SMS phone numbers

Note: You need to be an Administrator in Blackbaud Guided Fundraising to access the SMS Phone Numbers page.

Before you can send text messages through Guided Fundraising, you need to select the phone numbers that will be used for sending messages. There is a large pool of available phone numbers to choose from, so you can select ones that match closely to your organization's main phone number. Guided Fundraising uses regular 10 digit phone numbers for sending text messages, to encourage response and conversation from prospects. Since carriers impose limits on how many messages can be sent by a single 10 digit number, you are able to select a pool of numbers Guided Fundraising will use for sending text messages. You need to select these numbers before you can start sending text messages in Guided Fundraising.

The first time a constituent is messaged, they are "assigned" to a phone number in the pool. This means that once a constituent is messaged for the first time, all future messages to that constituent will come from the same phone number. As new assignments are made, the assignments rotate through the different phone numbers in the pool, so different constituents will be assigned to different phone numbers.

The number of phone numbers you can select is equal to the number of concurrent user licenses in your subscription. On the SMS Phone Numbers page you'll see a summary of how many phone numbers you've selected, and how many you're allowed to select for your organization.

To add SMS numbers, navigate to Admin, Phone Settings, Numbers. Then, select Add SMS Number.

To get a list of available numbers, enter the beginning of a number in the search field, such as the beginning of a number your organization already uses. The search will return all available numbers beginning with the numbers you entered. For example, if the main number for your organization is 651-3xx-xxxx, you could type 6513 in the search to find numbers similar to yours. Depending on the numbers available, you may need to adjust your search or expand to nearby area codes to find an available number.

Tip: To use trusted calling features, such as Shaken/Stir or CNAM, you need to add SMS numbers for texting here and then navigate to the Caller ID tab to select one of them as the Caller ID number. Only SMS numbers added here from Guided Fundraising are eligible for trusted calling features. On the Caller ID page, you can enter a different number for when prospects call you back instead of texting.

As a proactive measure, it is important for you to immediately register any newly added numbers with the FCC. You can register new numbers on the Free Caller Registry website.

On average it can take 3-5 days for registration data changes to process. If you notice mislabeling, such as SCAM Likely, after registration, run some tests across various carriers to determine which specific carrier(s) are mislabeling the calls. Once you have identified which carrier is mislabeling, you can also register with the specific carrier's analytic providers below:

To read more guidance on how to remove any nuisance labels or how to register your number, review the Twilio help.