Online Fundraising Best Practices for Your Non-Profit

Non-profits have embraced the digital age with force in recent years to make fundraising easier and more convenient than ever before. Innovations in technology have made the process of spreading the word about different causes much simpler, from email marketing and ‘donate now’ buttons to social media channels. But there are still best practices you can follow to help boost your fundraising efforts – here are some top tips your non-profit can benefit from. 

Implement simplified donation pages

In many cases, non-profits make the donation process a more complex task than is required, but you don’t want to hinder people coming to your page and supporting your cause. You want it to be as seamless and efficient as possible so that there are no roadblocks to stop someone from making a donation. 

It’s important to simplify the process by asking as little information as you can and optimising the donation page so that it’s suitable for mobile giving as well as desktop. In most situations, all that you’ll need from your patrons is their payment details and an email address, so try not to ask for much more than this if you can. 

Embrace email fundraising

There’s a lot of power in email fundraising and it’s something that non-profits really need to take advantage of to promote their causes and increase donations. With 26% of online donors claiming that email is the tool that most inspires them to give, it’s a worthwhile endeavour. 

You have so much control over the messaging you can include in email marketing to make each email you send really impactful. There are plenty of opportunities to tailor emails to each contact in your database and you can include a payment link to make the process of donating really simple. 

Regularly promote monthly giving

One of the best, and easiest, ways to raise funds for your cause is to set up a monthly giving option that takes the hassle out of donating for your supporters and provides ongoing funds for your non-profit. 

A landing page on your site that you can link to on your social media channels, and email as a link for print materials is a great way to achieve this. It’s also a good idea to include a pop-up on your one-time donation page, as that can boost monthly donations significantly. Since monthly donations provide a consistent revenue stream, it’s a wise decision to take a proactive approach to promote this aspect of your charity. 

Experiment with crowdfunding

Crowdfunding enables non-profits to create online fundraising campaigns for a specific project or programme, which supporters and donors can donate to reach a specific fundraising goal. 

The purpose of crowdfunding is to come together with others to fund one project rather than generally donating to a charity. It’s a brilliant way to get the message out about a certain cause and it can build a wonderful community of supporters in the process. If your non-profit hasn’t experimented with crowdfunding, there’s never been a better time to benefit from this type of fundraising. 

Promote charitable days

Photo by: Peter Boccia | Unsplash

Throughout the year, there are numerous charitable days and giving days that are designed to raise awareness of specific causes. And this is something that non-profits need to tap into to help build knowledge and understanding of the causes they’re raising money for. 

Whether you choose to build on a day that already exists, such as Comic Relief, or you create your own giving day, you can get creative with ways to educate your followers to boost donations and increase success. 

There are various ways to get the word out online, such as creating a hashtag on social media that people can comment on and follow, creating a microsite on your own website or design a specific logo that can be embedded in emails and communications. 

Final thoughts

Whatever the size of your non-profit or fundraising activities, you can improve success with these online best practices. The goal of any fundraising activity is to make the process of donating as simple and quick as possible so that it’s not a time-consuming task for your supporters. 

Make sure that your communications are clear, concise and easy to understand for everyone who might land on your site or social channels and make donating as easy and frictionless as possible. Non-profits should also get creative with email marketing and social hashtags to boost engagement and knowledge among your supporters, both existing and potential.

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