online fundraising advice

4 Modern Fundraising Approaches to Grab Donors’ Attention

May 20, 2020 By John Killoran

The vast majority of nonprofits have had to flip their fundraising plans upside down as a result of COVID-19 and social distancing guidelines. Large-scale fundraising events are being cancelled, employees are beginning to work from home, and donor wallets are tightening due to a looming recession. Many nonprofits are worried about securing the funding needed to sustain daily operations and philanthropic projects.

However, this unprecedented time has also been a unique opportunity for nonprofits to refresh their fundraising strategies and integrate modern approaches into their plans. If that’s where you and your organization land, it’s important to make the most out of this time by finding ways for your team to be productive (and innovative!) in the midst of a crisis.1

Let’s walk through four of our favorite modern fundraising approaches, what they can bring to your nonprofit, and how to get started with each:

Use text-to-give fundraising so that donors can give on-the-go.
Employ peer-to-peer fundraising strategies to gain traction.
Host virtual fundraising events to boost donor engagement.
Incorporate individual outreach to personalize relationships.

Finding new ways to engage with your donors and secure fundraising revenue are essential for keeping your organization afloat in a time like this. Ready to get started? Let’s jump in!

1. Use text-to-give fundraising so that donors can give on-the-go.

If you’re looking for new and exciting ways to engage with your donors,2 especially younger donors, text giving might just be the perfect method. Text-to-give is a relatively new fundraising strategy that allows donors to give in seconds from any mobile device.3

In the last year, mobile giving has increased by over 50%,4 meaning if your nonprofit has yet to establish text fundraising practices, now is the time to do so! To get started with text-to-give fundraising, all you have to do is:

Choose a text-to-give provider and receive a unique mobile giving number. Be sure to find the right service provider for your organization based on platform fees, features offered, and user-friendliness. Once you settle on a text-to-give service, they’ll provide you with your very own mobile giving number that you can start sharing with your donors.
Set a particular keyword (or multiple) for donors to text. This is going to be the body of the message that your donors send to your specified mobile giving number. Be sure to pick something unique, relevant, and memorable to make the process easier on your donors, like give, gala, or your organization’s name!
Promote your mobile giving number and keyword far and wide. Use social media, your website, emails, newsletters, and more to make sure every donor has access to your mobile giving campaign. The best part is you’re not limited by any geographic boundaries!

Text fundraising campaigns often grab donors’ attention because their phones are rarely out of reach, making donating very accessible. Plus, the donation process is incredibly simple, making it more likely donors will follow through to submission— while more complicated processes lead to donation form abandonment.

2. Employ peer-to-peer fundraising strategies to gain traction.

Organizing a peer-to-peer fundraiser is a great way to get the word out about your organization and raise money for a particular cause.5 After all, individuals are much more responsive to a request for donation from a friend or family member than that of a national organization.

By using social proof as a fundraising tool, you can appeal to donors because their friends and family are getting involved with the campaign, so they should too. In fact, over 47% of donors giving through a peer-to-peer campaign are first-time donors for that organization.6 That means it’s a great way to expand your donor network and reach new people.

When you’re ready to launch a peer-to-peer fundraiser, you’ll want to:

Recruit supporters to become volunteer fundraisers. This can be a tough job, so it’s a good idea to focus on past donors who are already highly engaged with your organization and care deeply about your cause. Then pitch the idea to these supporters and see if they’re interested in taking the next step to become a fundraiser themselves.
Equip individuals with the right peer-to-peer fundraising tools.7 Even once you’ve gathered your volunteer fundraisers, they won’t be able to accomplish much without the right tools. Be sure to provide fundraisers with your donation page, sample social media posts, and scripts to share with family and friends who may be interested!
Encourage fundraisers to promote your campaign to friends and family. Now that you’ve set your fundraisers up for success, you watch and wait for the fundraising revenue to start coming in. During this time, it’s important to monitor each fundraiser’s progress and encourage those who may be struggling. Plus, you can employ some friendly competition between fundraisers to drive motivation.

Nonprofits everywhere are quickly moving their fundraisers to the virtual sphere, just like you are, which means there’s an increase in clutter you’ll have to break through to bring attention to your own fundraising campaigns. Luckily, unique peer-to-peer fundraising pages will stand out from the crowd!

3. Host virtual fundraising events to boost donor engagement.

In a time of social distancing, many donors will warmly welcome the opportunity to take part in an exciting virtual fundraiser. That’s why now is a great time to plan and host online events. After all, events are one of the most engaging types of fundraisers, making them a great way to boost virtual donor engagement and sustain relationships.8

To create a virtual fundraising event that your donors will really want to partake in, be sure to:

Plan activities your supporters will want to take part in. Whether you decide to host an online auction, talent show, or gala, make sure it’s something that your particular audience will be interested in.
Promote your event online and through social media. Get the word out through your online platforms so that donors everywhere know exactly how to get involved.
Personally invite donors to participate in your online event. A personal invitation can go a long way, especially for donors who have been major contributors in the past. Make sure your top donors are aware of and excited about your virtual event!
Encourage participants to register online.9 This way you’ll be able to plan for your audience more effectively, while also collecting participants’ contact information for future reference.

The possibilities for virtual events are essentially endless. You’re no longer limited by a choice of venue nor are attendees restricted by travel distance. You can even save money while hosting your event online and bringing in fundraising revenue at the same time.

4. Incorporate individual outreach to personalize relationships.

While social media and other digital marketing tools are great for nonprofits to raise awareness for their cause and even promote their own fundraisers, it’s important that you don’t forget the power of personal outreach. After all, a general request for donations is easier to ignore than an individual ask in your donor’s inbox.

There are many ways you can personally reach out to donors, including through a phone call, handwritten letter, or text message, but email is one of the easiest and most effective.

Here are four key steps to optimize your email outreach and personalize your relationships:

Start building an email network. Be sure to collect email addresses at every possible avenue, including donation forms, event sign-ins, and virtual registration forms. Then store this information, along with other detailed information you have about each donor, within your CRM, or constituent relationship manager.
Segment your audience. Using the information you collect about each of your donors, divide individuals into groups based on their similarities. For example, you might have different segments for first-time donors, repeat donors, those on a recurring schedule, and lapsed donors.
Craft intriguing email messages. Lead into your email with a compelling message demonstrating the impact of the work your organization does. Consider telling a true story of a constituent whose life was changed so that donors can feel emotionally involved with the philanthropic success. Be sure to include imagery as well to illustrate your emails.
Employ a clear call-to-action. End your message with a clear, compelling, and specific call-to-action so that donors know what the next step is. For example, you can send donors to your online donation page or include your text-to-give number.

Just because you can’t be physically close to your nonprofit supporters doesn’t mean your relationships should suffer. Instead, try implementing these strategies to strengthen donor engagement during this time.10

COVID-19 has resulted in an unpredictable year. But, as a nonprofit working to continuously support your community, it’s important to make note of the positives associated with the time as well. After all, it’s provided an opportunity for organizations to expand their virtual strategies and improve digital connectivity available to organizations.

Sometimes all you need to get started is the right fundraising software!11 During the move to largely-virtual fundraising practices, it’s important that your team is equipped with the necessary tools to ease the transition.

For more information on strategic fundraising practices within a pandemic and into the foreseeable future, check out the following resources:

Top 4 Ways to Boost Virtual Fundraising Event Participation

April 27, 2020 By Wayne Elsey

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, nonprofits everywhere are having to cancel their biggest revenue-generating events and take an entirely new approach to fundraise. As a nonprofit professional, you might be worried about the looming shortfalls in fundraising revenue and what that will mean for your organization.

While a lot is still up in the air when it comes to managing a nonprofit and getting things back on track, one thing is for sure—now is not the time to give up. In fact, there’s a lot that nonprofits can be doing at present to keep operations up and running amid the disruption.

One such idea is the implementation of virtual fundraising events. Nonprofit organizations have long understood the benefits of engaging supporters with fundraising events. Now, it’s just a matter of adjusting to the circumstances.

Whether you’re interested in transitioning an existing event into a virtual one, or starting from scratch planning an engaging online fundraiser, here are four of the best ways to capture your audience’s attention and boost registrations in no time:

Plan unique and intriguing events.
Connect with donors on an emotional level.
Keep the momentum going with strategic communication.
Raise the stakes with matching gifts.

Ready to get started? Let’s jump in.

1. Plan unique and intriguing events.

The best way to ensure a good turnout at your fundraising events, whether virtual or in-person, is to plan activities that your supporters will enjoy. Remember, not everyone likes the same types of events. To appeal to the highest possible number of participants, offer a diverse set of fundraising events.

Especially now, with the majority of the world’s population stuck inside for days on end, an appealing virtual event might be just what your supporters need!

Here are some of our favorite ideas to switch things up with virtual fundraising events:

Virtual 5k: Although you can’t host a traditional 5k fundraiser right now, an adapted version can be a unique way for participants to get out of the house while raising money for a good cause. Simply encourage supporters to walk or run a set distance on their own and record their stats with a smartwatch or tracking app!
Virtual auction: Both live and silent auctions are tried-and-true fundraising events for organizations everywhere. Now, you only have to take that auction to the virtual sphere! Collect items just like you usually would. Then, participants can bid online through a virtual auction catalog instead of at a physical location.
Virtual gala: Hosting a gala can be a great way to engage with supporters who are looking for a reason to get spruced up, even if it’s just for a live-streamed event. But of course, the great part about a virtual gala is that attendees are also able to participate without dressing up at all!

Consider integrating your virtual event with a peer-to-peer fundraising campaign for even better results. This way, you can easily expand your network of support and reach a wider audience with the help of your dedicated volunteer fundraisers.

2. Connect with donors on an emotional level.

Not only should you focus on the appeal of the event itself, but also that of your organization as a whole. A great way to maintain that appeal is through building emotional connections with supporters.

With a looming recession ahead of us, you might be expecting significant drops in fundraising revenue during this time. That’s why it’s so important to emphasize donor retention.

Here are four simple tips to follow to strengthen donor relationships and convey the importance of each and every gift:

Share success stories.
Use pictures to illustrate impact.
Emphasize the importance of donors’ continued support.
Show your appreciation.

Remember, it’s more important to stay emotionally in-touch with donors during a pandemic than ever before. Many of your organization’s key supporters have likely been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis— whether medically or economically.

In other words, donors’ budgets are likely tight during this time. That means you’ll need to effectively demonstrate the purpose behind your mission and the emotional significance of each donation if you want to capture their attention and secure their support fully.

3. Keep the momentum going with strategic communication.

An essential aspect of planning and hosting a virtual fundraising event is the virtual outreach that precedes it. This effort is how supporters all over the world can hear about your upcoming event and decide to attend.

Thanks to effective digital marketing and communications tools, it’s easier than ever to get your message out into the world. However, this technology also introduces new issues having to do with breaking through the digital clutter and creating compelling messages that stand out.

Here are some of the best ways to boost your fundraising momentum and get your audience excited about your event:

Send out targeted email blasts.
Increase your social media presence.
Be sure to remind attendees ahead of time.
Keep your website up-to-date with event information.

Learn more about establishing a successful nonprofit digital strategy here, and then use your newfound knowledge to promote your upcoming virtual fundraising event!

4. Raise the stakes with matching gifts.

Did you know that many of your donors are eligible to have their gifts matched through corporate giving programs by their employers? And yet many eligible donors don’t know about these programs and how to take advantage of the opportunities!

Studies show that when donors know their gift gets matched, 84% report that they’d be much more likely to donate, and 1 in 3 donors suggests they’d make a larger donation. That’s because donors get the joy of knowing their gift is making twice the impact without having to reach back into their wallets.

Consider taking your fundraising event to the next level by leveraging the power of matching gifts. Encourage donors to quickly and easily search their employer in a matching gift database to find out whether they’re eligible!

For more information on how to leverage corporate philanthropy and matching gift programs with your organization’s events, see this comprehensive guide.

A critical characteristic of successful nonprofit organizations is the ability to adapt, and the current social and economic constraints are testing it. By bringing your best fundraising events to the virtual sphere, you can increase your reach and receive support from all over the world.

For more inspiration, check out our extensive guide of unique and exciting fundraising ideas to get started. Good luck!

The Art of Online Donations

August 22, 2019 By Marissa Gutierrez-Vicario

We’re all accustomed to the typical fundraising programming––galas, events, cold calling––but having a ‘donate now’ button on your website can help you reach diverse audiences and gain a new pool of donors. At ARTE, we work to engage young people, amplify their voices and help them organize for human rights change through the visual arts. To help them rise to the challenge, we have to remain flexible in the ways that we work.

To achieve our vision, we work not only with our students but with our donors, meaning we work both at grassroots and foundational levels. Donations help organizations like ours do the work they need to create a more just world. But, like so many others, we’re still up against limited bandwidth and budgets, so we were thrilled with the opportunity to work with Wix, the website development platform company, to redo our website through its Social Good Project at its Wix Design Playground in NYC.

We worked with the program’s students to create a strategy for increasing reach online and getting more people to donate. By including the button clearly on our site, we were able to create a simple call-to-action.

Tools to help nonprofits grow

Having an online presence is fundamental for nonprofit organizations. We are all attracting different stakeholders: donors, volunteers and recipients of our services. A website helps engage us with each stakeholder, while helping them easily understand the organization’s mission and culture. It also allows you to reach more people and create a connection, building an online community.

To get people to donate, make sure that the website enables them to easily do so. People are busy and anything that can delay a transaction can result in the most well-intentioned donor leaving. So, make sure to provide a process that is easy to understand, simple and quick.

Additionally, make the website informative enough that it keeps people coming back. That way, while some might not donate immediately, you can drive donations later by including a donate button in an email newsletter. This will also help readers continue to equate donations with the organization.

Donation button on your website

Connecting the donation button to your nonprofit’s bank account is the first and best option, since it eliminates third-party fees and expenses. However, third parties can help to spread the word about your organization and better appeal to their audiences. Wix’s funding options allow us to do both, enabling direct donations, as well as going through PayPal Donations, which connects directly to our PayPal account.

Using trusted merchant services to accept donation payments is crucial because it gives donors a sense of security when making donations to our organizations. Depending on the type of nonprofit, it may be wise to also use crowdfunding and social media donation buttons. Donors can more easily recognize these brands and trust them.

While Paypal is our go-to, there are also different donation buttons that suit an organization’s needs. Fundly, for example, is a great crowdfunding donation tool, particularly for collecting a lot of small donations. Other good tools include Double the Donation, a matching gifts donation button, and a verified button, which helps secure the organization and its donors.

Like galas, fundraisers and community activities, a website is a way to connect with your audience. Make sure it’s updated to modern standards, so you don’t lose the ability to continue the important work your nonprofit is completing.

Mastering Online Giving In Three Easy Steps

July 13, 2018 By Nonprofit Information

If you are tasked with finding a good online giving service for your nonprofit, you will quickly realize that under the surface, online giving is not as simple as the sales sites might lead you to believe.

What might seem like a good rate might in fact be a tiered rate your actual donations may not qualify for. The sales site may look nothing like the product itself. And the actual experience of donors is often overlooked amidst all the bulleted lists of features, options, and glowing promises.

Fortunately, in the maze of online giving, there’s a place nonprofits can turn to for help.

Consider the OnlineGivingGuide.com your tour guide for the online giving universe. Filled with humorous cartoons and cutting insight, it lays out the features shoppers should seek in a service—and offers cautionary tips on the deceptive practices some platforms use.

Here are three main steps we gleaned from the guide:

STEP 1: Find the right fit

There are innumerable options when it comes to selecting an online giving site. From industry giants such as Blackbaud and the various online properties of Ministry Brands (like easyTithe, eGiving.com, and Kindrid) to innovative competitors like Givingtools.com, nonprofits have an assortment of electronic giving platforms to choose from.

How can you find the one that’s right for your nonprofit?

The Online Giving Guide lists three basic considerations for shoppers to ponder before making a selection:

The sales site: Don’t be fooled by aesthetically-pleasing online giving sites. After all, they’re often crafted by web design teams – not the folks who built the actual product. Look beyond a giving platform’s virtual appearance to ensure its modern look isn’t masking a terrible product.

The interface: Experiment with a platform’s interface to test its capabilities across multiple platforms. It should work as flawlessly on a smartphone as it does on a desktop, and look nice on a variety of window and screen sizes. Can donors give to multiple appeals with a single checkout? Do they need a password before they give for the first time?

The processor: This plays a significant role in determining an online giving service’s rates and features. Look for a processor with a strong track record of successfully securing and handling funds. Look for 0% ACH and flat, affordable credit card rates. Even better, look for system that is open and allows you to plug in the processor you prefer.

STEP #2: Test the waters

Legitimate giving sites give potential clients an opportunity to try their services before committing to a product. With this in mind, shoppers are wise to engage in a trial run to determine whether a giving service’s features—and actual product experience—align with their needs.

Trial runs give nonprofits an opportunity to review necessary functionality before making a choice. When it comes down to deciding between two or three products, request a demo to address the following:

User friendliness: Navigate the site through the eyes of a donor looking to make a gift. Is this platform easy to use? Does it simplify the gift-giving process? If not, strike this option off your list.

Ease of administration: Evaluate the site from an administrative perspective, too, to ensure you’re happy with the ways in which your company can manage the platform.

Lingering issues: If questions arise as you demo a product, reach out to the company to have those inquiries addressed. This is the time to clear up any concerns or confusion you might have about a giving platform. Best to do this now before you—and your donors—are committed to a service you might not like.

STEP #3: Do the math

Online giving platforms offer a hefty return on investment. After all, the average online gift is $128. Moreover, online charity donations were expected to reach an astounding $31 billion last year. It’s a lucrative market, and one some online platforms are capitalizing on by charging hefty (sometimes hidden) costs and locking you in to a lengthy service term.

For instance, Gofundme.com takes a five percent cut of donations, on top of a 2.9 percent processing fee. It also charges $0.30 per donation. When all is tallied, a charity using the service pockets less than $118 of that aforementioned $128 donation.

Fortunately, not all services charge such astronomical fees. Some sites, such as Givingtools.com, pocket a significantly smaller portion of donations. Giving Tools hails itself as the least expensive giving system on the market, charging a 0% plus a small $0.25 flat fee for each donation. (Credit card processing fees are an additional 2.85%.)

OnlineGivingGuide.com offers a handy calculator that helps nonprofits determine the exact cost of using an online giving platform.

The popularity of online giving is growing at record speed; its year-over-year growth reached 23 percent last year. But with the increasing popularity of online giving come venture-capital-backed companies looking to cash in on the new fashion. Indeed, some companies like Ministry Brands own numerous processors: you might think you are looking at two services when in fact you are looking at two limbs of the same conglomerate.

When you’re shopping for an online giving platform, start with OnlineGivingGuide.com and follow the structured approach it presents. It’s rare to find an online resource this handy, humorous, and even-handed. Check it out today!

The New Frontier of Fundraising: An Insider’s Look at Online Giving

May 25, 2018 By Nonprofit Information

GivingTools.com founder Jason Smith weighs in on online giving trends and challenges and reveals how his company is helping nonprofits get more for less.

First off, tell us about your inspiration behind the launch of GivingTools.com, and why you felt there was a market for this type of site.

After years of providing printed materials for capital campaigns, we created a system to deploy capital campaign websites. We figured if we launched a site with each campaign and referenced it in the printed materials, it would enable more effective printed communications and a flexible online resource that could adapt to the communication needs of the campaign. A real one-two punch.

But more than simply securely collecting pledges online, we wanted to also offer an affordable way to collect payments. The problem was, with big gifts and recurring gifts, the existing model for online payments was just too expensive. 2.99 percent has been an accepted rule of thumb… and nonprofits are wisely unsure if they want a major gift to experience that kind of hit.

So we did some research. What we discovered was that the cost of online processing is pretty negotiable and that online giving services were taking bigger chunks of nonprofit budgets than they needed to. We launched a solution that would accept gifts online from donor bank accounts for zero percent plus just $0.25. It was and is unheard of.

We then launched GivingTools.com with a versatile online giving system that enables nonprofits to create many kinds of appeals: one-time gifts, recurring gifts, campaign pledges, product sales, events, and even volunteer signups. And we offered it all for just $14.95 per month.

Four years in on the online giving product, the biggest problem we’ve had was people not believing our rates were so low!

Online revenue for nonprofits continues to rise at a steady rate – it grew by 27 percent last year. Do you see traditional types of charity fundraisers (such as bake sales or walk-a-thons) going the way of the telephone booth?

Not at all. Fundraising is about raising funds, sure, but it is about raising awareness and cultivating relationships. The Internet is a great thing, but it will never replace the effect of a real person physically representing a group to the community. People give to people for people.

Social media is allowing nonprofits to reach an unprecedented number of online channels. What’s your best advice for charities seeking to implement a social media strategy?

Remember that the goal of online social media is to be social. So, if you are going to tap into social media, use the medium to its fullest by maintaining an ongoing conversation with your supporters. Dedicate time every day to reaching out, not just through online channels but surprise people with a handwritten social note at a key point in their life, or pick up the phone and thank somebody. “Social media” is not just the Internet. That’s just one medium. Use all your social media—online, email, phone, direct mail, and face-to-face to connect with, thank, and listen to your supporters.

The other thing I would say is to consider a news aggregator for your website. This is a way to display feeds from your various online social media accounts in one seamless stream. Pretty cool.

What are some of the latest trends you’re seeing in the online giving world?

A big trend is actually online giving outfits quietly being bought out by big conglomerates and turned into mere storefronts. The conglomerate homogenizes the core features and runs the gifts processing through one channel to maximize profits. Several very large outfits (Ministry Brands being one) are aggressively seeking to dominate the playing field. To them, it’s big business, with a lot of investors looking for a payout. Ministry Brands owns 25 brands and most nonprofits don’t know when they compare several services, they may be looking at just one service with several storefronts.

Is it a good thing? Well, I’ll just say that some nonprofits ask me to assure them that I am not affiliated with Ministry Brands in any way before they will sign on. I am not sure what specific difficulties they may have experienced, but they feel pretty passionate about it.

Some users have dubbed your GivingTools.com the Robin Hood of online giving. How did you earn that nickname, and do you feel it’s a suitable one?

Huzzah! Well, we are not shy in standing up to the conglomerates and keeping more donations in the hands of the nonprofits. That’s where donors mean it to go, and we do our best to honor their wishes.

For example, we offer that zero percent ACH rate. Just a $0.25 fee to process any amount from a donor’s bank account. Why can we offer it at zero percent? Because the wholesale price is zero percent. The conglomerates mark it up because they figure one percent will look pretty inexpensive beside a 2.99 percent cards rate, so they charge one percent. We refuse to take money like that. It just seems wrong.

We also refuse to lock nonprofits into one processor. BluePay comes baked in to our product, but nonprofits can link in Stripe, Base Commerce, and even PayPal to do the processing. We don’t make a penny on processing, regardless of the processor. All we make is our monthly fee.

Got that? We don’t make a penny on processing. That’s unheard of for an online giving company. And if that’s not Robin Hood-like, I don’t know what is.

Many online giving sites take a significant cut of donations by charging processing fees. How is GivingTools.com able to avoid charging those same fees?

Well, the processors charge fees. BluePay charges a flat 2.85 percent, for example. PayPal and Stripe charge 2.99 percent (or less if you negotiate). We don’t add a penny to that, we just charge a flat $14.95 monthly fee. It’s just a business decision. Nobody said you HAVE to profit everywhere you possibly can. Sometimes, a business can decide to give nonprofits a break.

Aside from the obvious financial aspect, how do your minimal fees benefit charities?

Donors want their gift to go to nonprofits…not to credit card processors. They like to know that the effect of their gift is maximized by low processing expenses. Now, from the nonprofit end of things, they want to do good in the world, and with more funding, they can do more. We were once told by a nonprofit that our low rates would enable them to save an additional child from homelessness each year. This stuff is not just about a bottom line. It is about people’s lives. Charities know that. Donors know that. We get it, too.

When seeking an online giving website, what should a nonprofit look for in both the short and long term?

I’d say that short-term and long-term, it needs to be affordable, to maximize gifts. The whole benefit of recurring giving, for example, is to reduce pledge attrition (missed payments). That averages about four percent of traditional donations. If an online giving service averages more than that, it is an expense.

That brings me to the next criterion: ease-of-use. Beyond saving you money, an online giving service is a convenience to donors and to you. Is the interface easy on the eyes? Is it flexible to your needs? Is it intuitive? We’ve spent a lot of time refining our experience to minimize barriers to giving. We listen hard to our customers and we work every day to constantly improve our product. That’s a short-term benefit and a long-term commitment.

On a personal level, tell us about your motivation for leading GivingTools.com, and helping charities get the most bang for their buck.

It is simply thrilling to build a system that enables people to help people. I’ve been involved in charitable work most of my adult life, I’ve run for office in an impoverished city, worked with troubled kids. I’ve seen a lot of need out there, and I’ve seen a lot of committed nonprofits, struggling to make ends meet to help people in desperate need. This isn’t a job for me, it’s a mission.

And finally, on a lighter note, we’ve noticed you’re having some fun with your site. (We love the roller skating Chihuahua!) Why did you decide to insert some personality into your page?

Ah the Chihuahua. Well, I have this hunch that people like to smile. As they say: “If you aren’t having fun, you aren’t doing it right.” The animated Chihuahua scenes in the admin area of GivingTools help demonstrate product features in a fun and memorable way.

I am no great fan of Chihuahuas personally. There was just a Chihuahua in one of our illustrations and we were trying to express how easy our product is to use. In a moment of desperation, we put a smartphone in his paw and added the headline “GivingTools is so easy, even a reasonably smart Chihuahua can do it.”

At that point, we were “up Shih Tzu Creek without a poodle,” as it were, so we just stuck with it. The little guy has been an inspiration, really. I even find myself singing “Chihuahua wind beneath my wings!” some days. Is that normal?

Jason N. Smith is founder of GivingTools.com. He has decades of experience in nonprofit fundraising and capital campaigns and is also owner of the multimedia firm, Fathom Studio. Based in Pennsylvania, he’s married with “innumerable” children.

Online Fundraising Is Simple with the Right Approach

May 1, 2018 By Nonprofit Information

Donation websites are a dime a dozen – effective online fundraising requires the right online giving platform

Online giving is growing at a record-breaking pace. Philanthropists donated more than $21 billion through online giving platforms last year, representing a year-over-year online donation growth of 12 percent. The online fundraising sector now represents nearly eight percent of the overall fundraising market.

However, not everyone has been quick to hop on the bandwagon. For some small charities and nonprofit organizations, the prospect of raising money online can seem daunting.

Fear not – we’re here to walk you through the process and help you navigate the world of online giving with confidence.

As you look for an online giving solution that’s right for you, consider the following factors. They’ll ensure your campaign is reputable, low-cost and – most importantly – successful.

Seek affordability in donation websites

In the nonprofit world, every donation counts. With this in mind, accounting teams would surely hate to see those precious pennies eaten up by numerous Mickey Mouse surcharges. Some big-name online giving platforms charge signup, fundraiser, and processing fees. It all adds up – YouCaring.com fees take an 18 percent cut from donations, while popular crowdfunding platform Gofundme.com fees account for about eight percent of each donation. That’s not all. That’s not all. Most popular crowdfunding sites charge an additional $.30 fee per donation.

When budget-savvy nonprofits are searching for a place to raise money, they should choose a site with minimal fees and surcharges. Some services charge as little as $0.25 per gift, allowing nonprofits to stretch their dollars further.

Build donor loyalty – and a strong campaign

The site you choose to host your online fundraising efforts should do more than serve as a virtual collection plate. It should also be a place that builds a sense of community, bolsters donor loyalty, and inspires philanthropists to share your page with others.

The most effective online fundraising campaigns are the culmination of community engagement, compelling multimedia elements, and strategically-executed marketing plans. Research shows that campaigns featuring personal videos raise 105 percent more donations, while teams that regularly updated followers raised 126 percent more money than those that provided no updates.

Needless to say, your nonprofit’s fundraising site should support multimedia storytelling, offer multiple sharing tools, and allow your team to easily communicate with its supporters.

Branding matters

Some sites—such as GivingTools.com—allow users to modify pages by choosing colors and themes that match their non-profit’s branding. Better still, online giving pages can be embedded into a charity’s actual website, simplifying the process for donors while bolstering a campaign’s legitimacy. Donations given on a branded donation form are statistically 38 percent larger than contributions given through a basic PayPal page. Moreover, supporters are about 70 percent more likely to make a second donation if their first contribution was made through a branded page.

There’s an added bonus to running an online giving campaign through your own site: it will help boost overall traffic to your site, which has its own set of benefits. For starters, it can encourage visitors to spend more time exploring your site, which could ultimately lead to more long-term supporters and newsletter subscribers.

How to ask for donations

Once your fundraising page is established, you might wonder how to most effectively use your new online giving platform.

Begin by developing a social media strategy, identifying your target audiences, and determining the resources you’ll need to execute your online campaign.

Once your plan is in place, look to grow your social network and bolster your organization’s level of social engagement. After all, social media is only as effective as the size and liveliness of your base.

When you begin seeking donations online, you should be targeting potential donors on multiple fronts. Begin by sending personalized emails, containing heartfelt messages and details about your fundraising goals. Continue building your campaign through social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Better still, consider using targeted Facebook ads to attract the attention of users who are linked to your email list. This will ensure an efficient ad buy.

Here’s another trick: Before blasting your campaign on social media, set a goal and first approach close friends and supporters with donation requests. Studies show that people are more likely to donate to charities or causes that are close to meeting their fundraising targets. It also helps to create a sense of urgency by running a shorter campaign that last between 20 and 40 days.

Online giving is fast becoming the new frontier of philanthropy – and for good reason. Charities and nonprofits that embrace this trend are likely to reach a wider network of donors, save money on printed materials, and see a higher return on investment.

But remember: although big-name online giving giants such as indiegogo.com and gofundme.com are generating lots of buzz, they aren’t your only options. Take the time to find an online giving solution that’s right for you.

Capital Campaign Websites: 9 Must-Haves

April 18, 2018 By Jason N. Smith

A stand-alone capital campaign website is a great way to supplement printed campaign materials and expand the reach and effectiveness of your effort.

The campaign website works alongside printed materials to broaden the reach and flexibility of campaign messaging. It also offers specialized functionality that makes raising funds easier.

When you consider that a capital campaign often loses up to 4% of gifts due to unfulfilled pledges, online giving becomes an attractive tool for reducing attrition.

But there is a right way and a wrong way to bring your campaign online. Just adding a section to your current site is not a wise move. The features and functions required will overwhelm your normal site—and your potential donors. A stand-alone site tailored to the distinctive needs of a capital campaign is the way to go.

Let’s take a look at the nine parts of a great capital campaign website:

1. The Plan

Include an online presentation of your plan, expanded to include information that would not fit in the brochure: additional copy, project renderings, floorplans, etc.

2. Progress Bar

A progress bar shows your goal (and challenge goal) and tracks progress towards (and above) those benchmarks. The progress bar should be activated only after your campaign kickoff, to show early success.

3. Q+A

A good Q+A answers common questions and responds rapidly to questions that may arise through the campaign. This keeps misinformation in check and ensures there is no uncertainty in the minds of donors.

4. Resources

This section provides planned giving information so that donors can consider creative giving options in addition to their cash pledge. A Resources section can also provide downloadable architect’s plans, a masterplan document, or other lengthy pdf files.

5. News

A news feature enables you to keep the campaign fresh by going into depth on particular aspects of the effort and by providing testimonials from key individuals, announcements of campaign milestones, and more.

6. Video

Many of your visitors will like to read about your plans. Others will appreciate a video. This is a great way to bring your plans to life and can be shared via email and elsewhere.

7. Gifts Table

The venerable gifts table shows the sizes and numbers of gifts required to make your campaign a success. Bring the gifts table online.

8. Gifts Calculator

A calculator enables donors to see that they are capable of giving more than they might have guessed when the gift is broken into smaller payments. Donors can enter a total pledge and see how much would be given on an ongoing basis to meet that commitment. Alternately, they can enter what their payments might be and see what their gifts would add up to—the total pledge. Those little payments over 3-5 years can really add up.

9. Pledge Form

A secure pledge form enables recurring online giving so that donors can pay digitally on a recurring basis, dramatically reducing pledge attrition and enabling online giving to more than pay for itself.

You now know the nine key content features for your capital campaign website. But how the site is programmed is also important. Here are a few things to consider:

Mobile-friendly: Your site needs to be built using responsive design so that it functions on smaller devices and serves the 20-40% of your audience viewing it from a smartphone.

Visually Consistent: While it is a different medium from printed materials, your site should share the same visual look and appear to be a natural extension of your other communications.

Secure: The site must be hosted securely to keep sensitive data safe and to reassure donors that you take their privacy seriously.

Easy to Update: A content management system allows administrators easy access to update the site and view gifts to keep the site fresh, keep campaign administrators informed, and reduce developer fees in the long run.

Easy to Maintain: Could you cobble together a pile of WordPress plugins to get the function you need? Maybe. But over the life of the campaign (3-5 years), plugin updates will occur that cause conflicts and feature failures. Troubleshooting those can take many hours and can lead to a bad experience for donors.

The GivingTools Solution

You have a number of options. You can:

Try to fit the above content in your current website.
Build a site from scratch that provides this function (will it be done before the campaign is over?).
Partner with a resource that provides capital campaign websites.

GivingTools provides a ready-made solution for capital campaign websites. Indeed, GivingTools is the only service that offers this. For a single fee (well under $1,000), GivingTools takes a pdf of your campaign materials and creates the entire site in just a few days. Secure hosting for 3-5 years is included at no extra cost. And if you want to allow online pledge payments, that can also be enabled, for just $14.95/month. That includes payments from banking accounts (ACH) for just 25 cents per payment…no percentages taken.

This resource makes creating your campaign site a piece of cake. You get a robust solution that meshes with your other communications and provides the convenience and power of online giving, all in a matter of a few days!

By planning on a capital campaign site, your campaign brochure can be a compelling overview that leads people to the site for more details. If a donor loses a pledge card (or wishes to make an additional commitment), it is simply a click away. And with online giving, unfulfilled pledges (3-4% of total pledges) can be dramatically reduced.

To see some examples of what a capital campaign site from GivingTools looks like, just visit givingtools.com. If done right, a dedicated capital campaign website can help maximize the success of your next capital effort.

Cryptocurrency Donations: What Nonprofits Need to Know

March 29, 2018 By Sean Taylor

With the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) this year, nonprofits are steeling themselves for increased competition for decreased donations – an anticipated result of the change in charitable contribution deduction rules. Some nonprofits looking for an edge are exploring the option to accept cryptocurrency for donations. The most commonly referred to cryptocurrency is Bitcoin, but there are numerous currencies available. While adding this as an option for donors may increase the organization’s reach and its reputation for being on the leading edge, it comes with some cautions and important safeguards.

Should your nonprofit accept cryptocurrency donations? The answer is an emphatic “It depends.” Here are five things we believe nonprofits should take into consideration:

Volatility

Cryptocurrency values are highly volatile. For example, in February of this year, the value for Bitcoin reflected weekly returns of -10.4 percent and -6.1 percent before bouncing back with an increase of 29.1 percent, followed by -11.9 percent. That’s just four weeks of activity. There are many who are confident that cryptocurrency is here to stay, but at present, it seems that just as many believe that Bitcoin’s volatility is one of several indicators that the cryptocurrency is another “bubble” waiting to burst.

Regardless of what the future holds, this volatility creates a strong argument for nonprofits that decide to accept Bitcoin to have a third-party processor in place to immediately convert cryptocurrency donations to cash.

Opportunity

Even with its significant volatility, many people who have invested in cryptocurrency have become quite wealthy. According to Fortune Magazine (December 2017), a $100 investment in Bitcoin in 2010 was worth $28,341,266 as of December 2017. Many individuals who have profited from their cryptocurrency investments are looking for ways to support meaningful charitable causes while taking advantage of available tax deductions.

Allowed Purpose of Donations

Some organizations are choosing to use cryptocurrency donations as a strategic way to build and support technological innovation. For example, United Way Worldwide uses cryptocurrency donations to benefit their Innovation Fund. Other organizations accept cryptocurrency as donations to be used for the same overall mission and purposes as donations made with cash, credit card or stock. The Water Project was an early adopter among nonprofits and continues to accept and use cryptocurrency donations for their overall mission.

A Differentiator

While an increasing number of nonprofits are accepting cryptocurrency donations, it is not a widely accepted practice. As such, nonprofits could still use this as a differentiator in their appeal to donors, as long as they recognize and protect themselves against the volatility and take time to fully understand what cryptocurrency is and how it works. As a differentiator, it should not take the place of mission-specific stories, outreach and other methods that have been successful in the past.

The IRS Is Watching

While the focus of the IRS is on those who have directly invested in and reaped financial rewards from cryptocurrency, the long-term impact of the agency’s heightened engagement in this area could be a detriment to the appeal of cryptocurrency as an investment, the long-term wealth of cryptocurrency investors and ultimately nonprofits who may come to count on such donations. The caution? As always, don’t put all (or an overly significant) number of your donor eggs in one basket.

As with any new approach to receiving and handling donations that may impact your nonprofit, it is wise to seek the advice and counsel of those who understand your organization, its resources and the options you’re exploring. The list of considerations presented above is limited and provides only a basic overview of some key considerations. To implement cryptocurrency options for donors, legal and accounting advice coupled with access to experienced third-party processors are critical.

This new avenue for donors should be only one of many options your nonprofit explores as you seek to ensure you have the financial resources necessary to achieve your mission.

Fostering Empathy Online: An Important Piece of the Fundraising Puzzle

July 14, 2015 By Liz Deering

Fostering empathy and connecting with donors online has the potential to influence giving and build long-term relationships and support – results any nonprofit would value. Unfortunately, many of them simply don’t have the time or resources to investigate the best ways to use social media and online resources within their organizations. As a result, marketing and development teams often continue to focus heavily on attracting and engaging donors using traditional fundraising models, which can lead to a frustrating disconnect with donors and less-than-stellar fundraising results.

However, nonprofits that have taken the plunge into online outreach are seeing increased donor engagement via social media channels, influencer networks and digital-centric campaigns. They’ve also benefitted from tapping the expertise of interactive agencies to improve their online giving outcomes.

The good news is that there’s a huge array of online tools and channels available to help nonprofits connect with their audiences successfully. If you’re about to dive into social media, here are a few tactics that can make your efforts more successful and rewarding.

Get to Know Your Audience

According to a Cygnus Applied Research survey, 61% of donors would prefer both to receive communications and to give exclusively online. However, 49% said they’re likely to donate less if they feel over solicited. Knowing and respecting these preferences helps you not just connect with new donors, but make sure they become long-term allies.

First, take a moment to think about your audience. Where they are spending time online, and when? Are you trying to reach moms? Dads? Young adults? CSR directors and other professionals? What are their habits, on and offline?

Thanks to the increased amount of time that consumers are spending online and on their mobile devices, nonprofits can access much of the data about their behaviors, preferences, transactions and affiliations. Turning that information into actionable insights can help inform a development team’s specific stewardship and engagement strategies, and can be used to tailor marketing messages to different donor segments online.

Create a Campaign that’s Emotional

After you’ve identified your audience, it’s time to engage, remembering that not all donors are attracted by exactly the same marketing messages. Like any relationship, social engagement is a give-and-take proposition. Liking, sharing and retweeting others’ posts and activities online is always encouraged – but it’s also wise to have a proactive social strategy that appeals to multiple donor segments and generations. For instance, outreach that grabs the attention of Millennials may or may not speak to Baby Boomers or Gen X’ers. Similarly, write your marketing materials with different platforms in mind: a blog post describing your nonprofit’s current fundraiser should also be shared widely across multiple platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

Another useful tool for building donor engagement is crowdfunding – especially platforms that enable you to publish a campaign quickly and easily. IndieGogo, Tilt, Classy and 121Giving are all examples that are being used successfully by nonprofits in different categories. In 2014 alone, crowdfunding campaigns raised $10 billion worldwide, making them an invaluable approach for nonprofits with time-sensitive fundraising goals.

Most of these platforms allow nonprofits to create a branded online environment with a landing page for engaging with donors. By posting updates, videos and comments on this page, nonprofits can engage supporters as involved partners, asking them to help fulfill the organization’s mission – rather than treating them as bystanders who have little say in where their donation dollars are going.

If you decide to go down the crowdfunding path, appoint a dedicated manager within your organization to help guide these campaigns for success. Crowdfunding requires preparation, monitoring and follow-up to make the most of the opportunity – but the results can be well worth the effort.

Here are a few social tips for crowdfunding:

When you’re ready to kick off your campaign, create a hashtag for your fundraiser. This is a great way to aggregate tweets from multiple sources and to make it easy for donors and supporters to find vital information (e.g., where to donate).
Before running with that hashtag, though, make sure you’ve researched it to be sure it’s original and strikes the right tone. The last thing you want is something that’s out of context, contains slang, offensive or off-color material, or tags someone else’s content.
Developing a Twitter chat about the campaign can also increase awareness and engagement – and significantly grow your following.

Recruit Social Ambassadors

One of the easiest ways to ensure a successful campaign is to recruit social ambassadors for your organization. For example, at 121Giving we created a Social Impact Boss program to encourage donors to share information about current fundraising campaigns on our website. Donors can sign up to receive email notifications when causes they support launch campaigns, along with regular updates.

Create tweets and Facebook posts about each campaign, and make them available to your organization’s members (and newsletter subscribers) so they can help socialize your cause. Identify all possible social ambassadors and appoint an eager volunteer as the group’s lead. Designating a social leader outside of your organization lets others take ownership and assume responsibility for helping your nonprofit reach its fundraising goals. Others want to help, and you don’t have do it alone!

Last But Not Least…

Social media is much more than a tool; it’s a necessary piece of your marketing strategy that offers a significant opportunity not only to increase donations through online channels, but to attract long-term sponsorship dollars.

Creating an online presence that targets key players, developing a social strategy, creating social ambassador programs and using social media to promote crowdfunding campaigns are all efforts that, if properly executed, can deliver outstanding results with significantly less resources than traditional fundraising models.

Nonprofits are Turning to Twitter to Drive Interest Around Fundraising Efforts

July 6, 2015 By Tammy Sproule

As social media continues to grow in popularity, the investment by early adopters into online fundraising and technology is finally starting to pay off. If you were not one of the early adopters, don’t worry, it’s not too late to build and engage your online community.

There are many social media channels useful to nonprofits, and a multichannel approach strategy is highly recommended. But for the purpose of this article, we are going to focus on one of the most widely used communications vehicles today, Twitter.

Twitter has been used to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities and charitable causes – according to an MDG Advertising report, using Twitter during fundraising events can result in 10 times more money raised online. It has helped successfully spread awareness about social issues, and best of all, it’s free (for the most part). Those reasons alone make it a major asset to nonprofits.

Audience growth on social media continues to be very high. The 2015 M+R Benchmarks Study reported while email list sizes grew by 11 percent in 2014, Twitter audiences increased by 37 percent averaging 5.4 posts per day.

Because spreading the word is a core function of Twitter, it is an ideal place to raise awareness and support for your online fundraising effort. But to do it successfully takes more than posting multiple tweets a day.

First and foremost, focus on building and nurturing your community of supporters through offline and online channels. Twitter is a great tool to have in your arsenal, but it’s the community that powers it. These tips should help you harness that power and start you off on the right foot to a successful fundraising campaign.

The following steps will guide you through the “rules” of engagement.

First Things First:

Don’t try to sell yourself in 140 characters, but do tell stories. If all you do is tweet about yourself, and never provide value in your tweets, your followers will lose interest quickly. Keep your language casual. Talk about your supporters and what they have been able to accomplish. You can build the story with multiple tweets.
Provide value to the audience. This is a must to get your supporters engaged. Find a balance within your tweets by providing information (i.e., retweets from other organizations), a quote, inspiration and even entertainment to brighten their day.
Be true to yourself. But not at the expense of being heard. The biggest mistake nonprofits make on Twitter is when they tweet with the same voice they use in their letters from the executive director. It won’t work. If all you “give” is speeches on Twitter, you won’t have many people listen; they will move on. Talk and get involved with hashtags. Spotlight other people that are doing good things that are related to what your cause is doing. Provide value and you will build a much bigger social media following.

Fundraising Tips to Remember:

Demonstrate return on investment (ROI) from a donation. You are asking for help. Be sure to state your purpose clearly and concisely. Let people know why they should care about your cause, and be specific about how their contribution will benefit others. Potential supporters are more apt to respond to your ask if they know exactly what will become of the funds they are providing. You will ensure your organization’s credibility by being specific.

Communicate an achievable goal. “We need to raise $1,000 in the next hour to provide a safe place for 50 women and children to sleep tonight.” “If we get 20 new supporters today an anonymous donor will give $1,000 donation.” Make it realistic and achievable. Whatever your goal is, during the day, tweet out your progress. Be sure to time your online fundraising posts thoughtfully. People will lose interest in the idea of supporting your cause if the pattern of your tweets appears robotic and repetitive.

The power of friends. Friends inspire 33 percent* of the time! Take this opportunity to drive community and donor engagement around your nonprofit’s cause. Urge donors to post messages about their gifts on social networks to encourage their friends to give. You get two opportunities with this one – stay in touch with current supporters, get retweets and gain new supporters. Don’t forget to use RT (retweet), and #FF (Follow Friday) when calling out your friends to follow.
*Salsa online donor engagement survey.

A Few Thoughts Before you Tweet:

Match your branding, headlines and call to action. It’s all about the details. Make sure your donors are directed to a landing page that matches your tweet. When you are driving a donor to a branded page your conversion rate will be six times higher.
Follow up. If you are implementing a fundraising campaign be sure to plan your follow up before you ever send your first tweet. Know what you want your tweets to say, how often and what you expect your results to reflect. It is important to have a number of tweets ready so you can respond quickly and appropriately when the time comes.

And as most of you know, the real trick in raising money is to not give up. The same goes for Twitter. As you continue to build followers and spread your message and relevant news about your cause, those followers will step up and push your message as well.