> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.wegive.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Choosing Which Phone Number a Text Message Is Sent To

> How the Send To setting on an SMS message picks a supporter's phone number (Preferred, Mobile, Home, Work, Alternate, or Custom), what happens when that number is blank, and how to import secondary numbers without overwriting a mobile number.

Every supporter can have several phone numbers on their record. When you create a text message (SMS), the **Send To** setting decides which of those numbers the message goes to. This guide explains each option, what happens when a supporter has no number in the chosen field, and how to bring in secondary numbers without overwriting mobile numbers.

## Send To options for SMS

When the delivery method is **SMS**, the Send To dropdown on the message composer offers:

| Send To option | Phone number used |
| - | - |
| **Preferred Phone** | The number the supporter has marked as their preferred phone (Mobile, Home, Work, or Other on their record). If no preference is set, the **Mobile** number is used. |
| **Mobile Phone** | The supporter's Mobile Phone Number. |
| **Home Phone** | The supporter's Home Phone Number. |
| **Work Phone** | The supporter's Office Phone Number. |
| **Alternate Phone** | The supporter's **Other Phone Number**. |
| **Custom** | A single number you type in yourself, used for the whole send. |

If your organization uses contact preferences on communication lists, a phone number a supporter chose for a specific communication list takes priority over their general preferred phone when you send to that list with **Preferred Phone**.

## When the chosen number is blank

Text messages go only to the number in the field you choose. If a supporter has nothing in that field, they are **skipped**. WeGive does not fall back to another phone number for them. For example, if you send to **Alternate Phone** and a supporter has no Other Phone Number, they do not receive the text, even if they have a mobile number on file.

Supporters who are marked **Do Not Text** are also skipped, whichever option you choose.

Choose the option that matches where your numbers actually live. If most of your supporters have only a mobile number, **Mobile Phone** or **Preferred Phone** is the safest choice. **Preferred Phone** falls back to the mobile number when no preference is set, while **Home Phone**, **Work Phone**, and **Alternate Phone** do not.

## Importing secondary numbers without overwriting mobile numbers

The Import Wizard maps each phone column in your CSV to a specific field on the supporter record:

| Field in the Import Wizard | Used by Send To option |
| - | - |
| Mobile Phone Number | Mobile Phone |
| Home Phone Number | Home Phone |
| Office Phone Number | Work Phone |
| Other Phone Number | Alternate Phone |

To add a secondary number without touching the existing mobile number:

1. Put the secondary number in its own column in your CSV.
2. In the Import Wizard, map that column to **Other Phone Number** (or **Home Phone Number** or **Office Phone Number**), not to **Mobile Phone Number**. A column named simply "phone" or "phone number" is automatically matched to Mobile Phone Number, so check the mapping and re-map it if the number is not a mobile number.
3. Use the **Update** action if the supporters already exist in WeGive, with an identifier such as email so rows match the right supporter.
4. Leave the Mobile Phone Number column unmapped if you don't want to change the mobile numbers already on file.

A supporter's preferred phone choice is not a column in the Import Wizard. It is set on the supporter's record (or by the supporter in their donor portal profile).

For the full import walkthrough, see [Importing Existing Supporters](https://docs.wegive.com/external/support/settings/importing-existing-supporters.md).

## If you sync supporters from Virtuous

When WeGive pulls supporters from Virtuous, each WeGive phone field is filled from the Virtuous contact method type mapped to it. By default, only Mobile Phone Number is mapped (to Virtuous's "Mobile Phone" type). If Virtuous has no contact method matching the type mapped to Other Phone Number, or no type is mapped to it at all, the sync clears the Other Phone Number on the WeGive record. A number you imported into Other Phone Number can therefore disappear after the next Virtuous pull.

To keep Other Phone Number populated, map it to the matching Virtuous contact method type under **Integration → Virtuous → Phone types** in the dashboard, and make sure the matching contact method exists in Virtuous.

## Related guides

* [Sending a Message](https://docs.wegive.com/external/support/communications/sending-a-message.md)
* [Migrating SMS Data to WeGive](https://docs.wegive.com/external/support/communications/migrating-sms-data-to-wegive.md)
* [Importing Existing Supporters](https://docs.wegive.com/external/support/settings/importing-existing-supporters.md)


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