At Pitzer, texting has the added bonus of helping the Annual Giving team reach constituents they might not have reached through traditional phone calls. Pitzer’s phonathon program has struggled with contact rates due to the increase in Spam/scam likely calls, but texting has increased their number of two-way conversations and has helped the Pitzer team update contact information. As Kamalei said, “The biggest difference with texting is we’ve actually been able to get a hold of people to have conversations and update contact information, if necessary. The ease and speed of texting has been helpful as well.” Kamalei says, “When there’s a [giving] deadline and it's a quick, short message, people really appreciate the convenience of texting.”

Kamalei notes that texting has become an increasingly important part of Pitzer’s annual giving strategy, saying, “Texting is very good for time-sensitive communications such as giving days and event reminders. I can’t imagine how people are planning to keep up with the times if they’re not incorporating texting into their overarching annual fund and engagement strategies.”