Save Money Using a Toll Free Number for Donations
By Crystal Renouf, June 17, 2021
Short Codes vs. Regular 10-Digit Numbers
As of June 1, 2021, all major wireless carriers have discontinued the shared short codes for all texting providers.
However, regular, 10-digit phone numbers can still be used to send and receive texts, mobile carriers have prohibited shared short codes.
Additionally, some mobile carriers will block text messages that include bit.ly links or other shorturl services. This is because those links are frequently used in spam and phishing attacks.
On the other hand, toll free numbers do not block the links because the purpose of the toll free numbers are either for donations or marketing, and because scammers would have to pay to send messages through a short code.
In short, if you plan on collecting donations or sending text blasts with marketing content, you should really be utilizing a toll free 10-digit numbers shared short codes are not to be used for mass communications, donation solicitation, or text blasts anymore.
How Toll Free Numbers Benefit Nonprofits
If you are a nonprofit, of course you aren’t required to use a toll free number for collecting donations. We always say that you should use whatever technology gets you the best results. If that means collecting money through old-fashioned check writing, so be it. Or if passing around a donation plate and accepting cash works, by all means, focus on that.
But if you do plan on using out toll free number for your fundraising or marketing, here are a few ways a keyword and toll free number can facilitate donations:
Texting a keyword to a toll free number is faster than pulling out a checkbook and writing a check or pulling out a credit/debit card.
People carry their mobile devices everywhere now. They may forget their checkbook or wallet, but they almost never forget their phones!
Subscriber info goes into our database automatically with toll free numbers. You don’t need a CRM system to keep track of these people. We have their phones numbers the moment they text, and we serve as a basic CRM for you.
Many people have PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay. We accept all three of these for donations. In addition, we accept bank transfers. So a toll free number and keyword give your donors more options.
Toll free numbers work well during events. You can easily broadcast your number and call to action on a projector or audio-visual display.
The number we provide is easier to remember than most 10-digit numbers. Recall is a key factor in branding and marketing.
As stated, you can send rainbow blasts with marketing or promotional content through our toll free number. Our number has fewer filtering rules than most 10-digit numbers.
Our Toll free number messages have a very high open rate (some estimates say over 97%), a high Click Through Rate (> 20%) and therefore are a good channel for marketing.
Activity on our toll free number is still is trackable. With our toll free number, we give you reports of exactly how many people opted in to your keyword, how many people clicked your link, and if you use PayPal, how many donations came through your number.
There are fewer legal compliance rules with our toll free number than most 10-digit numbers (also known as “long codes”).
Dedicated vs. Our Toll Free Number
A dedicated short code is a 4-6 digit short code that only your organization may use. For example, the Red Cross has its own, dedicated short code, 90999. Donations can be given only to the Red Cross through this short code. This could cost your organization $1,000s monthly to maintain. In the US a dedicated short code averages about $16,000 per year.
Dedicated short codes usually work in conjunction with the mobile carrier serving as an underwriter for donations. That means that the donor doesn’t have to give his donation through a mobile payment wallet like PayPal or Stripe. The mobile carrier tacks on the donation amount onto the donor’s phone bill and then gives the donation to the Red Cross later
Our Toll Free Number still gives multiple LGBTQ+ organizations its use. For example, our 877-678-1487 number is shared across many of our customers. Each customer gets their own keyword. The keyword is unique to the customer, but the toll free number is shared.
With Shared Numbers, the mobile carrier doesn’t always get involved with processing donations. Often, as with our service, the shared number uses PayPal or another payment processor to process donations. So, there are extra steps involved after the donor sends your keyword to the toll free number.