Text messages raise money because people read them. That is also why texting is easy to get wrong. A sloppy program annoys supporters, gets numbers filtered by carriers and creates legal exposure. A careful one becomes a dependable small-dollar channel.
Peer-to-peer and broadcast are different tools
Peer-to-peer (P2P) texting means a person on your team or ours sends each message individually from a texting platform. The sender clicks to send every text, and replies come back to a real inbox where someone can answer. P2P suits conversations, volunteer asks and event turnout.
Broadcast texting sends one message to many people at once, usually from a registered 10-digit number or a short code. It is faster and cheaper per message, and it is the standard tool for fundraising to a list of people who signed up to receive your texts.
Most mature programs use both.
How consent rules differ for peer-to-peer and broadcast
The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) governs texts to cell phones. Texts sent with an autodialer generally require the recipient's prior express consent. Broadcast platforms are built to send at scale, so treat every broadcast send as requiring that consent. In practice that means a clear opt-in: the person gave you their number and agreed to receive texts from you.
The FCC has said that a texting platform where a person must actively send each individual message is not, for that reason alone, an autodialer. That is why P2P is used for wider outreach. Do not read it as a consent loophole. The analysis depends on how the platform actually works, several states have their own texting laws that are stricter than federal rules, and carriers apply their own policies regardless of what the law allows.
One rule applies everywhere. When someone replies STOP (or UNSUBSCRIBE, QUIT, END, CANCEL), remove them, confirm it once, and keep them off every texting channel you use. A person who opted out of your broadcast list should not get a P2P text from a volunteer next week. That means one suppression list shared across vendors and platforms.
10DLC registration and Campaign Verify
Carriers require businesses and organizations that text from standard 10-digit numbers (10DLC) to register their brand and their messaging use case through The Campaign Registry. Unregistered traffic gets filtered or blocked, and registration can take days to weeks, so start early.
Political committees (candidates, PACs, party committees) usually verify through Campaign Verify first. It confirms you are a legitimate political entity and issues a token you use during 10DLC registration to qualify for the political use case. Nonprofits often register under a different use case depending on their tax status and activity. Your texting vendor should handle the paperwork and tell you which path applies to you.
Quiet hours
Federal rules limit telephone solicitations to between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. in the recipient's local time. Some states set narrower windows or restrict certain days. We treat 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. recipient local time as a floor for every send, and tighten it where state law or good sense calls for it. Area codes do not always match where someone lives now, so leave a margin.
SMS segments and MMS
A standard SMS segment holds 160 characters of plain text (the GSM-7 character set). Add a single emoji or a curly quote and the message switches to a different encoding that fits only 70 characters per segment. Long messages get split into multiple segments, and you pay for each one. Write tight and check your character set before sending.
MMS lets you send an image with longer copy in a single message. A candidate photo or a graphic announcing a match can lift attention. MMS costs more per message, so use it when the image carries the message and use plain SMS for quick, urgent asks.
Building an opted-in list
The list is the program. The best sources are the ones where a person chooses to give you their number and agrees to hear from you:
- Digital ads that drive to a signup page, a petition or a pledge, with clear text consent language next to the phone field.
- Petitions and surveys on issues your supporters care about.
- Donation forms, with an optional phone field and consent language. People who have already given are your most responsive subscribers.
- A keyword people can text to your number from a speech, a mailer or a sign.
Do not buy or rent phone lists for broadcast. You cannot prove consent for those numbers, and the complaints hurt deliverability for your whole list.
Writing texts that raise money
A fundraising text has one job: get a supporter to tap a link and give. Every good one has a reason to act now, one clear ask and a working link. Identify who is sending, especially in the first message to a new subscriber. A few examples of the kind of lines that work:
- "Maya here from the Ortiz campaign. Our end-of-quarter deadline is midnight tomorrow and we're still short. Chip in $10 before then: [link] Reply STOP to opt out"
- "Breaking: our opponent just took another check from a corporate PAC. We run on grassroots money. Give $5 right now to fight back: [link]"
- "A donor has pledged to match every gift until Friday at midnight. Your $15 becomes $30 for clean water advocacy in our state. Give here: [link]"
- "Thank you for standing with us this year. Polls close in 9 days and we need to fund one more week of door knocking. Give $25 today: [link]"
Each has a named sender, a specific hook, a suggested amount and a link. Only use a match if it is real and the terms are accurate. Only cite a deadline if it exists. Supporters remember being told the same "final" deadline three times.
Every link carries a refcode, for example secure.actblue.com/donate/example?refcode=txt_1012_deadline, or a source code if you raise on EveryAction. Test the link on a phone before the send goes out. A broken or missing link wastes the send.
Timing around deadlines and news
The strongest sends are tied to something real: a filing deadline, a debate, an endorsement, an attack ad, a vote in the legislature, a match window closing. Plan a calendar around known deadlines, then leave room to move fast when news breaks.
Watch frequency closely. More sends raise more money up to the point where unsubscribes and carrier complaints climb. Read your opt-out rate after every send and back off when it moves.
Approval before every send
Nothing should go out to your list without someone on your side signing off on it. At Molitico we write and design every text, and the client approves each one in our approval portal before it can be scheduled. The portal runs pre-send checks automatically: the link works, the refcode is set, opt-out language is present and the send time falls within quiet hours for the audience. If a check fails, the send does not go.
That step protects your voice and your compliance record.
Measuring each send with refcodes
Because every text carries its own refcode, each donation can be matched to the exact send that produced it. For every send we track:
- Money raised and number of donations.
- Recurring gifts started, credited to the text that started them. Later installments stay with that original send.
- Unsubscribes and the opt-out rate.
- Cost of the send, so you can see what each one returned.
Clients see this in a dashboard, send by send. Over time it shows which hooks and amounts work for your list.
Common mistakes
- Texting numbers without documented consent.
- Honoring STOP on one platform but not another.
- Sending without a refcode, which makes the money impossible to attribute.
- Fake deadlines and matches that are not real.
- Long messages with emoji that quietly multiply your segment count.
- Sending too often and reading only revenue, never opt-outs.
- Starting 10DLC registration a week before you need to send.
This is general information, not legal advice. Check specifics with your compliance counsel.
If you want a texting program you can approve message by message, talk to us.