About Text to Give

You can allow people to give using text messages, via the ChMeetings app. This guide gives you an overview of the feature.

To find Text to Give, go to Contributions > Online Giving > Settings. The Text to Give section is near the end of the page.

Text to Give does not charge recurrently - only when givers specifically send a text starting with GIVE and only for the specified amount. No giving text will trigger a recurring transaction.

Availability

Here are the availability conditions under which Text to Give works:

Text to Give is only available with paid ChMeetings plans. Free accounts can choose to upgrade to a paid plan to access this feature.
You can use Text to Give with either a dedicated phone number from ChMeetings, or with your own Twilio account. The only integrated third party provider is Twilio; so for now, other SMS services integrated with ChMeetings don’t work with Text to Give.
Country availability: ChMeetings dedicated phone numbers are only available within the USA and Canada. You can use a Twilio integration everywhere else, provided Twilio supports receiving SMS in your country.
Text to Give only works with Stripe as a payment processor.
Text to Give only works with two-way messaging: Simply purchasing SMS credits in ChMeetings or using a regular personal phone number and mobile plan is not enough for Text to Give to work. This is because ChMeetings needs to automatically receive and process the giver's incoming text messages, charge the linked payment method, and send confirmation replies.

Access Permissions

Text to Give is only available for the main account, not for ministries. Users with the Online Giving Settings permission for contributions can change settings and see the Text Giving Links list (including the ability to link and unlink phone numbers) .

How Text to Give works

Here is how Text to Give works, in a nutshell:

Your account owner turns on Text to Give and shares the texting phone number with the community.
A giver texts an amount, such as GIVE 50, to that number.
The first time, ChMeetings replies with a link. The giver opens it, enters their name, email and payment method, and completes the transaction. Their phone is now set up for giving via text message. Each phone that has been set up is called a Text Giving Link. It ties the phone number to a person and a saved payment method.
From then on, people can just text your number with how much they want to give and optionally choose a fund, and they will be charged to the saved payment method straight away, and get a thank-you reply. A receipt is emailed to the giver, just as for any online gift. This way, givers no longer need to go through lengthy payment processes and just send a text message instead.

Rules

Rule	Rule Information
Default maximum per text	$500 (set per account)
Smallest gift	Your minimum online gift, and at least what Stripe can charge (50 cents in US dollars)
Setup and update links	Valid for 24 hours, used once
Refund by text	Last gift only, within 24 hours, completed gifts only
Texts per phone	20 in 24 hours, of which 10 can be other than gifts
Low credit warning	Below 50 SMS credits
Pause	At 0 SMS credits, with a ChMeetings number
Keyword	Letters and numbers, up to 30 characters, one per fund
Payment methods	Cards, and US bank accounts where the church accepts bank payments

SMS credits usage

With a ChMeetings number, replies to givers are paid from the church's SMS credit. Each reply takes its own length in SMS plus 1 for the text the giver sent, so a gift usually uses 2 credits. With your own Twilio number, Twilio bills you directly and no credit is used from ChMeetings - and you are not required to purchase ChMeetings credits in this case.

Credit charges are not limited to successful donations. They also apply when Text to Give sends replies for setup links, HELP commands, invalid donation requests, refunds, failed payments, etc. Refunding a donation does not return charged credits.

Messages that are not recognized as Text to Give commands continue through the regular SMS-reply process and do not trigger a Text to Give credit deduction.

If you use your own Twilio integration, SMS charges are handled directly by Twilio rather than through ChMeetings credits. You are not required to purchase ChMeetings credits or get a dedicated number from ChMeetings as long as you have a number from Twilio. If your Twilio integration sends from a name instead of a phone number, givers can't text it. In this case, please edit your Twilio Integration and configure a phone number.

Credit-related Notifications

Admins receive the following notifications related to SMS credits:

Low credit. When credit drops below 50, admins get a notification and an email: SMS credit is running low. The balance on the settings page turns red.
Paused. When credit runs out, Text to Give pauses. Givers' texts get no reply and aren't charged. Admins get a notification, Text to Give paused, and the settings page shows a warning. Text to Give resumes as soon as credit is added. Givers get no reply when the service is paused.

View Text to Give records

There are two main areas where you can see Text to Give records: on the person’s profile, under the Giving tab; and under Contributions > All Contributions, where Text is displayed as the payment method.

On the person's profile

On a person's profile, the Giving tab shows a Text to Give card for each phone number the member has set up: along with the phone number, payment method, status and when it was last used.

In contributions

Text gifts are recorded like any other online gifts, in the day's online giving batch. In All Contributions and on the person's Giving tab, the method shows (Text), for example Online (Text) or Credit/Debit Card (Text). A refund appears as a negative amount. Receipts are emailed as for any online gift.

Text giving guide for members

How to give via text message