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1-844-PUSHPAY Mobile giving app vs. text to give for churches
How church app giving, texted giving links, and carrier-billed text-to-give differ for donors, and what each costs your church.
A giving app and a text message both let people give from their phones. They differ in what the donor has to do before the first gift, what the donor does for each gift after that, and what reaches your church’s records.
Mobile giving apps and text giving compared
If your giving platform takes gifts through an app, by text, and on a web form, you don’t have to choose one. The choice is which path you promote to which donors:
- Guests and occasional givers: a texted giving link or a QR code, since neither asks them to install anything.
- Members who give often: the app or saved text giving, since both keep payment details after the first gift.
- Carrier billing: fixed amounts charged to the phone bill, which suits a one-time appeal better than regular giving.
What counts as app giving and text-to-give
App giving happens inside an installed app, either your church’s own app or a separate giving app. The donor sets it up once and gives from it after that. Pushpay is designed so that a congregant only has to set up once, then donate easily whenever they want.
Carrier-billed text-to-give adds a fixed donation, typically $5 to $10, to the donor’s phone bill, and the carrier pays the charity later (Givebutter).
Text-to-give with a giving link (also called text-to-donate) starts when the donor texts a keyword or an amount to a short code or a dedicated number. The reply contains a secure link, and the donor completes the gift on a mobile form, with the charge going to their card or bank account (Pushpay text-to-give roundup).
Where the two methods overlap
When one platform runs both, a texted giving link and an app can lead to the same donor account, payment methods, and fund list. The text is a different way in.
Carrier billing shares none of that. The gift is charged to the phone bill and paid out by the carrier (Givebutter), outside your giving platform.
How each giving experience works
The donor path through a mobile giving app
The first gift through an app takes the most steps of any path. The donor finds the app, installs it, and sets it up with a payment method before giving anything. After that, a gift is a matter of opening the app, choosing the amount and fund, and confirming.
Because of that setup, the app is a poor thing to put on the screen for first-time guests. Promote it to people who already give and have a reason to open it again.
A church’s own app can also send push notifications (Pushpay), which gives you a way to reach the people who installed it.
Keywords, shortcodes, and texted giving links
A keyword can send a gift to a specific fund. As an example, a church can set up their giving so that a donor texts an amount to the church’s giving number. With no keyword, the gift goes to undesignated tithes. Adding “CARE” sends it to benevolence, and “GLOBAL” sends it to the Global fund..
For first time givers, the first text returns a link to register and enter card details. After that, giving is a text message, and the saved card is charged.
For a first-time donor, then, texting skips the app download but not the form. The first text still ends in registration and payment details, and the time savings start with the second gift.
A church that runs its own short code (a five- or six-digit texting number) leases it for $500 a month for a randomly assigned code or $1,000 a month for one it selects, on 3-, 6-, or 12-month terms (US Short Code Directory). Each wireless carrier approves the program before messages run (Bandwidth). Toll-free and standard ten-digit numbers go through their own verification or registration with messaging providers such as Twilio before they can send texts (toll-free, ten-digit).
If a giving platform supplies your number, ask who handles that registration and whether the number is dedicated to your church or shared with other churches (Pushpay text-to-give roundup).
Carrier billing versus a mobile donation form
Carrier billing is available through providers such as The Mobile Fund, which charges a $350 nonrefundable application fee plus 3% of each donation. Its guidelines ask for more than $500,000 in revenue on the most recent Form 990, and it offers an alternative application to organizations exempt from filing one, such as churches (The Mobile Fund).
The gift comes in a fixed amount with limited donor information (Givebutter). For regular giving, a mobile form lets the donor set the amount, fund, and frequency. Our text-to-donate benchmarks post goes deeper on how the two models differ.
Costs, conversion, and giving operations
Platform, processing, and messaging fees
Fees for mobile giving come in layers, and not every layer applies to every method:
- Processing: charged on each gift. Get card and ACH rates from every vendor, because the mix of card and bank gifts changes what you pay.
- Platform: any subscription for the giving software. Pushpay charges no setup fees and includes text giving with Pushpay Giving (pricing, text-to-give roundup).
- Messaging: a short code lease if you run your own, or whatever the platform charges for supplying a number. Donors may also pay their carrier’s standard messaging rates to send the text.
- Carrier billing: the application fee and the percentage taken from each gift.
To compare methods on one number, work out the effective cost per $100 donated. For a set period, add the processing fees from your giving platform or processor statements, the subscription cost from your invoice, and any messaging or short code charges. Divide that total by the amount given in the same period and multiply by 100.
To compare one method against another, count only the costs that method adds, and leave out a subscription that covers every giving path. If donors can choose to cover the processing fee, calculate the number with and without the fees they covered, because the share of donors who opt in changes what the church pays.
Comparing completed gifts across each donor path
A path that donors start and don’t finish costs gifts, and those lost gifts never show up in a fee comparison.
In a demo, ask each vendor whether its reports split completed gifts by source (app, text, and web form) and whether you can see texted links that never turned into a gift. With both, you can compare completed gifts across paths over the same period and see how many texted links end without a gift.
Recurring giving, fund records, and reporting
Carrier billing charges a fixed amount to the phone bill, so there’s no ACH option and no amount for the donor to choose. With a texted link, the donor picks the amount and frequency on the form, using whatever payment methods the form accepts (Givebutter). Recurring and ACH gifts, by text or by app, depend on what your giving platform supports.
A keyword or a form field puts each gift in a fund, and a gift that lands on a donor profile shows up on that donor’s year-end statement (Pushpay on giving statements). A carrier-billed gift arrives with limited donor information, so ask the provider exactly what comes through before you count on attaching it to anyone’s record.
Which option fits your church’s workflow
Where QR codes fit
Most churches already use QR codes. In the 2026 State of Church Technology report from Pushpay and Barna, based on a survey of more than 1,300 U.S. church leaders, 82% reported using them (2026 State of Church Technology).
A QR code saves the donor from typing a web address or a number, and it can carry details into the form. Pushpay’s branded QR codes and preconfigured giving links pre-fill the giving form (Pushpay church giving) with an amount, a fund, or a recurring schedule, and can lock the amount or fund so the donor can’t change it (Pushpay developer docs). A code printed for a building campaign can send every gift to the building fund.
Check integrations, security, and administration
Before you sign, ask each vendor:
- Records: Do app gifts and text gifts from the same person land on one donor profile, and do they sync to your church management and accounting systems? Pushpay doesn’t charge extra for its integrations (pricing).
- Security: Is the platform PCI DSS compliant, and does the donor enter card details on the provider’s hosted form rather than in the text thread?
- Administration: Who on your staff can create keywords and funds, and what happens to your text number if you change platforms?
Set up, test, and explain the giving steps
Test every path before you announce it. Use a phone that has never given to your church, text your keyword, register through the link, and give a small amount. Confirm the gift shows up in your giving records under the right donor and fund. Then text again from the same phone to check the returning-donor flow, and scan the QR code from a printed bulletin rather than a proof on your screen.
When you explain text giving from the stage or in the bulletin, give the exact number and keyword. If the first text sends a link to set up payment, say so, so first-time donors expect the form.
Questions church teams ask about mobile giving
Do donors need to download an app to give by text?
No. A texted giving link opens a mobile web form in the phone’s browser. Carrier-billed text-to-give doesn’t need an app either.
Is text-to-give charged to a phone bill?
Only with carrier billing. With a texted giving link, the gift is charged to the donor’s card or bank account. With Pushpay, the amount isn’t added to the phone bill, although the donor’s carrier sets the cost of sending the text itself.
Which fees should a church compare?
Card and ACH processing rates, any platform subscription, and any messaging or short code charges. For carrier billing, add the application fee and the per-gift percentage. Put them into cost per $100 donated so each method is measured on the same number.
Run the test first
Before your next campaign or giving Sunday, run the first-time and returning-donor test above on every path you plan to promote. If you’re comparing platforms, bring the same test to a Pushpay demo and watch a gift go from the first text to the donor’s record.
