Send a text (MMS) message

Text messages can be sent to volunteers through the eCoordinator system.

Volunteers must do the following to receive text messages:

  • Opt in to receive text messages
  • Provide carrier information

The volunteer must have one of the following carriers: AT&T, Boost Mobile, Consumer Cellular, Cricket, Google Fi, Metro PCS, Republic Wireless, Spectrum Mobile, Sprint, Straight Talk, STRATA, T-Mobile, Tracfone, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless, or Xfinity 

  • Provide a valid, 10-digit mobile phone number

These fields are in the volunteer application in eRecruiter:

Demo Text messaging questions eR

To see who has opted in to receive text messages, see How to Know if a Volunteer has Opted In to Text Messaging

Send a text (MMS) message

To send a text message, steps taken by the eC user will be the same as if the task is to send an email:

If applicable, select text message recipient(s) from the grid

  • From the Volunteers tab, click the Email button
Vol_Recipient_Email

  • Click the Text tab
  • Fill out applicable fields: select recipient(s) from the To field; enter a Subject fill out the body of the text in the Message field:
Text Message Window
  • Click Send

The following functionality is available:

  • Mail Merge fields
  • Ability to save a template (required if using an Automation to send a text message)
  • Load previously saved templates

    ⚠️ Only recipients who have opted in to receive text messages will receive the message. See the Getting Started section.


    Volunteers will receive the text message from "do-not-reply@samaritan.com". The message text will appear as it was entered in the "Message:" field, but at the bottom will include a footer that reads "To opt out of receiving text messages, click <link>".

    If the volunteer clicks the link, the default browser on their device will open displaying a confirmation page:

    Clicking the "Confirm" button will:

    • Display a confirmation screen stating "Thank you, you have successfully opted out of receiving text message. You may now close this window."
    • Sends a final text message to the volunteer stating "Opt Out Confirmation"
    • Sets the "I would like to receive..." field value to "I do not want to receive text messages".
    • Creates an entry on the Volunteer Profile History tab noting the date/time of opt out, and that it was initiated by the volunteer.

    For the volunteer to opt back in, he/she will need to open their volunteer profile and update the value of the "I would like to receive..." field to an appropriate value, as defined in the table above.