A coalition campaign ends, and someone circulates a merged spreadsheet. It might hold 8,000 rows pulled from the food bank, the tenants' union and the youth program, with phone numbers in column D. Everyone on it opted in to something. It looks like a ready-made texting list.
It isn't. Each of those people agreed to hear from a specific organization, and that agreement doesn't move to you because the file did. This post covers why a partner's opt-in doesn't cover your texts, how to re-permission a shared list through channels that don't need SMS consent, and how to screen the people who say yes before your first text. It also covers what to do before any of those texts asks for money.
Why a partner's opt-in doesn't cover you
Consent to receive texts is given to a named sender. When someone typed their number into the food bank's signup form, the disclosure said something like "Riverside Food Bank may text you about distribution days." It did not say "and any organization Riverside works with." Carriers read it that way, and so does the TCPA. The same principle sits under 10DLC registration, which asks how your organization collected the numbers it texts.
There are three problems with texting the merged list as-is:
- Legal exposure. Texting someone without their consent can carry statutory damages that are commonly cited at $500 to $1,500 per text under the TCPA. A 3-message drip campaign to one person who never agreed is three texts of exposure, not one.
- Carrier filtering. Recipients who don't recognize you report the texts as spam. Complaint rates feed into how carriers treat your registered campaign. A cold-feeling first send can damage deliverability for the opted-in supporters you already have.
- Your partners' relationships. The people on that list trusted the food bank. An unexpected text from an organization they've never heard of reflects on the food bank, and coalitions run on that trust.
Ready's position is simple, and it matches how we handle cold contact generally. You reach people you don't have consent for by phone and mail. SMS goes to people who consented or who started the conversation. A shared spreadsheet is a list for outreach, not a texting list.
What "consent_attested" means when you send
When you send through Ready's API, set consent_attested: true on each request. That field is your promise that the recipient agreed to receive texts from you. Ready records that attestation for each campaign you send and each API send that attests consent: who sent, to how many, and when. That gives you an audit trail of what you claimed.
It is not a per-contact consent record. Ready does not store each recipient's opt-in time, the wording they saw or the page they signed up on, and a keyword reply doesn't create one. You keep those records. You can't honestly set that flag for 8,000 people who opted in to someone else. Our guide to documenting SMS consent so it holds up covers which fields to keep. (A contact who signs up on a Ready-hosted opt-in page is the exception: Ready stores that sign-up, with the time, IP address and exact wording, and support@tryready.com can send you a copy.)
Re-permissioning the list without texting it
The goal is to turn "on a partner's list" into "opted in to us, with a record," using channels that don't depend on SMS consent you don't have. Each channel has tradeoffs.
| Channel | How it works | Strength | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Partner's email | The partner emails its own list introducing you, with a link to your opt-in form | Arrives from a sender people trust; your form captures a clean record | The partner has to agree to send it; their email consent rules apply, not yours |
| Phone call | Volunteers call and invite people to opt in via your web form or a keyword | Personal, and good for older supporters | Verbal yes isn't a strong record, so route them to a form or keyword you log |
| A postcard with a QR code to your form and a keyword to text in | Reaches people with no email; easy to track | Slow, with a print and postage cost per piece |
The partner email is usually the strongest option
If your coalition partners are willing, have each one send a short email to its own list: "We're working with Northside Tenants' Union on rent-relief updates. If you'd like texts from them, sign up here." The person clicks through to your form, sees your disclosure and opts in to your messages. You get a record with a timestamp, the exact wording and the page URL, and the partner's own email relationship stays intact.
This also helps you on the carrier side. Your opt-in flow is the thing your 10DLC campaign registration describes. If you're writing the form now, our breakdown of opt-in wording that clears registration the first time is worth reading before you publish it.
Phone calls: use the call to get a yes, then record it properly
A volunteer phone bank works well for re-permissioning. Treat the call as the invitation, not the consent record. End the call by giving the person your signup link or a keyword such as "Text JOIN to (555) 010-0199." Then log the outcome in your CRM.
When someone texts in a keyword, that inbound text starts the conversation. Ready doesn't create a consent record from the keyword, so log it on your side with the date, the keyword and the source ("phone bank, March").
Before the phone bank starts, ask your partners for their own suppression lists: everyone who already unsubscribed or asked not to be contacted. A merged spreadsheet often drops that column. Ask a lawyer whether your calls themselves need any screening. Rules for nonprofit calls differ from commercial ones, and we won't guess at your situation.
Mail: slower, but it reaches everyone
A postcard with a QR code to your opt-in form reaches people who have no email address and don't answer unknown numbers. Use a different keyword or form URL for each channel so you can tell which outreach produced which sign-ups.
Scrubbing the people who say yes
Re-permissioning shrinks the list to people who agreed. Before the first text, you then screen those numbers against known TCPA litigators and DNC complainers. Consent is your main protection. The scrub is a second, inexpensive layer of risk reduction. It does not make you immune to lawsuits.
Ready's standalone TCPA & DNC Litigator Scrub costs $0.005 per contact. One scrub checks each number against known TCPA-litigator lists and DNC-complainer lists and flags the matches before you send. You pay only for the numbers you scrub. If you're unclear on how those lists differ from the National DNC Registry, we wrote up the three separate lists compliance teams confuse.
From the API, scrubbing one number is a single request:
GET https://api.tryready.com/v1/scrub/+12125550199
X-API-Key: <your key>Full request and response details are in the docs at docs.tryready.com.
Worked example: the coalition list
These numbers are illustrative assumptions, not benchmarks:
- The merged spreadsheet has 8,000 numbers.
- Re-permissioning across the three channels produces 1,600 opt-ins. That's an assumed 20%; yours could be far higher or lower.
- You scrub the 1,600: 1,600 × $0.005 = $8.00.
- You send each new subscriber a one-segment welcome text (under 160 plain characters, no emoji): 1,600 × $0.0075 = $12.00 at the Standard rate, plus 1,600 × $0.0045 in carrier fees.
Ready's all-in prices per segment include the carrier fee but not screening: Scrub lists and Number validation, the two switches in Settings under Compliance, each add $0.003 per segment when switched on, shown as screening on your bill, and both are off by default. Unless you turn the opt-out footer off, the first text to each contact, and one again from time to time, also gets "Reply STOP to opt out" and your business name if the message does not already have them, so a text close to the segment limit can bill one more segment.
So the scrub above is the whole cost of screening the opted-in list, measured against $500 to $1,500 of potential exposure from a single text to the wrong number. Our post on one TCPA lawsuit versus scrubbing your whole list works through that comparison at larger list sizes.
Standalone scrub vs. scrubbing at send
Ready has two ways to scrub, and they're priced differently:
- Standalone scrub: $0.005 per contact, run when you choose (before import, or before a campaign).
- Account-level scrubbing at send: $0.003 per segment on every send, switched on for the account. Landline validation is a separate $0.003 per segment. Both are off by default.
For a one-time cleanup of a newly opted-in list, the standalone scrub is the cheaper fit. If your list grows every week from many sources, consider turning on scrubbing at send so new numbers get checked automatically. Lists also rot over time, so re-scrub older segments on a schedule.
What Ready handles after the first text
Once your opted-in, scrubbed list is sending, a few protections run on every message:
- STOP handling. An inbound STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE is honored, and the opt-out applies across all your campaigns, so the person can't be texted again by accident. Opt-outs sent through the API are refused up front and not charged.
- Quiet hours. Sends are held outside permitted local hours based on the recipient's area, then delivered later. A 9 AM Eastern send to a supporter in Hawaii won't arrive at 4 AM their time. Campaigns, drip campaigns and automations wait up to 24 hours for the window; a one-to-one or API text is held only if the window opens within 6 hours, otherwise it is refused and must be resent; a one-to-one reply to someone who texted you in the last 24 hours goes out at any hour.
- Registration. Your organization registers its brand and campaign in-app. The charge at submit is the first month, $25. After that it's $25/mo for registration and $2/month per number. Most approvals take 2 to 7 days.
None of this replaces your own judgment. Compliance is ultimately the sender's responsibility. These are guardrails that make mistakes less likely, not a promise that none will happen.
Before any text asks for money
Coalition lists are often assembled for a fundraising push, so we want to be clear here. Any donation appeal sent through Ready needs our written OK first. Email support@tryready.com with your organization's name and charity registration, and wait for our reply before the first appeal goes out. Signing up and registering is not enough on its own for fundraising texts.
Informational texts to your opted-in list, such as distribution days, meeting reminders and program updates, don't need that step. The extra review applies to the appeal itself.
The practical takeaway
A merged spreadsheet tells you who your partners reach, not who agreed to hear from you. Here's the order of operations:
- Ask partners for their suppression lists, and keep the shared file out of your texting tool.
- Re-permission through the partner's email, your phone bank or mail, with each channel pointing to your own opt-in form or keyword.
- Keep your own consent records: time, wording, source.
- Scrub the people who say yes ($0.005 per contact), then send a welcome text.
- Email support@tryready.com and wait for our reply before any donation appeal.
If you want to see how registration, opt-out handling and the scrub fit together on your account, the features overview covers it. Your first 20 one-to-one texts are free, so you can test your welcome message before you register. You can create an account when you're ready to run it.
Frequently asked questions
Can a nonprofit text people from a partner organization's contact list?
No, not on the partner's consent alone. Consent to receive texts is given to a named sender, so when someone opted in to the food bank's texts, that agreement doesn't move to you because the spreadsheet did. Texting without consent can carry statutory damages commonly cited at $500 to $1,500 per text under the TCPA. Recipients who don't recognize you may also report the texts as spam, which can hurt deliverability for supporters you already have.
How do you get SMS opt-ins from a shared list without texting it?
Use channels that don't depend on SMS consent: a partner's email, a volunteer phone bank or mail. Each one should point people to your own opt-in form or a keyword they text in. The partner email is usually strongest, since it comes from a sender people trust and your form captures a timestamp, the exact wording and the page URL. Use a different keyword or form URL per channel so you can see which outreach worked.
Does Ready keep a consent record for each contact I text?
No. When you send with consent_attested set to true, Ready records that attestation for each campaign you send and each API send that attests consent: who sent, to how many and when. That's an audit trail of what you claimed, not a per-contact consent record. Ready doesn't store each recipient's opt-in time, the wording they saw or the page they signed up on, and a keyword reply doesn't create one. You keep those records yourself. (A contact who signs up on a Ready-hosted opt-in page is the exception: Ready stores that sign-up, with the time, IP address and exact wording, and support@tryready.com can send you a copy.)
How much does it cost to scrub a list for TCPA litigators before texting?
Ready's standalone TCPA & DNC Litigator Scrub costs $0.005 per contact, and you pay only for the numbers you scrub. One scrub checks each number against known TCPA-litigator and DNC-complainer lists and flags matches before you send. Scrubbing 1,600 new opt-ins would come to 1,600 × $0.005 = $8.00. It's an inexpensive second layer of risk reduction behind consent, not a promise that you can't be sued.
Before your first donation appeal: our acceptable use policy needs Ready's written OK for fundraising texts. Email support@tryready.com with your organization's name and its charity registration, or for a candidate, committee or PAC its FEC or state filing ID, and wait for our reply before you send an appeal.