Mass text alert system for a small nonprofit?

June 28, 2023 2:26 PM

I am looking for a basic low cost mass SMS text alert system to notify our members about occasional news and alerts. We only send out messages once or twice a month at the most, so a per message fee is preferred to a monthly fee.

- Only needed for about 100-200 people
- Only need one way communication
- Prefer to not have to pay more than a few dollars a month for a subscription (or to pay for a reserved number)
- Possible to sign up to the list via sms
- Don't want people to have to download an app, just receive by sms

Is there anything out there like this?

(I see this was asked a few years ago, but I'm looking for updated options)

posted by roaring beast to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

We like to use Twilio for things like this. It tends to be per message/minute/service, very inexpensive, but also a bit more work on your end to make it work, vs a completely prefabricated end-to-end system that holds your hand at every step.
posted by flug at 2:30 PM on June 28, 2023

What are you using to manage the list of members who will receive these texts? The best solution is probably the one that integrates most easily with whatever you are using, whether that's a spreadsheet or a full-fledged CRM. The last thing you want to do is to be importing and exporting data back and forth or having to update two systems every time something changes.
posted by ssg at 4:59 PM on June 28, 2023

Response by poster: Flug - I tried Twilio, but it was a little too complex. I could send a single SMS through the built in interface, but couldn't build a contact list. Maybe I'm missing something.

SSG - just a spreadsheet, mostly doing it manually. Not using a CRM or other system. Would be nice if the service could manage the contacts.
posted by roaring beast at 7:04 PM on June 28, 2023

> Flug - I tried Twilio, but it was a little too complex.

Yes, that is indeed the problem with Twilio. It looks like this page might have fairly complete & up-to-date instructions for creating a broadcast-SMS type setup.

You might need a friend who is comfortable with a little programming etc to make this go successfully. At its heart is is a programmable phone/voice mail/texting service and so you have to figure out some way to do the programming bit to get it to do things like send and SMS to a list of numbers. The programming part is pretty easy when viewed in context within the vast realm of programming things in the entire universe, but it isn't easy to get started at it if you're not used to working with such things.
posted by flug at 1:25 AM on June 29, 2023

OK, I got it to work successfully using these instructions.

However there are these additional instructions:

- Purchase a number (before doing any of the above) - under "Console/Purchase a Number"
- After completing all the steps above, go Console/Active Numbers, choose the number you purchased, and then look under "Messaging Configuration"
- In that section, for "Messaging Service" choose the service you created using the instructions ("Notifications two-way" or whatever you called it)
- Under "A message comes in" choose "Function" Service: "Default" and Function Path - the path for the function you created to handle the incoming/outgoing SMS. I had called it "/ttk_broadcast"
- Also there you will see instructions for "A2P 10DLC registration required for US messaging" which you will need to do before bulk SMSing, but for trial purposes you can ignore it. Also if you're only sending 200-400 messages/month maybe you can slide by without it - up to you to experiment. But as a 501c3 nonprofit, the fees to apply for A2P 10DLC registration and then the monthly fees associated with running a campaign (which as a 501c3 can include ALL of your monthly/annual messaging) only amount to a couple of dollars a month.

Now after ALL THAT, it is a system that people can SIGN UP FOR by texting "subscribe" to your number, and then you can broadcast to everyone who has subscribed.

So there will be yet another step to get all of your existing contacts subscribed to this list. That should be pretty easy for your programmer friend to sort out. You should be able to write a quick program to step through the list and send each person a notification they have been subscribed to this new SMS list, with instructions to STOP if they want to opt out - or even better, with a "double opt-in" message which they will then have to respond to in order to actually subscribe to the list.

There are also pretty easy ways to set up a form on your web site where people can enter their phone number and subscribe to the list, and also you can put a check box on (say) donation forms where they can opt in to the text messaging service.

FWIW I've been meaning to set all this up for our org and your question prompted me to finally do it - so thanks for that!
posted by flug at 3:41 AM on June 29, 2023