8 top text-to-donate platforms donors & nonprofits love to use

Picture this: You're hosting a gala for your nonprofit. Someone your organization has helped just finished sharing their story, and a donor in the audience is moved to give right now. Instead of sending them to your website to find the right campaign, you direct them to a shortcode. They text a keyword, instantly get a link to the campaign page, and complete their donation in under a minute.

That’s the appeal of text-to-donate: It turns a moment of interest into a donation before it passes. While text-to-donate and text-to-give are often used interchangeably, the experience can vary by platform.

Choosing the right text-to-donate platform comes down to what your organization needs and the outreach you have in mind. A church collecting weekly offerings and monthly tithes has different needs than a large nonprofit texting 100,000 supporters or a small team trying to raise as much as possible on its first Giving Tuesday.

Below, we break down eight of the best text-to-donate platforms and what makes each one worth considering.

The top text-to-donate platforms at a glance

More to explore

Text-to-give vs tex-to-donate: Learn the key differences →

1. Givebutter: All-in-one fundraising platform with built-in text-to-donate tool 💛

Givebutter is a fundraising platform that brings donation forms, fundraising pages, donor management, event ticketing, auctions, and text-to-donate tools into a single connected system—for free.

To use the text-to-donate tool, donors text a custom keyword to the shortcode 53-555 and receive a secure link to your campaign, where they choose their own amount and pay how they like.

You can create custom keywords for your campaigns and receive unlimited text donations. These keywords can be added to printed marketing materials, flashed on-screen at livestream events, and projected at in-person events using live display.

All text donations are added to your campaign goal bar as they come in, so you can watch the progress in real time.

💰 Pricing

Givebutter’s core features, including text-to-donate, are free to use thanks to optional donor tips. When you enable optional tips, you pay no platform or processing fees, so you keep every dollar you raise. Donors have the option to cover these fees for you, but if they choose not to, Givebutter will.

If you’d rather turn tips off, a flat 3% platform fee applies plus standard processing fees of 2.9% + 30¢ for cards.

Givebutter Plus is an optional upgrade starting at $29/month that includes features like workflow automation, task management, outbound SMS texting, discounted direct mail, and an advanced email editor. The SMS texting feature lets you send messages to your donors, which is different from the free text-to-donate function, where donors text in to give.

Together, the two give you a full SMS loop where donors can text in to give, and you can text back out with updates, reminders, and thank-yous.

✨ Standout features

• Donation forms, fundraising pages, events, & auctions in one place
• Free donor management & CRM with unlimited contacts
• Pairs with QR codes for a complete live-event giving setup
• A wide range of payment options, including Venmo & Cash App
• Mobile app for event check-in and in-person payments
• 24/7 support by live chat and email

💛 Why it's one of the top text-to-donate platforms

Unlike many text-to-give tools that give donors a preset amount charged to their phone bill, Givebutter's text-to-donate sends supporters to your customized campaign page.

There, they can read about your mission, give any amount they choose, and pay however they prefer, whether that's by card, Venmo, Cash App, Apple Pay, or Google Pay.

It's especially popular at auctions, galas, and walkathons, where nonprofits need to get a donation link in front of a room fast—whether that's mid-bid at a live auction or between mile markers at a walk. Many organizations pair it with a QR code for the same purpose, giving supporters two quick ways to land on the same giving page.

Those donations flow straight back into Givebutter's donor CRM, so you can track who gave, how much they gave, and which campaigns they supported, all in one place.

🔥 Our take

Givebutter is a strong fit for nonprofits that want text giving as part of a complete, free fundraising platform rather than a paid add-on. It works well for teams running campaigns, galas, auctions, and giving days that want every donation flowing into one system.

And since Givebutter is free and easy to use, you can set up your first campaign and start collecting donations the same day.

2. Donorbox: Simple mobile giving tool for easy recurring donations 🔁

Donorbox is an online fundraising platform that nonprofits use to collect donations through forms, pages, and events, and it offers text-to-give functionality as an add-on.

To use it, you create a campaign, enable text-to-give, and your donors text either your campaign ID to a toll-free number or your custom keyword to the short code 801801. They get a reply with a link to your donation page, fill out the donation form, and complete the gift.

💰 Pricing

Donorbox offers a free Standard plan (with fees between 2.95% and 3.95%) and paid plans start at $150/month (with fees between 1.75% and 2%). Text-to-give is a paid add-on that costs $19/month for the standard version or $50/month for the custom keyword version. Pro and Premium plans offer lower fees, and donors can cover fees at checkout.

✨ Standout features

• Customizable donation forms, pages, & crowdfunding campaigns
• QuickDonate saved-payment checkout for repeat gifts
• Recurring & one-time donation options
• Peer-to-peer & event ticketing tools
• AI-driven donor management through Donorbox CRM

💛 Why it's one of the top text-to-donate platforms

Donorbox makes it easy for donors to give. After a donor’s first text gift, they can give again by texting back without having to fill out the form again. This makes Donorbox a good fit for recurring moments like Sunday services, weekly meetings, or regular event drives.

🔥 Our take

Donorbox is a good fit for nonprofits that want a simple donation platform and plan to make recurring gifts a regular part of their fundraising. Just remember the feature costs an extra monthly fee, so include that in your budget if mobile giving is central to your campaign.

More to explore

Givebutter vs. Donorbox comparison: Reviews, fees, & more →

3. OneCause: Event-focused fundraising platform built for galas and auctions 🎪

OneCause is a fundraising platform built around events and auctions, with the OneCause Text2Give® solution handling mobile giving for campaigns and live appeals.

The process is simple: Supporters text a keyword to a designated phone number and get a reply with a link to your donation page. They click through, enter a custom or preset amount, and submit the gift right from their phone, with the option to give once or set up a recurring donation.

Each Text2Give® package comes with one keyword, and you can send outbound messages from a template library to promote a campaign or follow up.

💰 Pricing

OneCause has three pricing tiers: Online Fundraising and Text2Give®, Auction and Event Fundraising, and Peer-to-Peer Fundraising. However, it doesn’t publish a specific price for these tiers. You’ll have to request a demo to get a custom quote.

✨ Standout features

• Mobile bidding & silent auction tools
• Event ticketing & registration management
• Interactive fundraising Scoreboard for live giving
• Outbound text messaging from a template library
• Digital wallet, ACH, & DAF payment options

💛 Why it's one of the top text-to-donate platforms

OneCause built Text2Give® around the energy of live events. The interactive Scoreboard puts fundraising progress on screen as gifts come in, which helps drive momentum in a room full of supporters.

When combined with mobile bidding, ticketing, and outbound messaging, it gives event-driven nonprofits a way to convert the excitement of a gala or auction into donations on the spot.

🔥 Our take

OneCause Text2Give® makes the most sense for nonprofits that fundraise through galas, auctions, and other live events. It has an interactive Scoreboard, which displays live fundraising progress on screen as donations come in during an event. So, if in-person fundraising is a regular part of what you do, OneCause will serve you well.

4. Tatango: Dedicated SMS platform for large-scale donor outreach 📣

Tatango is a dedicated text messaging platform built for nonprofits, agencies, and political campaigns that send messages to large lists.

The setup follows the short code model: Your organization receives a short code (e.g., 12345), creates a keyword like FEEDTHEKIDS, and promotes it across your website and social channels. Donors text the keyword to the short code, get back a link to your mobile donation page, and give from there.

What sets Tatango apart is its messaging engine. You can segment donors by interest and giving history, automate welcome texts and appeals based on triggers, and run two-way conversations at scale.

💰 Pricing

Tatango doesn't publicly publish its pricing, so you'll need to book a demo and get a custom quote.

✨ Standout features

• Donor segmentation by interest & giving history
• Trigger-based message automation
• Two-way text conversations with supporters
• No-code integrations with Salesforce, HubSpot, & Blackbaud
• SOC-2 & HIPAA-compliant data security

💛 Why it's one of the top text-to-donate platforms

Tatango is a platform that can help you reach hundreds of thousands of people at once without messages getting throttled or flagged. That kind of deliverability matters enormously for time-sensitive appeals, like a disaster response or an end-of-year push, where a delayed text can mean a lost donation.

🔥 Our take

Tatango is built for organizations that treat texting as a core fundraising channel, not just a way to collect gifts at an event. It makes the most sense for medium to large nonprofits with sizable contact lists and the staff to run ongoing campaigns. If you mainly want a simple way to take donations at a gala or one-time drive, this platform may be overkill.

5. CallHub: Multichannel outreach tool combining text, calling, voice, and email ☎️

CallHub is an outreach platform that brings calling, texting, and voice broadcasting under one roof, with Text-to-Donate handling mobile giving. It's used by nonprofits, political campaigns, unions, and advocacy groups.

Donating takes just a few seconds. A supporter texts a keyword like GIVEHOPE to your campaign number, gets a donation link back instantly, and then taps through to give. CallHub is built to capture donations in the moment, like during a rally, a speech, or a peer-to-peer push, when a supporter is most inclined to act.

💰 Pricing

CallHub uses pay-as-you-go pricing rather than a flat fee. For US companies, texts cost $0.019/SMS segment, calls $0.045/dial, MMS $0.048/message, and voice broadcast $0.046/min. Pricing varies by the country where the company is based.

There are also pricing plans. The Essential plan starts free with $6 in credits and covers up to 10,000 contacts, while the Scale plan requires a minimum contract of $2.5K.

✨ Standout features

• Calling, texting, voice broadcast, & email in one platform
• Customizable keyword & SMS setup
• MMS support for images, GIFs, & emojis
• Full-funnel donation tracking & link analytics
• Automated thank-you messaging & tagging

💛 Why it's one of the top text-to-donate platforms

CallHub is one of the few tools that lets you reach the same supporter by text, call, voice, and email without stitching together separate systems. For organizations that already use outreach sequences, this keeps all messages and donations in one place.

🔥 Our take

CallHub is a great fit for nonprofits and campaigns that already run multichannel outreach and want donations handled in the same workflow as their calls and texts. The per-message pricing rewards organizations that are comfortable managing usage rather than paying a flat rate.

6. Funraise: Flexible platform for outbound text engagement and fundraising automation 📊

Funraise is a fundraising and donor management platform with a Text Engagement feature that covers both text-to-give and outbound SMS appeals. Supporters text a code like DONATE or GIVE to your number and receive an automated reply with a link to your mobile donation form.

Funraise also offers dynamic amount codes. You can set up codes like GIVE20 or GIVE50 to prefill the donation amount on the form, so the donor has less to enter. You can also personalize outbound messages with merge tags, so a donor's name or giving history shows up in a bulk send.

💰 Pricing

Funraise has a free plan for organizations under $1 million in revenue (with 5% platform fee and processing fees of 2.9% + 60¢). Text-to-give is part of its Premium Plans, which carry a lower 0–4% platform fee. The specific prices are not publicly available, though, so you’ll have to speak with the sales team.

✨ Standout features

• Dynamic amount codes that prefill donation totals
• Segmented send lists by giving & engagement history
• Personalized messages with donor merge tags
• Two-way texting with reply notifications
• Connected donor CRM, reporting, & email tools

💛 Why it's one of the top text-to-donate platforms

Funraise keeps donation data, donor records, and reporting in the same system, so every SMS appeal feeds into a fuller picture of donor behavior. This lets nonprofit teams refine their asks over time based on data rather than guesswork.

🔥 Our take

Funraise suits nonprofits that want text-to-give as part of a full fundraising and donor management system, not a standalone tool. The dynamic amount codes and segmented sending make it a strong pick for teams running personalized SMS appeals at scale.

More to explore

Givebutter vs. Funraise comparison: Reviews, fees, & more →

7. Snowball Fundraising: Budget-friendly mobile giving for events and quick campaigns ⚡

Snowball is a fundraising platform with a text-to-give feature that lets supporters donate, buy event tickets, or bid conveniently. With text-to-give, donors text a keyword and an amount to your organization's number, and are taken to your donation form to complete the gift.

Snowball offers three kinds of text-to-give numbers depending on your reach: local numbers for community-level campaigns, toll-free numbers for national outreach, and five-digit short codes for organizations advertising on TV, radio, or at virtual events.

A big part of Snowball's appeal is how little it asks of donors. They never have to create an account or remember a password, and repeat donors don't have to re-enter their card details, since payment info is stored in a secure third-party vault to prevent identity theft and fraud.

💰 Pricing

Snowball doesn't publicly publish its pricing, so you'll need to schedule a demo.

✨ Standout features

• No donor accounts or passwords required
• Saved payment details for repeat gifts
• Local, toll-free, & short-code number options
• Text-to-bid auctions & text-to-ticket events
• SMS & email blasts for donor outreach

💛 Why it's one of the top text-to-donate platforms

Snowball eliminates complexity from the process of setting up text giving. Donors can give without creating an account or re-entering card details, and the platform is simple enough that a small team can get Text Giving running without IT help.

🔥 Our take

Snowball works well for nonprofits that want simple mobile giving with minimal cost and setup. It's especially ideal for smaller teams and event-based fundraising like auctions, ticketed events, and church giving.

8. Tithely: Church giving platform with recurring and contactless options ⛪

Tithely is a church-focused platform offering tools for giving, church management, website creation, and app development. Its Text Giving feature handles mobile donations during services and beyond.

To give, a donor texts a dollar amount to your church's dedicated giving number. The first time, they get a quick link to enter their payment details, and after that, future gifts go through with a single text. Donors can also direct a gift to a specific fund by adding a keyword to their message, like texting "50 Missions" to support a particular ministry.

Each donation sends an instant receipt by text and email, and church admins can track and manage gifts from a dashboard that syncs with the rest of Tithely's tools.

💰 Pricing

Tithely offers a free plan and a 30-day free trial for paid plans, which start at $72/month. Each plan comes with per-transaction processing fees: 2.9% + $0.30 for credit/debit cards, 1% + $0.30 for ACH/bank transfers, and 3.5% + $0.30 for AMEX. Donors can cover these fees, and the platform says about 60% do.

Text-to-Give as a standalone product costs $19/month, while the All Access plan, which bundles every Tithely product, costs $119/month.

✨ Standout features

• Free giving plan with no monthly fee
• Fund designation by text keyword
• Instant text & email donation receipts
• Admin dashboard with full reporting & exports
• Integrates with Tithely's church management suite

💛 Why it's one of the top text-to-donate platforms

Tithely is built specifically for how churches give. It handles weekly offerings, fund designations, and recurring tithes the way congregations actually use them, which is something a general-purpose donation tool isn't designed to do.

🔥 Our take

Tithely is a natural fit for churches that want text giving alongside the other tools they use to run their ministry. The free giving plan and single-text repeat donations make it approachable for smaller congregations, while the All Access bundle scales up for multi-campus churches.

If your organization isn't a church, though, this one likely won't match how you fundraise.

Learn more

Churches raise more with the right online giving strategy →

How to choose which text-to-donate platform is right for you

The right text-to-donate platform for your organization depends less on which has the longest feature list and more on how you fundraise and who's setting things up. Here are the factors worth considering before you commit.

1. Set up speed 🚀

Look at how a platform assigns numbers and how quickly you can get a campaign live. Shared shortcodes with custom keywords are usually the fastest to launch, while dedicated shortcodes can take longer to set up but give you a number that's fully your own.

If you're collecting donations for events with a deadline (like Giving Tuesday), checking the setup time is always a good idea.

2. Cost structure 💵

Text-to-donate pricing usually falls into one of four models: a flat monthly fee, a charge per message sent, a percentage of donations, or free with an optional platform fee.

Per-message pricing suits teams that monitor their sending volume, flat fees work for predictable use, and free models with platform/processing fees are a good fit if you'd rather keep costs tied to what you raise.

3. Donor experience 📱

Pay attention to how many steps it takes a donor to go from texting in to completing a gift. The best tools keep it to a few taps and don't require donors to create an account or re-enter their card details each time they give.

Every extra step is a chance for someone to give up partway through, so a smooth mobile flow directly affects how much you raise.

4. Two-way vs. one-way messaging 💬

Some platforms only push messages out, while others let donors reply, ask questions, and receive confirmations.

Two-way messaging is useful if you want to respond to supporters in the moment or build an ongoing text relationship, while one-way messaging is fine if you mainly need to broadcast an appeal.

5. Recurring and repeat giving 🔁

Check whether a donor can give again with a quick reply, like texting "YES," without filling out the form a second time. For organizations that depend on recurring revenue, this single feature can be the difference between a one-time gift and a long-term supporter.

6. Integration with your CRM or fundraising platform 🔗

Your text-to-donate platform should ideally integrate with your existing CRM, so every text gift is automatically added to your donor records. This lets you see who gave and follow up without any extra work. On standalone tools, that information often stays separate, which means your team has to export it and enter it by hand.

7. Reporting 📊

Good reporting shows you how each keyword and campaign performed, from how many people texted in to how many completed a gift. Conversion data by keyword lets you see what's working and adjust your messaging, rather than guessing which appeal actually moved donors.

How text-to-donate fits into your bigger fundraising strategy

A text gift is a rung on the ladder of your relationship with a donor—sometimes the very first. To strengthen that relationship, the donation needs to be saved in that donor's record in your CRM, alongside everything else you know about them.

Seeing each text gift in that fuller context allows you to send a thank-you whenever someone donates, follow how they give over time, and reach back out when your next campaign comes around.

There are two ways to set this up. If you already have a dedicated CRM, you can connect it to a standalone text-to-donate tool. Or, more simply, you can use a platform like Givebutter that offers both a donor CRM and a text-to-donate tool under one roof. And since Givebutter's core fundraising tools are free to use, nonprofits get this without adding a new line item to their budget.

Ready to start raising more through text giving? Sign up for Givebutter for free.

FAQs about text-to-donate platforms

Is text-to-donate safe and secure for donors? 💬

Yes, it’s safe because donors don't have to enter their payment details over text. The text usually contains a link to a secure, encrypted donation page where the actual payment happens, the same kind of page used for any online gift.

Reputable text-to-donate platforms are PCI compliant, meaning they meet the card industry's security standards for handling payment data.

Do donors need to download an app to give by text? 📵

No, they don’t. One of the main advantages of text-to-donate is that it works through a donor's regular messaging app and mobile browser. They text a keyword, tap the link, and give without having to download an app or create an account.

That simplicity is part of why text giving performs well at events, where asking people to download an app would turn many of them away.

What's the difference between a shortcode, a long code, and a keyword? 📞

A shortcode is a five- or six-digit number (like 53-555) that's easy to remember and designed for high message volume, making it ideal for events and broadcasts. A long code is a standard 10-digit phone number, better suited to one-to-one conversations and smaller sends. A keyword is the word a donor texts to either type of number (like GIVE or DONATE) that tells the platform which campaign the gift belongs to.

Can text-to-donate work for international donors? 🌍

It depends on the platform. Many text-to-donate tools are set up for donors with US phone numbers and US-based payment processing, so they may not support texts from abroad.

If you have an international donor base, check whether a platform handles multiple currencies and non-US numbers before committing. You can also direct overseas supporters to your standard online donation page instead.