Mobile Giving 101: Provisioning Short Codes For Mobile Giving
A short code is a special 5 or 6 digit phone number, usually used by companies and organizations for interactive text messaging campaigns. They are designed to be shorter to read and easier to remember than regular phone numbers. In order to get a short code, you must apply through the CSCA and get approval for the specific program(s) you want to run. For example, a short code can be approved for alerts, for ringtones and other binary content, for mobile chat, etc.
In order to facilitate mobile donations, a short code must be provisioned specifically for that purpose. A regular short code can not be used for mobile donations. The approval process is currently done in conjunction with the Mobile Giving Foundation.
Because they are expensive, every organization does not need to get it’s own short code. The most common use-case is for an organization to reserve a keyword on a shared short code. For example, “SHARE” is a keyword on the shared short code 20222. Vendors often own their own giving short codes and then let organizations share keywords on them.
As of this writing there are about 10 short codes approved for mobile giving: 20222, 25383, 27722, 40202, 41010, 464329, 861232, 864833 and 90999.
Interested in getting started on a shared giving short code? Contact us or an approved service provider for more information!
