Everything head coaches and team directors need to set up RallyText and start communicating with their team in minutes.
Follow these five steps to get your team fully set up. Most coaches complete this in under 10 minutes.
Go to Settings and fill in your Team Code, Team Name, and Sport. The team code is what members use to find and join your team — keep it short and memorable (e.g. HAWKS or DEMO).
Your team's dedicated SMS number is shown in Settings → Team Phone Number. This is the number members will text to reach your team, and the number all broadcasts come from. Share it with your roster so they know to save it.
Go to Settings → Staff Accounts → Send Invite Email. Each staff member receives an email with a link to create their own dashboard login. They'll have access to the same tools you do, based on their assigned role.
Go to Roster and click the ↑ Import button to bulk-add members. Download the CSV template, fill in names, phone numbers, roles, and emails, then upload it back. You can also add members one at a time using the Add Member form.
After adding your roster, click Send Verification on each member's card. This sends them a confirmation text so their number is verified and they're ready to receive broadcasts. Members won't get team messages until they're verified.
Coaches can text these keywords from any verified phone number to the team's number. No app required — just standard SMS.
Heads-up for non-sports orgs: signup keywords swap to match your org type. A business team uses EMPLOYEE/MANAGER instead of PARENT/ATHLETE; a theatre troupe uses CAST/STAGE MANAGER; and so on. The behavior is the same — only the words change.
A printable one-pager for coaches, team leaders, athletes, and families: exactly how FAMILY and COACH urgent messages work, the 10-minute escalation safety net, and what families should do when they get one. Share it with your staff and roster.
Download the PDF guide →Members don't need to create an account or download an app. They're subscribing to receive texts and emails — three easy paths get them signed up.
DEMO) to your team phone number. The system guides them through a short two-step sign-up flow entirely over SMS.rallytext.app/join/<code>. They fill in the form on that page to join.Each member on your roster is assigned a role that controls what they can do and what messages they receive.
| Role | Access level | What they can do |
|---|---|---|
| Head Coach | Full | Full dashboard access — broadcast, manage roster, invite and manage staff. |
| Assistant Coach | Full | Same as head coach — full broadcast and roster management access. |
| Team Director / Board | Full | Full dashboard access; receives all practice summaries from coaching staff. |
| Coach / Volunteer | Limited | Can submit practice summaries via SMS; receives all team broadcasts. |
| Athlete | Receive | Receives all team broadcasts; can text ABSENT to submit an absence. |
| Guardian / Parent | Receive | Receives broadcasts for their athlete; can submit absences on their athlete's behalf. |
| Emergency Contact | Receive | Receives ALL broadcasts only. Linked to a specific athlete — not to the team generally. |
| Outside / Subscriber | Receive | Receives ALL broadcasts only. Joined via team code or an invite link. |
RallyText includes a shared calendar that coaches manage from the dashboard and members can view from any device — no login required.
rallytext.app/calendar/TEAMCODE. They verify their identity with a one-time text code sent to their phone..ics file from the calendar page to import the full schedule into Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Outlook, or any calendar app.Send PDFs, schedules, permission slips, menus, scripts, or images alongside a broadcast. Rally Text hosts the file and adds a short branded link to your message — recipients tap to open it in their phone's browser. No MMS required, so it works on every US carrier.
Fundraising campaigns collect gifts through your organization's connected Stripe account. This is separate from Scheduled Campaigns, which are multi-message communication sequences and do not collect payments.
You need manager access to the team dashboard and the organization information Stripe requests for identity, payment, and payout verification. RallyText does not independently verify nonprofit status or issue charitable tax acknowledgments.
Open Dashboard → Fundraising and select Connect or manage Stripe. Complete the Stripe Express onboarding flow. Return to RallyText when Stripe finishes; campaign creation remains unavailable until Stripe reports that charges are enabled.
Enter a campaign name and, optionally, a dollar goal. Choose an uploaded team image as the cover if you want one. Turn on recurring gifts only when the campaign should offer weekly, every-two-weeks, monthly, every-other-month, or yearly giving. Select Create campaign.
A new campaign begins as a draft. Select Activate, open its donation link, and check the campaign name, goal, cover image, gift options, and disclosures before sharing it. Use Close when you need to stop new gifts; Reopen makes the same link active again.
Select Copy link to use the stable RallyText URL in email, social posts, printed materials, or your website. To text it from RallyText, select Send ask, keep {{campaign_link}} in the message, and choose roster, donors, or both. Fundraising broadcasts follow normal consent and suppression rules but do not reduce monthly plan credits.
The Fundraising panel shows the amount raised, goal progress, campaign status, and donation link. People who separately opt in to campaign texts are added to the system-managed Donors group. A donation by itself never opts someone into SMS updates.
The donor opens the campaign link, chooses a preset or custom amount, and selects one-time or recurring giving when recurring gifts are enabled. Covering fees is optional. SMS updates are a separate optional checkbox that starts unchecked. Stripe then collects payment details securely and returns the donor to a confirmation page.
RallyText charges a 1% platform fee in addition to Stripe processing. If the donor chooses fee cover, the charged amount is adjusted so the organization receives the intended gift amount after the assumed fees. Payout timing follows the connected Stripe account's settings.
Recurring donors can open the connected account's Stripe Customer Portal from their verified confirmation page to manage or cancel their gift. Refund requests should go to the organization receiving the donation; managers should handle approved refunds in the connected Stripe account rather than changing RallyText totals manually.
{{campaign_link}}, the audience must be roster, donors, or both, and the message must pass normal A2P content checks.Staff members can choose how they want to receive absence alerts and practice summaries — by SMS, email, or both.
To view or change a staff member's preferences, open the Roster section in the dashboard and click on their card. Their notification settings are shown there and can be updated at any time. Each person controls their own preferred channel — some coaches prefer a summary email at the end of practice while others want an immediate SMS.
RallyText is registered with US mobile carriers on behalf of all teams on the platform. You don't need to register anything yourself or do any technical setup. We handle all of that so you can focus on coaching.
US carriers require apps to register before sending group SMS messages at scale — a process called A2P 10DLC. RallyText maintains this registration centrally for all teams, so your messages are delivered reliably without being flagged as spam.
Your team's messages go out under our registration. You don't need to do anything — just send your messages and they'll get through.
Our carrier registration is specifically for team communication. These are the kinds of messages that are expected and covered:
Our registration is for team information only. Sending the wrong kinds of messages can get messages filtered by carriers and affect deliverability for the whole platform. Please don't use Rally Text for:
A good rule of thumb: if it's something you'd say at a team meeting or post on your team's board, it belongs here. If it's something you'd see in a marketing email, it doesn't.
Questions about deliverability or your team's messages? Email us at [email protected].
These are the actual messages Rally Text sends automatically. All messages start with your team code so recipients know exactly who they're from.
member_name and group_name columns (plus optional is_primary and color), and upload. Groups are created on the fly the first time a new name appears. Members are matched against your roster by full name or unique first name. Safe to re-run — duplicate (member, group) pairs are skipped.