simply because the text messaging feature allows you to reserve one phone number per product. A single sms plan cannot be used across multiple products.
1 plan = 1 product = 1 SMS 10 digit phone number
Get Approved to Send SMS Text Messages
The approval process is known as brand verification. To prevent spam, carriers require each organization to go through brand verification and have its own number. Shared sending numbers are no longer allowed.
From the Pages screen, click Text Messaging from the top menu bar
Select the plan you'd like to sign up for
Note: If you have not yet published a page on your account, it will ask you to do so prior to setting up the SMS feature.
You will be taken through the sign-up process in order to be approved for your 10-digit phone number.
Note: If you're a Canadian event, be prepared to provide necessary documents that include your CBN number, Business Name, and address. Our text messaging partner sometimes requires this documentation to verify your event.
Submit your personal information to authorize yourself. If there are urgent issues with your text messaging service, this is who is contacted.
Once submitted, you will see a screen that lets you know your application is under review. This review process can take up to two weeks to receive approval by the carriers.
Reserve a Text Number
Once your brand has been approved, you will see a green screen inviting you to officially select phone number by clicking the Choose Phone Number button.
From the Pages screen, click the Text Messaging tab
Click Choose Phone Number
Search by Area Code, Contains, or Ends With
Click Choose This Number once you have chosen a number you would like
Once you've selected your phone number, you are ready to start sending text messages!
💡 Tip: Once you get your text message number setup, be sure to edit any existing phone fields on your page(s) that you'd like to use to capture phone numbers to send text messages to. You'll want to set the phone field as a mobile phone number so it will display the opt-in messaging. The opt-in language is:
Yes, it's okay to send me text messages including confirmations, changes, and updates. Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply. View our terms of service & privacy policy.
Enable SMS Opt-In on your GivingFuel Pages
To send text messages to your donors, your GivingFuel pages must have a phone number field on the page with SMS Opt-In enabled. For this reason, we recommend confirming that your organization has enabled an SMS opt-in option on your GivingFuel pages. This phone number field can be added in the billing section or another section of your GivingFuel page.
From the Pages screen, click the pencil icon on the page you'd like to enable SMS Opt-In on
Edit the existing phone number field on the page, or scroll down to the billing section and hover your mouse over the Phone Number field and click the pencil on that field
Make sure the field option titled Enabled is to Yes
Toggle the SMS Opt In to Yes
Click Done
Click Save Now in the upper-right corner of your page to save your changes. Click Publish to publish these changes to your live page
Tip: If you have multiple phone number fields, be sure to enable the opt-in for each of them.
Customize the SMS Text Message Privacy Policy
When using the sms text messaging feature, there will be a default privacy policy agreement provided in your account. If you would like to customize the policy, you are welcome to do so.
When a mobile phone number field is on your page and the SMS Opt-in is enabled and a donor opts in to receive sms text messages from your organization, they must agree to terms and service and privacy policy. This privacy policy page is required when using the sms feature. Visitors to your page can click on the privacy policy link and view the content.
Here is how you can make changes to your privacy policy page, include your own text or link directly to your own page on your website.
Hover your mouse over the gear icon in the upper right corner of your account
Select Organization Details from the dropdown
Click on Manage Account TOS & Privacy Policy
To view the current content, click View policy page
To add your own content, toggle the Use Custom Policy and type in your own custom content
Click Save
Change Your Text Messaging Plan or Number
If you choose to change your phone number or text messaging plan, here is how:
From the Pages screen, select Text Messaging from the top menu bar
Click View Text Plan from the left menu
To delete your existing phone number, click the trash can icon under the phone number, confirm your decision, and click Delete Phone Number
To switch to a different plan, click the Switch button in the top-right corner, confirm your choice, and click Switch
Warning: While it is possible to delete an existing phone number and choose a new one, we highly advise against doing so after messages have already been sent out from the original number. This could cause undue confusion as the attendees would be getting messages from a new number.
Also, once a text message number is deleted, there is no way to recover the number.
Cancel Your Text Messaging Plan
If you would like to cancel your text messaging plan altogether, here is how you can do so.
Warning: If you choose to cancel your text plan, you will not be able to send any new text messages, and you will lose the phone number you selected. Once a phone number is deleted, there is no way to recover this number.
In addition, you will pay another $49 activation fee if you later want to sign up for a text messaging plan.
From the Pages screen, click the Text Messaging tab in the top menu bar
Click View Text Plan on the left-hand side
Click Cancel Text Plan
Click Continue to Cancel
Click the checkbox acknowledging that you understand that this cannot be undone
Click Cancel Text Plan
FAQs
Does the text messaging feature offer phone numbers outside of the US and Canada?
Does the text messaging feature offer phone numbers outside of the US and Canada?
As of now, our SMS text messaging feature will only send to US-based and Canadian-based phone numbers.
Which users can use Text Messaging on my account?
Which users can use Text Messaging on my account?
A user must be an Admin to send out text messages. Any account owner and Admin can add a Text Messaging account, send and schedule texts, and create keywords. Text Messages.
What permissions are needed to update the SMS text message privacy policy?
What permissions are needed to update the SMS text message privacy policy?
A user must be the account owner or an Admin to adjust the SMS privacy policy.
Can I import numbers?
Can I import numbers?
Phone numbers cannot be imported to the text messaging feature at this time. Donors must submit a donation through a GivingFuel page and opt in their phone number to receive text messages through GivingFuel.
If I am on the Super Sender plan and later want to downgrade, is this possible?
If I am on the Super Sender plan and later want to downgrade, is this possible?
Yes, this is most certainly possible. Your organization will have to go through their pay cycle before their pricing adjusts to the new plan.
Where can I see the details of my texting fees?
Where can I see the details of my texting fees?
Any text message fees are billed monthly, and show on the monthly invoices. This invoice will show the number of texts that were sent in that billing cycle.
Why did my SMS signup fail?
Why did my SMS signup fail?
There are a variety of reasons why your text messaging plan may fail. If you see this message, we recommend reaching out to our support team so they can help diagnose what caused your specific account to fail. Here are some common reasons customers may fail.
Your first GivingFuel page is password protected. To verify your account, our text messaging partner needs to view your live page. If the most recently updated page is password protected, their team cannot verify your account, and the sign up will fail.
Your page does not have an SMS opt in message. To send texts, our system requires your page(s) to display an opt-in message to donors. Click here to learn how to turn on this message.
Your EIN number does not match the business name. To send texts, the EIN you enter must match the business name submitted
Your page depicts or mentions alcohol. Our text messaging partner does not promote alcohol, so mentions of alcohol on your most recently updated page will cause the sign-up to fail
You are a Canadian event, and your document including your CBN number does not match the business name submitted on the sign-up page