Text Message Stewardship Strategy

Setting a timeline and parameters for stewarding your donors through your Harness texting tool.

Megan Carlson Kladakis avatar
Written by Megan Carlson Kladakis
Updated over a week ago

AUTO MESSAGES vs OTHER MESSAGES

Harness makes it easy for you to create your FIRST text touch-point with your donors via your Auto Messages tool in your Admin Dashboard. 

Here's what each of those texts are, what they do, and when they send:

  1. WELCOME
    The auto message your donors receive 1x AFTER they have completed the first step of creating an account.
    The purpose of this message is to provide ALL of your donors/prospective donors an immediate acknowledgment of their action. This is the first step to exceptional stewardship as it provides your donors a unique (text, not just email) and immediate reward (they feel SEEN).
    *Note - Your donors have the option to make a donation as a "guest" by inputting their name and email ONLY. You will still have access to this information in your Dashboard.

  2. ONE-TIME
    The auto message your donors receive each time AFTER they have made a One-Time donation.
    The purpose of this message is to provide your One-Time donors an immediate acknowledgment of their action. This is an excellent step creating a positive, unique, and immediately gratifying experience that lays the foundation for you to transition these donors into recurring donors in the future.

  3. ROUND-UP SIGN UP
    The auto message your donors receive 1x AFTER they have signed up to become a Round-Up donor.
    The purpose of this message is to provide your Round-Up donors an immediate acknowledgment of their action. This is the first step in creating a positive, unique, and immediately gratifying experience for these unique monthly givers.

  4. ROUND-UP MONTHLY***
    The auto message your donors receive 1x/month the day before the last billing day of the month when their Round-Up donation will withdraw.
    The purpose of this message is to provide your Round-Up donors a "heads up" to expect the accumulated spare change from their monthly purchases to withdraw from their account the next business day. This is a value-add reminder to your donors (so they're not caught off guard by an unexpected bank transaction) and an opportunity for you to share the impact of their monthly gift.

  5. MONTHLY DONATION (SIGN UP)
    The auto message your donors receive 1x AFTER they have signed up to become a Monthly donor.
    The purpose of this message is to provide your Monthly donors an immediate acknowledgment of their action. This is the first step in creating a positive, unique, and immediately gratifying experience for these monthly givers.

  6. MONTHLY RECURRING***
    The auto message your donors receive 1x/month the day of/after their monthly donation withdraws.
    The purpose of this message is to provide your Monthly donors an acknowledgment that their monthly gift just withdrew from their account. This is a value-add reminder to your donors (so they're not caught off guard by an unexpected bank transaction) and an opportunity for you to share the impact of their monthly gift.

***These auto messages auto-send MONTHLY. Best practice is to update these messages 1x/month (text language and images) so your donors are not receiving the same text message every month. 



BEST PRACTICES
ALL of your donors should hear from you via text 1x/month

If you communicate with them LESS than 1x/month, you increase the risk of losing their attention and becoming disconnected from you.

If you communicate with them MORE than 1x/month, you increase the risk of irritating them. 

If you communicate content that is fun, engaging, relevant and sharing the impact of their donation, donors will look forward to hearing from you. We recommend using the "rule of three" for touchpoints:

3 Touchpoints

  1. Acknowledgment
    "Thank you for your [action - ex: creating an account, making a donation, signing up to learn more, etc.]"

  2. Impact/Update
    "Here's how your donation is making a difference [include picture/story/update]"

  3. Ask/Call-to-Action
    "Check out our NEW way to give" OR "Please support our upcoming special campaign!"


RECOMMENDED TIMELINE & COMMUNICATION
For One-Time Donors

  1. After they make their first gift (Harness has taken care of this for you with your One-Time auto message! :))

  2. Month 2 - "Your support has helped us [xyz]..."

  3. Month 3 - "We would really appreciate your support either donating to or helping us spread the word about [xyz]..."

  4. Month 4 - "Your gift is STILL making an impact! Check out this [story or impact post]!"

  5. Month 5 - "We wanted to share with you some [new initiative, recent powerful statistic, etc.]..."

  6. Month 6 - "Would you consider joining our [name of your monthly giving initiative] to ensure we can continue [supporting families or solving issues like xyz]?"

  7. Months 7-9: REPEAT steps 4-6

  8. Months 10-12: REPEAT steps 4-6 (with exception of replacing your last "ask" with your end-of-year appeal or event invitation)

For Monthly Donors

  1. After they sign up to become a monthly donor (Harness has taken care of this for you with your Monthly Donation auto message! :))

  2. Month 2 - "Your support has helped us [xyz]..."

  3. Month 3 - "We would really appreciate your support either donating to or helping us spread the word about [xyz]..."

  4. Month 4 - "Your gift is STILL making an impact! Check out this [story or impact post]!"

  5. Month 5 - "We wanted to share with you some [new initiative, recent powerful statistic, etc.]..."

  6. Month 6 - "Would you consider increasing your monthly gift to ensure we can [continue supporting or support new/additional families or solving issues like xyz]?"

  7. Months 7-9: REPEAT steps 4-6

  8. Months 10-12: REPEAT steps 4-6 (with exception of replacing your last "ask" with your end-of-year appeal or event invitation)

For Round-Up Donors

  1. After they sign up to become a Round-Up donor (Harness has taken care of this for you with your Round-Up Monthly auto message! :))

  2. Month 2 - "Your spare change has helped us [xyz]..."

  3. Month 3 - "We would really appreciate your support helping us spread the word about our Round-Up spare change program [and we've created a Round-Up Ambassador Program with special perks for all who join!]..."

  4. Month 4 - "Your spare change is making a big impact! Check out this [story or impact post]!"

  5. Month 5 - "We wanted to share with you some [new initiative, recent powerful statistic, etc.]..."

  6. Month 6 - "Would you consider supporting our upcoming [special appeal/campaign]joining our [name of your monthly giving initiative]?"

  7. Months 7-9: REPEAT steps 4-6

  8. Months 10-12: REPEAT steps 4-6 (with exception of replacing your last "ask" with your end-of-year appeal or event invitation)


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