10DLC stands for "10-digit long code." It is the standard US phone carriers use to let organizations send text messages from a regular 10-digit phone number. To send these messages, your nonprofit has to register itself and its texting campaigns with the carriers first. Registration is what tells the carriers your messages are legitimate and wanted.

A2P stands for "application to person." It is the industry term for any message sent from a business or organizational platform to a mobile phone. If a system sends the text rather than a person typing it on their own phone, it is A2P. Your fundraising appeals, event reminders, and donation receipts are all A2P messages.

In the 10DLC world, a campaign is not only for fundraising or appeals. A campaign is any type of texting you send. A year-end giving appeal is a campaign. A donation receipt is a campaign. A volunteer shift reminder is a campaign. If you are sending a message, it needs a campaign registration to back it up.

Consent, also called opt-in, is the foundation of 10DLC. It simply means your supporters have explicitly agreed to hear from you. Every registration has to show how and where your supporters agreed to receive your messages.

Opt-out is the hard stop. It is when a supporter replies to say "no more." Legally, you must honor an opt-out immediately and stop texting that person. Supporting the STOP keyword is a core requirement, which we cover in the message samples article.

Getting these basics right is the difference between a campaign that is approved quickly and one that gets rejected. The rest of our 10DLC articles build on these terms, so it is worth getting comfortable with them first.

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