A matching gift is the rare fundraising ask with built-in urgency. A sponsor puts up $25,000, every dollar donated in a set window is doubled, and when the clock runs out the offer is gone. A week-long email appeal works against that urgency. The first email lands on Monday, the reminder gets buried under Wednesday's inbox, and by the time a donor opens the "last chance" message, the window has already closed.
A 48-hour match fits SMS much better. You need two texts, both under 160 characters, sent at times that respect every donor's local hours, and with copy that never overstates how close the deadline or the cap really is. This post covers the template pack, the send plan, the compliance notes beside each message, and the cost and throughput math for an example list. Keep sending email for the story behind the appeal. Use text for the deadline.
Why two texts and not five
A match window gives you exactly two moments worth interrupting someone for:
- The window opens. "Your gift is doubled starting now."
- The window is about to close. "Hours left, and here's how much of the match is still unclaimed."
A third text in 48 hours ("halfway there!") almost never adds new information, and every extra appeal moves donors along the fatigue curve. If your team has already sent appeal texts this quarter, count this campaign toward that total. We map where donors start opting out in the appeal frequency and donor fatigue post. Two texts with real information in each will hold donor trust better than four that repeat themselves.
Before you write a word: who you're allowed to text
The consent rules don't relax because the cause is good.
- Text only donors who opted in to SMS. A phone number collected on a donation form is not consent to text. You need an explicit checkbox or keyword opt-in. This post on consent at donation checkout walks through the one checkbox that makes it legitimate.
- Your registered campaign has to cover donation appeals. If your registration describes event reminders and you start sending fundraising asks, you're inviting filtering. Put a matching-gift example in your sample messages when you register.
- Register early. Registration is handled in-app in Ready, and most approvals take 1 to 3 days. Don't start registration the week the sponsor confirms the match.
What Ready handles, and what stays your job
These features reduce risk. They don't make you immune. Compliance stays the sender's responsibility.
- STOP handling. An inbound STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE is honored automatically, and the opt-out carries across campaigns, so a donor who opts out of the match texts won't get your spring gala reminder.
- Quiet hours. Sends are held outside permitted local hours based on the recipient's area. This matters a lot for a deadline campaign, as the send plan below shows.
- Litigator and DNC scrubbing. Scrubbing is on by default. Known TCPA-litigator and DNC numbers are screened out before the send, for a $0.005 per segment surcharge.
- Consent attestation. Opt-in attestation is recorded for bulk sends, so you have an audit trail if a donor ever disputes how they got on the list.
The template pack
All examples use an invented organization, "Hope Harbor," with a $25,000 match from a sponsor we'll call the Reyes Foundation. The window runs from Wednesday 12:00 AM to Thursday 11:59 PM ET. Swap in your own details, but keep the structure.
Text 1: the window opens
Hope Harbor: Every gift through Thu midnight ET is matched 1:1 by the Reyes Foundation, up to $25,000. Double yours: hhbr.org/match Reply STOP to opt out
153 characters, 1 segment.
Compliance and trust notes:
- The organization name comes first. Donors should know who's texting before they read the ask.
- The deadline includes a time zone. "Midnight" with no zone means three different deadlines across the country.
- The cap is stated. "Up to $25,000" is honest. "Every gift is doubled" with no cap stops being true the moment the match fills.
- The sponsor is named. A real match has a real sponsor. Naming them is both a trust signal and a courtesy to the funder.
- Opt-out language is included. Keep it on every text in a multi-day campaign, not only the first.
Text 2: the final hours
Hope Harbor: 9 hours left. $18,400 of the $25,000 match is claimed, so your gift still doubles until midnight ET: hhbr.org/match Reply STOP to opt out
150 characters, 1 segment.
Compliance and trust notes:
- "9 hours left" must be literally true when the text sends. If the send is scheduled for 3 PM ET, the countdown is to midnight ET, and the copy should be written for that send time.
- The claimed amount comes from your actual giving data. Pull it from your donation platform right before you schedule the send. Never round up to make it sound closer to full, and never round down to make it sound more urgent.
- Suppress everyone who already gave during the window. Thanking a donor for their gift is good. Asking them again for a gift they made yesterday is how you get STOP replies.
Text 2B: the match filled early (replaces Text 2)
Hope Harbor: The $25,000 match filled early, thank you. Gifts today still fund 3 nights of shelter per $60: hhbr.org/give Reply STOP to opt out
143 characters, 1 segment.
This text is optional, but the alternative should never be sending Text 2 anyway. If the cap is met on Thursday morning, a "your gift still doubles" text is false. Either send 2B, which has a true impact statement and no match claim, or send nothing. Don't extend the deadline and then send another "last chance" text. Donors notice the second one.
Reply handling
Replies land in the conversations inbox (and in GoHighLevel, if your account is connected), and a person on your team answers them. Keep a few short replies ready for the questions that always come in:
- "Did my gift count toward the match?" → "Yes, gifts received by midnight ET Thursday are matched. Thank you!"
- "I gave by check." → "Thank you! Checks postmarked by Thursday count. We'll confirm when it arrives."
- "Who is the Reyes Foundation?" → One sentence about the sponsor and a link.
Ready's AI can help draft and spam-check the outbound copy, but it doesn't answer donors on its own. For a fundraising campaign, that's what you want anyway.
The send plan, with quiet hours built in
| Send | Scheduled time | Pacific time | Audience | Segments per donor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text 1 | Wed 11 AM ET | 8 AM PT | All SMS-opted-in donors | 1 |
| Text 2 or 2B | Thu 3 PM ET | 12 PM PT | Opted-in donors who haven't given since Wed | 1 |
Why these times:
- 11 AM ET for the open. If you schedule Text 1 at 8 AM ET, it's 5 AM in California. Quiet-hours enforcement holds those messages until the recipient's permitted local hours. That protects you, but your West Coast donors then get the text at a different time than everyone else. Scheduling at 11 AM ET means one send time works for everyone.
- 3 PM ET for the close, not 9 PM. This is the mistake that hurts most. A "final hours" text scheduled late in the evening can run into quiet hours in some time zones. A deadline text that's held until the next morning reaches donors after the match is gone. That's worse than sending nothing, because it reads as