GivebearText messaging
Get a toll-free number, collect opt-ins, reply to supporters 1:1, and send text campaigns.
Text messaging gives your organization its own toll-free number. Supporters can text you, staff reply from a shared Messages inbox, and you can send text campaigns to people who opted in.
Texting is available on the Plus and Growth plans. Plus includes 250 texts per month and Growth includes 1,000; beyond that, texts bill as overage. An MMS (a text with an image or PDF attached) counts as 3 texts. Both 1:1 replies and campaigns draw from the same allowance.
Reading conversations and sending 1:1 texts use the "message" permission. Text campaigns use their own campaign permissions, separate from email campaigns. Owners and admins have both. See settings, roles, and billing.
Enable texting
Open Settings, then the Texting tab. On the Free plan the tab shows an upgrade link instead of the form.
Complete your organization profile first. Carrier verification requires your contact email and full mailing address. If anything is missing, the form names the fields and links to General settings; the submit button stays disabled until they are filled.
Choose the Timezone the send window uses. Campaigns only go out between 8am and 9pm in this timezone.
Answer the carrier questions: What will you text people about?, A realistic sample message, How do supporters opt in? (online form, paper form, they text us first, QR code, or verbal), Describe the opt-in, and Estimated texts per month. Be specific: carrier reviewers reject vague submissions, and a rejection costs you days.
Optionally set a Notification email for reply alerts. It defaults to your organization's contact email.
Select Get my number. Givebear buys a toll-free number for your organization and submits it to carriers for verification.
Watch verification
The status card at the top of the Texting tab shows your number and one of these states:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Verification pending, In carrier review | Carriers are reviewing, typically 1 to 7 business days. You can receive texts now; sending unlocks on approval. |
| Verified | Texting is live. |
| Verification rejected | Carriers declined. The reason appears on the card with an Edit and resubmit link that reopens the form. |
The page refreshes the status from the carrier when you open it. Select Refresh status to check again.
Reply notifications
Once verified, the Reply notifications section on the same tab lets you change the notification email, the timezone, and whether you want an email for every incoming text or only when a new conversation starts (the default). Select Save preferences.
Collect opt-ins
Campaigns only send to people who explicitly agreed to receive your texts. Givebear records consent per phone number, with an audit trail, from four places:
- Donation checkout. Once texting is enabled, your donation pages gain an optional phone field. When a donor enters a number, a checkbox appears: "Text me updates from your organization. Message and data rates may apply; reply STOP to opt out anytime."
- Event registration. Public event forms show the same phone field and consent checkbox.
- Texting you first. Anyone who texts your number is treated as opted in, unless they previously opted out. Put "Text us at ..." on flyers and kiosk screens.
- Staff attestation. On a contact's profile, select Record opt-in in the Messages card when someone agreed on paper or in person, and describe how consent was collected. You can also map an "SMS opt-in (yes/no)" column when importing a CSV; the import asks you to confirm those contacts agreed.
Anyone can opt out at any time by replying STOP. An opt-out from the person's own phone is final in Givebear: staff cannot reverse it, only the person texting START can.
Reply to supporters 1:1
Open Messages under People CRM in the sidebar. Conversations list on the left with unread indicators and a search box; the thread and composer are on the right. The same conversation also appears in the Messages card on the contact's profile, and every text lands in the contact's activity timeline.
When someone texts your number, the notification email goes to the address in your Texting settings. By default you get one email when a new conversation starts; turn on "every incoming text" in the settings if you prefer.
1:1 replies are allowed to anyone who has not opted out, even without a recorded opt-in, and are not limited to the 8am to 9pm window.
Send a text campaign
Open Text campaigns under People CRM and select New text campaign. Givebear creates the draft the moment you click and opens the editor.
Give the campaign a name and write the Message. The composer shows a live character and segment count. Insert merge fields with the chips under the box: {{firstName}}, {{lastName}}, or {{name}}. A missing first name becomes "friend".
Optionally add an Attachment (MMS, optional): one image or PDF, such as an event flyer. Attachments bill as 3 texts per recipient. A file too large for MMS is delivered as a link in the text instead.
Pick the audience. The picker is the same one email campaigns use: everyone, tags, segments, or event registrants. The reach preview shows how many people will receive the text and how many are skipped for no opt-in, a number outside the US and Canada, or an invalid number.
Send now or schedule. Sending outside 8am to 9pm in your timezone is refused; the editor offers to schedule the campaign for the next morning instead. A scheduled campaign that comes due overnight waits for the window to open.
A scheduled campaign shows a banner with Cancel schedule and Send now. Cancelling returns it to a draft you can edit.
After sending, the campaign page shows delivery counts and a per-recipient report, including who was skipped and why.
Where to next
- Segments for rule-based audiences that stay current.
- People and outreach for the CRM the audiences come from.
- Settings, roles, and billing for permissions and plan limits.
- Events and community for the registration forms that collect opt-ins.