How to increase donations for your charity from your website

How to increase donations for your charity from your website

This article will teach how to increase the number of donations for your charity website. It is intended for smaller nonprofits with limited resources. There are no secret tips for increasing donations; instead, creating a dedicated base of fundraising contributors requires a series of little strategies. However, following these actions will assist you in making several modest changes to your charity supporter experience and increasing your opportunity to maximise goodwill, generosity, philanthropy and donations.

1. Tell interesting stories

You will only increase donations for your charity or nonprofit if potential donors and volunteers believe in your cause.

To create effective tales for your charity’s website, you must first identify and connect with your target audience. Then you must explain things in language that consumers will understand and connect to, such as ‘Suki earns the same as an ordinary UK worker earns each day in one year.’

Don’t get too caught up with the word count. The maximum word count can be just 500. The story’s narrative arc is far more significant than the information. A good story will frequently have elements of surprise, tension, emotion, or conflict. Before and after images, for example, can serve to establish a clear story.

Remember to split up the tale into short paragraphs and use headings, quotations, videos, numbers, and photos to make it more readable.

Finally, remember to add one unambiguous call to action. Make it clear what your user should do next, and make this step as simple as possible. The closer you can connect this to the plot, the more effective it will be.

Allowing them to take a significant and meaningful action might turn the reader into the story’s prospective hero.

2. Clearly illustrate the impact

Impact reports aren’t only for foundations. They are an effective element of your marketing funnel and may be used to increase donations for your charity.

While your homepage should clearly communicate the difference your organisation intends to achieve, impact pages should be brief, vibrant demonstrations of the progress you’ve made in a certain area over a specific time period.

Make the report as visually appealing as feasible. Consider maps, graphs, timelines, and photos, but don’t let this distract from the essential information.

This report on creating digital annual reports looks at ways to share your key achievements on a yearly basis.

Don’t confuse impact with outputs.

It is occasionally appropriate to discuss your outputs:

‘We spent only 5% of our budget on administration and 95% on philanthropic activities last year.’

However, discussing results is usually more effective:

‘Last year, we assisted 100 young guys in transitioning from the streets to their own apartment.’ 95 of them are still there today.’

3. Launch campaigns

Larger organisations rely on this, but many tiny charities pass it up because it appears to be too much labour. However, campaigns are more about understanding what inspires people to give than they are about generating new work.

Campaigns are effective because they create a sense of urgency. They clearly show why your audience should act now, not later, to increase donations for your charity.

A solid fundraising campaign or volunteer drive has a clearly defined objective and a time frame for achieving it. Because of these constraints, a campaign can only succeed or fail; it cannot just exist. This adds drama to the situation and is more intriguing than just begging for money.

Don’t be frightened of failing to meet your fundraising strategy objectives. This is all part of your journey, and one setback may serve as a solid foundation for future success.

You don’t have to create the next worldwide viral Ice Bucket Challenge to operate a successful charity campaign. A basic matched funding campaign is a terrific place to start. Here are some procedures to follow:

• Research with your large contributors about sponsoring your next matched-giving campaign. Try to set an ambitious but feasible goal.
• Define a specific goal for the funding, such as creating a new programme or acquiring a certain piece of equipment. The more concrete, the better.
• Set a set schedule for when the financing window will begin and finish.
• Warm up your pipeline of new, modest, or not-yet-donors through your mailing list and social networks. Inform them about the matching fund, the objectives, and the timetable.
• Create a content campaign for the financing period. This doesn’t have to be difficult; it might be tiny bits that take visitors through the details of your job.
• Run it, learn from it, and do it better the next time.

There are third-party contribution platforms that run these matched campaigns on a regular basis, so you could join them or just look at them for inspiration and do it yourself to maintain more control over the process and a stronger relationship with your contributors.

4. Make use of genuine photos

Much of good fundraising is about closing the gap between contributors and recipients, and photography may be a strong tool for doing so.

Stock photos are fine for getting your charity off the ground. They can, at the at least, provide an idea of who you deal with and so enrich your written messages on the website by adding depth to the words. However, as soon as possible, begin using genuine photographs to increase donations for your charity.

5. Show social proof

Social proof is crucial for two reasons: it builds trust and puts pressure on others.

Building trust and positive relationships with your fans is required before they will provide money. Whether it’s the first or fifty-first time they’ve heard from you, they’ll only donate if they’re convinced you’ll take good care of their money.

Here are some practical suggestions for incorporating social proof into your fundraising pages:

Tell what your supporters are saying about you.

These distinct voices make it much simpler for others to trust you and will help to increase donations for your charity.

Donation details should be provided.

Provide a variety of contribution choices, with one labelled “most popular.” Social pressure is a fact that you may use to persuade someone to contribute. We are sociable beings that like feeling generous. As a result, we are more willing to donate if we see others contribute, and the quantity they give influences us.

Publicise ‘thank you’ messages.

If you think it’s acceptable, you can make these anonymous. You might also request permission to publicly thank individuals, which could be much more effective. These public thanks serve the twin purpose of making the contributor feel valued while also boosting the likelihood that others will follow suit.

Share your progress toward your objectives.

If you want something less direct, consider being more forthcoming about your progress toward a certain campaign objective. You might announce how much money has been contributed so far or in the previous week/day. This creates the impression that your fans have a same aim and will help to increase donations for your charity.

6. Include a visible donation link

Although this may seem apparent, it is amazing how many websites make the contribution procedure difficult to locate. Making the process visible will not compel people to give you money. It will, however, make it much simpler for individuals who are tempted to quit up halfway through.

Check that your contribution link is prominent in your website’s header on both desktop and mobile. Also, make sure that the appropriate page (such as a narrative or impact page) includes a prominent donation link at the bottom, so that it’s the logical next step after reading the material.

7. Brand your donation procedure

Building and sustaining connections with your contributors is essential for online fundraising success. The worth of your charity’s brand is critical in maintaining trust with your supporters. A branded donation process to raise funds helps towards this.

Check for uniformity throughout your website and communication platforms. The use of various typefaces, colours, and tone of voice may all influence how contributors view your organisation. Donors want to support companies in which they have faith.

Check that the wording and call to action on your contribution and fundraising pages are consistent with what you’ve used in your marketing and communications. This is referred to as ‘message match,’ a marketing phrase referring to consistency across your campaign.

It may seem clear that you want to keep users on your website when they make a donation, but technological limits frequently prevent this from happening. Many charities direct their patrons to multiple websites with varying branding in order for them to give. These methods may even demand your donors to register an account with the third-party website before making a gift. This has a significant influence on the whole supporter trip and leads to missed donations, which can be prevented by implementing an effective donation procedure on your website.

Vendreo Pay allows your website to do this and will help to increase donations for your charity.

Using third-party platforms such as JustGiving and Virgin Money Giving, which heavily promote their own brand and demand exorbitant fees, might nonetheless be an effective way for event fundraising. That is a totally distinct use case since people who run marathons and other such events may use those platforms on a daily basis, and it makes the fundraiser’s job simpler if your charity has an account.

8. Packaging for donations

There are two major advantages of turning contributions into actual products:

• It eliminates options, making it simpler to say ‘yes.’
• It establishes a direct relationship between your influence and your actions.

When presented with too many options, website visitors encounter choice paralysis, which results in the decision being postponed, frequently indefinitely. You may eliminate this problem by eliminating options from the contribution procedure.

And if potential contributors don’t know where their money will go, they’re less inclined to donate.

Organisations that offer sponsorship programmes have long recognised this.

9. Provide incentives

You must reward your donations in order for them to feel appreciated by your organisation. In the UK, Gift Aid provides extra incentive to philanthropists.

Thank your supporters

Often, the only thing individuals want is to be recognised, to know they aided a worthwhile cause, and to feel good about it. Make an effort to thank them both individually and personally. If you’re organised, this isn’t difficult or expensive.

Explain the significance

To make individuals understand that their contribution is making a difference, tell them so. This might be basic and generic, or it could be related to a specific project that the donor has supported.

Make it well known

People rarely laud their own praises, at least not in the UK. However, they are unlikely to mind if you publicly appreciate and praise them. Use Twitter and Facebook to thank your contributors and highlight the effect their contributions are making. Thanking them for their support in general prevents any potential embarrassment.

Send a souvenir

This may be difficult to get right, and it’s critical not to squander money on making large quantities of tangible products that people don’t care about. However, well-targeted, tasteful tokens like as t-shirts, fridge magnets, framed images, and so on may be an effective way to engage with your donor.

Make membership or affiliation available

Membership does not have to be official, but it can serve to foster a sense of community and belonging. An ‘inner circle’ of committed supporters might feel a feeling of ownership over the cause and can be counted on to become active and offer important input more than most. Although it may appear scary, it is easy to construct a membership website on a very little expense to increase donations for your charity.

10. Establish a goal

Setting your goal and letting people know how to help you get there may be incredibly motivating and encourage people to donate since they feel they are contributing to a greater aim.

Setting target amounts for each campaign to raise can encourage fundraisers to help you get there.

11. Make it Easy!

• Can your visitors readily discover the information they need?
• Is your contribution button or page visible on your website?
• How many clicks does it take for someone to make a donation?

One of the primary advantages of online donations is the speed and convenience they provide for your donors. Unfortunately, far too many charity overcomplicate the online giving procedure.

Donors are ready to donate as they arrive at your contribution page. You should provide customers as few steps as possible to finish a donation. This entails limiting the amount of fields on your contribution form and allowing donors to donate without asking them to log in or create an account.

You don’t want to divert a donor’s or potential donor’s attention away from the act of donating. Remove the navigation tab in your website’s header, sidebars, and any other calls to action if possible (like newsletter sign-up forms, menu tabs, etc). Only include the details that will assist them in completing the contribution.

Your contribution procedure should be simple to grasp and require little, if any, coaching. It’s not simple if you have to explain it!

With 26% of UK donations made online, according to the most recent UK Giving study, it’s critical for charities to have an easy-to-use online donation form on their websites.

People give up if contributing is too difficult. Make your contribution form simple, user-friendly, and, most importantly, mobile responsive while designing it. According to the Charitable Donations 2018 report, internet giving to UK non-profit organisations climbed by 5.5% in 2018, indicating that charities are taking this type of advice into consideration.

12. Keep asking!

The sole call to action provided to supporters on many charity websites is the “Donate Now” button. This squanders a significant chance to engage different sorts of supporters in various ways and to tie their gift to a specific impact right from the start of the trip.

Charities tell us that having many online appeals or fundraising campaigns running on your website at the same time is one of the most successful methods to increase donations. Some contributors may prefer to contribute to one project over another. Each one should be linked to the precise effects of the donations.

Another advantage of launching online appeals on a frequent basis is that they provide new reasons for supporters to donate, with the option of tying each new appeal journey you design to a new marketing campaign.

13. Make your website easy to find

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is a range of techniques used to help a website get traffic from and rank higher in organic search engine results, resulting in increased traffic and the potential of racing the amount of funds coming in .

Producing web content about your work and topics relevant to your charity will help to boost the SEO value of your web pages and help your website rank higher for the keywords you feature in it.

According to Augmun Solutions Ltd, regularly producing articles, refreshing existing ones and writing blogs can all help drive the SEO value of your website and thus increase donations for your charity.

Remember, having broken pages and 404 errors will negatively impact your ranking, so make it a habit to review your website regularly to make sure all your pages are working and still relevant.

14. Make best use of Social Media

Whether you want to promote your next charity event, generate buzz for a campaign you’re conducting, raise the profile of volunteers, or just show supporters the effect you’re having, social media is an essential tool that no fundraiser should be without.

Social media is critical to various types of fundraising, such as crowdfunding, which is frequently dependent on social media presence and involvement.

There are lots of different social media channels available, all of which take time, work, and effort to be effective.

This emphasises the need of being selective about which ones you use, taking into account which platforms your contributors are most likely to use and what you hope to accomplish through social media.

Although Facebook is one of the most popular social media network in the world, generations interact differently with different platforms.

In general, Millennials (those born between the early 1980s and the mid-1990s) dominate the Twitter and Snapchat spaces. On the other hand, Generation X (late 1960s to early 1980s) and Baby Boomers (late 1940s to early 1960s) are much more likely to use Facebook and LinkedIn.

Users in Generation Z (born between the late 1990s and the mid 2000s) are more likely to use camera-based social platforms and share personalised content on Instagram and Snapchat.

Whether for fundraising or simply raising awareness, charities must understand who their supporters are and who they would like to reach out to.

Only once you’ve created these audience profiles will you be able to determine which social media channels are best for you.

15. Set your strategy by asking the right questions

• What is the charity’s mission?
• What are the charity’s main goals?
• How does the nonprofit plan to increase charitable donations?
• What are some of the challenges the charity faces in increasing donations?
• What are some potential donor demographics the nonprofit is targeting?
• What are some of the key strategies the charity is using to increase donations?
• What are some of the challenges the charity faces in reaching potential donors?
• What are some of the key messaging points the charity is using to increase donations?
• What are some of the challenges the charity faces in communicating with potential donors?
• What are some of the challenges the nonprofit faces in stewarding charitable donors?
• Are you doing enough to encourage volunteer participation?

16. Combine all of the tactics listed above

While each of the concepts in this post can have an influence on its own, the true impact is evident when they are combined.

Asking for help is generally more productive if you already have a relationship with the potential giver. As a result, you must engage them over time with additional material, information, events, and campaigns.

To establish your group of supporters, consider people at various phases of their journey with you. People may progress from being a visitor to a volunteer to a supporter to a big donor. This trip may take some time, and you will want to express various things to various people. But, this will help to increase donations for your charity.