How to Set Up Text-to-Give

Text-to-Give lets a supporter give from their phone by texting a keyword, like GIVE, to your organization’s own text number. Argenta texts back a link, and the supporter gives in two taps with Apple Pay or Google Pay. Each gift is recorded like any online donation, with the campaign and event you chose for that keyword.

Open Text-to-Give

Go to Fundraising > Text-to-Give. The page is open to admins and to anyone with the Donation Manager permission. Donation Managers run the keywords. Only a master admin can connect Twilio or turn Text-to-Give on or off, because both change your Twilio number.

Set it up in three steps

The top of the page, Set Up Text-to-Give, walks you through three numbered steps. A finished step shows a green check, and its button reads Done.

Before setup: Stripe and Twilio still to connect, so Turn On waits.

1. Connect Stripe. Gifts are paid through your own Stripe account, the same as your online donation form. Go opens your Stripe settings so you can connect it.
2. Connect Your Twilio Number. Supporters text your own Twilio number, and the texts are billed to your Twilio account. Click Connect, enter your Twilio Account SID, Twilio Auth Token and Twilio Phone Number, and click Save. Argenta checks the details with Twilio before it saves them. This is the same Twilio connection you send Mail Room text messages from.
3. Turn On Text-to-Give. Once Stripe and Twilio both show Done, click Turn On. If your Twilio number already sends incoming texts somewhere else, Argenta shows you where and asks before replacing it. Text-to-Give needs incoming texts to come to Argenta.

Your Account SID and Auth Token are on the home page of your Twilio Console, under Account Info.

1 turns Text-to-Give on once Stripe and Twilio show Done. Only a master admin sees it.

While Text-to-Give is on, the Twilio step is locked; turn Text-to-Give off before you connect a different number. Turn Off stops texts to your number getting a giving link. Your keywords and their history are kept, and an incoming-text address Argenta replaced is put back.

Getting your own Twilio number

Until Twilio is connected, the Twilio step shows how to get a number of your own:

1. Create a Twilio account at twilio.com, then add a payment method to upgrade it. A trial account can only text numbers you have verified.
2. Buy a number. In the Twilio Console, open Phone Numbers, then Manage, then Buy a number. Choose one that can send SMS.
3. Register it for texting. US phone carriers block texts from numbers that are not registered. In the Console, open Messaging, then Regulatory Compliance. A local number needs A2P 10DLC registration, and a toll-free number needs toll-free verification. Approval can take a few days to a few weeks.
4. Connect it with step 2 above.

Twilio bills your account for the number and for each text. Argenta support can walk you through it.

Add a keyword

1. Click Add A New Keyword at the top of the page. It appears once your Twilio number is connected.
2. Fill in the keyword:
   • Keyword: the one word supporters text, such as GIVE. Your keywords are your own; another organization can use the same word on its own number.
   • Campaign and Event: start typing to pick where gifts from this keyword are recorded.
   • Suggested Amounts: the amounts offered on the giving page, separated by commas, such as 25, 50, 100, 250. The supporter can also choose Other.
   • Reply Message: what the reply text says before the link. Left blank, it thanks the supporter by your organization’s name.
   • Active: switch it off to pause a keyword without deleting it.
3. Click Add.

A new keyword, ready to add.

Each keyword then shows how many texts, gifts and dollars it has brought in. Change a keyword and click its orange save icon, or delete it with the pink icon; a deleted keyword’s history and totals stay in Recent Texts.

What your supporter sees

1. They text your keyword to your number.
2. Argenta replies with your Reply Message, a short giving link, and “Reply STOP to opt out.”
3. The link opens a giving page for your campaign. They pick an amount and tap Apple Pay or Google Pay, which fills in their name, email and address for them. They can also tap Pay with a card instead to give through your online donation form.

A political organization’s giving page also asks for the donor’s employer, occupation and funding source, as federal law requires.

Each link takes one gift. To give again, the supporter texts the keyword again for a new link.

A one-word text that is not one of your keywords gets a reply listing your active keywords, and a keyword you switched off says it isn’t active right now. A longer message is not answered, so ordinary conversations on your number are left alone. A supporter who texts STOP is opted out and gets no more texts from your number.

Recent Texts

Below your keywords, Recent Texts lists every text to your number in the last 30 days, newest first: when it was Received, who it was From, the Keyword, What Happened (for example, sent the giving link, not a keyword, or opted out), whether they Opened The Link, and the Gift, which links to the donation once one is made.