The rise of online fundraising has opened up a lot of possibilities for nonprofits. It has become one of the most popular and effective ways for organizations to raise money!
Here are some statistics and trends revealing why online fundraising is a “must-have” channel in a nonprofit’s overall fundraising strategy:
- Online giving has seen consistent year-over-year growth accounting for $31 billion of the overall charitable giving in 2017.
- Online giving grew 12.1% in 2017.
- The average online donation amount is $128.
- Nonprofits received an average of 28% more online gifts in 2017 than 2016.
- On average, 38% of donors who made an online gift to a nonprofit in 2016 made an online gift again to that nonprofit in 2017.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of nonprofits across the globe are set up to accept donations online. The means that 32% are not. Hopefully, you are not one of those nonprofits without an online donation page. If so, you are missing out on a significant revenue source! Fix it quickly!
However, it is imperative that the donation page on your website is optimized to maximize donations. You want to eliminate any hindrances that are causing donors not to move forward with giving an online donation.
Just imagine, you can improve your conversion rate of online donations by 1%, 5%, or higher by simply making adjustments to your donation page. It would mean generating MORE REVENUE for your organization
7 Tips to Boost Your Online Fundraising Results
- Show You Can Be Trusted
With the constant threat of fraud, phishing sites, and disreputable nonprofits, it is increasingly important to communicate to donors that your site is secure, and you are a trustworthy charity. Displaying trust seals which are small badges by third party companies that indicate your site is secure and trusted builds confidence to the potential donor.
- Drive To a “Cul-De-Sac”
While driving in a neighborhood, you may turn down a street that leads to a cul-de-sac — a route that leads to nowhere. This is exactly how your donation page should be. You want to get rid of the distractions that can lead the potential donor away from the donation page and abandon the donation process.
- Hide the standard navigation menu at the top of the page
- Use a simple footer design
- Eliminate unnecessary links that can lead donors away from completing the donation process
- Hide social media icons
- Use text sparingly
If a potential donor has come to the donation page, then the page has one single purpose: TRANSACT THE DONATION.
- Make It Simple!
Don’t clutter the donation page with unnecessary fields. Display only the fields needed to process the online transaction. People don’t want to give away too much information. Your donation form needs to be simple and lean.
Always think mobile when designing your donation page. This page should never be overwhelming if a potential donor views it from their mobile device. Otherwise, they will opt out of the donation process.
Leave out fields such as middle initial, second phone number, and confirmation email.
- Use Giving Levels
Suggested giving amounts increases the average online gift amount. You also want to use a marketing technique called “anchoring” by suggesting a default giving level. It causes people to tend to give closer to the anchored value than they otherwise may have considered.
- Be Mobile Friendly
More than 14% of online donations come through mobile devices, and it’s growing! It is important that your donation page is mobile friendly. One of the most common approaches is to use responsive design, which means your website dynamically resizes and reorganizes content to fit the size of any screen.
- A Picture Is Better Than a Thousand Words
People think in pictures. The use of a compelling image that captures the impact of your nonprofit on your donation page helps the potential donor “see” what their donation will help accomplish.
- Encourage Recurring Giving
One-time gifts are great, but monthly recurring donations are a tremendous source of stable revenue for a nonprofit. Monthly recurring donations increase your average number of gifts per year and your donor value. A small $25 monthly gift causes a donor to have an annual value of $300 to the organization. Make sure you offer a simple way for donors to opt in to monthly giving.
Let Infinity Concepts help you maximize your online giving. Let’s talk today!
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