The Ultimate Guide to Nonprofit Fundraising

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The Ultimate Guide to Nonprofit Fundraising

Introduction

Looking to raise more funds for your cause? Look no further! FrontStream’s Ultimate Guide to Nonprofit Fundraising offers information and insights on a huge array of topics you can use to raise more funds and do more good for your cause. You’ll learn how to reach more donors, build online fundraising plans, and discover events and inspiration to keep you and your community fired up – and that’s just the beginning.

 

Donors and Nonprofit Fundraisers

Why do donors give? Why do they stop giving? How can nonprofits reach them in a world overflowing with distractions? In this section, we’ll explore fundamental knowledge about donors and giving that answers these questions. You’ll also discover practical solutions for keeping your supporters engaged and fresh ways to grow your giving base.

How to Attract More Donors to Your Nonprofit Fundraiser

Increasing donations from generous supporters is one of a nonprofit’s main goals, but before asking for donations, nonprofits first need to identify appropriate target audiences and channels to reach them. Attracting more donors can increase awareness and bolster support for a nonprofit’s cause while helping raise funds more quickly.

The following are some tried-and-true methods to reach more donors and expand your donor network.

Do Your Research on Your Donor Personas

First and foremost, nonprofits can look at understanding their target audience. By creating donor personas, nonprofits can create lookalike audiences to reach a wider group of supporters likely to join their cause. Asking people to donate their money is a personal and sensitive request and should be done in a thoughtful way. By brainstorming with your team, you can identify whom to ask to donate. The following are several questions to get you and your team thinking about your nonprofit’s ideal donors:

· Where do they live?
· What is their age?
· What is their level of education?
· What is their income range?
· What channels of communication do they prefer?
· What social media platforms are they most active on?
· What event/program prompted their initial donation (or past donation)?

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Educate Your Potential Donors

Nonprofits – no matter how big, small, well-known, or new-on-the-scene – should not expect potential givers to know their mission and core values off the top of their heads. It’s important for nonprofits to educate potential donors before asking for their money; people are more inclined to give when they know where their hard-earned money is going. 

Your nonprofit likely already has a meaningful origin story and employees with an endless passion for the cause – be sure to tell your purpose and sell it! Educating your potential donors through thoughtful storytelling can help them relate to the cause and start fostering a relationship between the donor and the nonprofit, which can lead to repeat donations.

What to Consider When Educating Donors

· Highlighting successful programs your nonprofit implemented with the funds raised.
· Sharing personal stories of people who were positively impacted by your nonprofit’s work
· Including transparent explanations on your donation page, next to your donation form, of what each donation contributes. 

4 Ways to Ask for Donations for Your Nonprofit Fundraising

Once the potential donors are up-to-speed on your purpose and have expressed interest in learning more or helping out, it’s time to make the ask. And since hosting a nonprofit fundraiser is one of the most successful methods for raising a lot of funds for your cause, we put together this list of useful tools that will help convert your community of supporters and website visitors into donors.

Organize a Nonprofit Fundraiser

As we mentioned above, nonprofit fundraisers are a great way to attract more donors. Many nonprofits host various fundraisers throughout the year, ranging from small, grassroots fundraisers to massive campaigns that exist on a global scale. Nonprofit fundraisers include peer-to-peer fundraising, crowdfunding, and online auctions, to name a few. Nonprofits should focus on the type of fundraising experience and personal storytelling technique while also considering ways to incorporate online giving into an in-person fundraising event. (Hosting virtual events is a great way to target specific donor personas.)

Use a Well-Crafted Donation Form

In today’s digital age, online donation forms are a great way for nonprofits to easily solicit funds from donors. Donation forms are digital tools used to collect donor information to process a donation. To personalize the giving experience, nonprofits can invest in technology that allows them to customize donation form questions and fields – such as an option to make the donation a recurring gift, or implement suggested donation amounts – while maintaining the look and feel of the donation form through branding.

Incorporate “Donate Now” Buttons Throughout Your Site

To make donating even more convenient, nonprofits can incorporate “donate now” buttons throughout their site. Once a donor clicks the button, the donation form will pop up for easy completion. Donate Now buttons should be clearly visible on your nonprofit’s site without intruding on the user experience. Donation forms and Donate Now buttons simplify and speed up the donation process.

Thank Your Community for Donating to Your Nonprofit’s Fundraiser

One of the most important part of attracting and retaining donors is to always thank them for their charitable contributions. Showing gratitude to donors via considerate donation thank you letters or emails is a surefire way to promote repeat giving. Thanking donors goes a long way toward cultivating lasting donor relationships and is a key part of successful donor retention programs. Here are some simple but sincere ways to show appreciation for your donors:

· Include a thank you note in the donation confirmation page after a donation is made
· Send a personalized thank you email that doubles as a confirmation/receipt to thank them for their donation
· Write a handwritten thank you letter (prioritize this after a second donation, on the anniversary of their first donation, around the holiday season and/or during your Giving Tuesday campaign)
· Thank donors on your social media platforms and be sure to tag them
· Create a donor spotlight page on your website to profile your most active supporters
· Host an annual or semi-annual donor appreciation event, either in-person or on a live stream

Why Do Donors Donate to Nonprofit Fundraisers?

Every donor has a reason – a story – behind why they give. It’s wise to listen to these personal anecdotes to better understand  what motivates people to contribute to a cause. With this insight, you can personalize your messaging, increase donor engagement, and raise more funds.

Donors are Mission-Focused Altruists

It’s not surprising that many donors are simply trying to give back and support their local community and causes across the globe. It gives donors great pride and joy to be a part of a mission that is bigger than themselves. Altruistic donors are helpers and problem-solvers with idealistic visions of a better future. These selfless givers should be the  main target audience of any nonprofit.

Donors Trust Your Nonprofit Fundraiser

For donors, it’s also vital that they trust the nonprofit they’re supporting. Nonprofits must gain donors’ trust; in fact, according to a recent Give.org Donor Trust Report, 63.9% of respondents rated the importance of trusting a charity before they give as a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. Strategically thinking about why your nonprofit exists, what problem(s) you’re addressing, and the direct impact of donors’ funds helps to build credibility for your organization. Trust, transparency, and effective communication are key aspects of any fundraising campaign.

Donors Enjoy the Social Aspect of Nonprofit Fundraisers

What’s more thrilling and rewarding than helping a cause via raising funds for a nonprofit you care about? Doing it with friends and family! We are all social creatures who love building long-lasting relationships. Peer-to-peer fundraising events – like walks, runs, rides, digital campaigns, and DIY fundraisers – are a great way to encourage teamwork and fun while giving back. Giving is inspirational – when we see our friends getting involved with a charitable organization, we follow their lead.

Donors Are Personally Affected by Your Cause

Whether it’s the donor themselves or a close family member or friend who is intimately affected by the problems your cause is determined to solve, those with a personal connection are likely to want to become part of the solution. Their proximity to the issue at hand extends to their network of family, friends, and coworkers, who often give as well.

By investigating the personal reasons why donors give, you can tailor your fundraising campaigns to attract and retain these donors. In a world that’s becoming increasingly digital, nonprofits must learn to engage with donors virtually. Acknowledging digital donors’ reasons for donating in the first place can help customize email campaigns, website copy, and social media posts to keep them inspired and involved.

Why Do Donors Stop Donating to Nonprofits?

Just as every donor has a story behind why they give, those who don’t give/put their giving on pause – or stop giving entirely – likely have a specific reason behind their actions. Pay attention to any potentially deterrent activities you might do inadvertently that could drive donors away from your nonprofit fundraising so you can quickly remediate them as soon as possible.

Here are some key reasons why donors stop donating to nonprofits:

You’re Over or Under Communicating About Your Nonprofit Fundraising

Communication is everything, and these days, if it’s not clear, customized, and compelling, it might as well not happen. Donors grow frustrated when nonprofits reach out too often or too infrequently, for example. By spamming donors with emails, texts, written mail, or a combination of the three, donors are quickly turned off by the incessant requests for donations. 

On the other hand, if your nonprofit doesn’t reach out enough, your request can get lost in the shuffle. Finding a happy medium for how much to communicate with your donors will help you maintain a healthy donor roster.

Donors’ Financial Situation Changed

For many donors, especially repeat or monthly givers, sustaining their donation over the course of their lifetime becomes costly. When certain situations arise – such as buying a house, starting a family, putting children through college, unexpected hospital bills, and more – they might have to pause their recurring donation.

Whether they decrease the amount or frequency of their donations or stop altogether, it’s important for nonprofits to stay in touch with the donor. Don’t burn any bridges – you never know when the donor could come back!

Donors Feel Like They’re Being Taken for Granted

A simple Thank You goes a long way. Donors are altruistic, generous people who give their hard-earned money to support your cause. But, if the donor feels like he or she is being taken advantage of, ignored, or not appreciated, they may call it quits. Nonprofits have the obligation to thank their donors, early and often. In fact, nonprofits should send notes of gratitude to their donors more than they solicit donations. Make sure your donors know how valuable they are to your nonprofit by thanking them.

Lack of Transparency

It might seem like an obvious, but communicating where donor are going is sometimes overlooked by nonprofits. Transparency and accountability are key to establishing trust with donors to ensure their continued support. Think about it – would you continue donating to an organization if you had no idea how your money was being used? Unlikely. Your organization should make it easy for donors to stay updated on your progress and a part of that is providing them with details on how and who they are helping with each donation. Share with your donors how their support specifically helps the cause.

Donor attraction and retention for nonprofits can be tricky, so nonprofits must take extra care that they don’t participate in any of the above fundraising faux pas to avoid deterring donors.

How to Reach Donors in the Digital Age

Traditionally, many nonprofits collect checks and cash from in-person fundraisers, which is then deposited and distributed according to the organization’s  mission. In a world where everyone is glued to their screen in the palm of their hand, it’s important to meet donors when and where they are connected and provide other options to donate, including mobile giving options. In the previous section on how to attract more donors, we discussed how utilizing online donation forms and incorporating Donate Now buttons throughout your site are two quick and convenient ways to engage donors. We’re taking that one step further to examine the best ways to reach digital donors on a smartphone, tablet, or other mobile device.

Reaching Donors through Social Media

The advent of social media changed the way people consume and share content, engage in social activities, and entertain themselves as we know it – as well as how nonprofits fundraise. Now, virtually every potential donor spanning all locations and generations is consistently active on various social media platforms. Nonprofits should be aware of which groups of donors prefer which channels, such as:

· Facebook being a source primarily for Gen X and baby boomers
· Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Twitter being preferred platforms for Gen Z and millennials

Remember donor personas? Your team can research and discuss internally which social media platforms your ideal donor prefers and, therefore, how to pursue them. Social media is a powerful way to reach digital donors – 55% of people who engage with nonprofits on social media end up taking some sort of action, with 59% of that group donating money.

Incorporating a social media strategy to attract donors, is now a standard engagement and retention plan for reaching new and existing supporters as you drive them to your online giving campaigns. Although some social media tools have digital donation capabilities directly integrated into them, you may want to consider sticking to your own digital hub and events for donation drives. This is because most social media platforms with donation capabilities do not share crucial information with nonprofits to help them grow their fundraising programs, such as donation totals and donor data. Without this information, performing an analysis of  your campaign is impossible.

But, utilizing social media to drive traffic to your donation campaign is a bonus that boosts digital donations. Also, communicating via posts and “shares” helps you recruit volunteers, engage with your target audience, and promote  your brand and mission. And the more people see their peers promote their charitable giving on social media, the more likely they are to donate themselves.

Maximizing the Use of Fundraising Apps

Fundraising apps are similar to social media but allow for even more control over and customization of the look and feel. 81.6% of Americans, or 270 million people, own a smartphone today.. With that, many potential donors are on their smartphones daily, downloading and using various apps. It’s a no-brainer that nonprofits should leverage mobile apps in their digital fundraising efforts.

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Virtual Fundraising Events for Nonprofits

So far in FrontStream’s Ultimate Guide to Nonprofit Fundraising, we’ve learned how to attract more donors, reach donors in the digital age, and the reasons why donors give and stop giving. But what specific types of fundraising should your nonprofit focus on? One “fan favorite” is  charity events. Nonprofit fundraising events are engaging experiences that help drive your mission forward.

In this section, we’ll take a closer look at virtual fundraising events. Virtual fundraising events are increasingly popular and necessary in today’s global climate. For years, nonprofit fundraisers have focused on in-person events like charitable auctions and peer-to-peer fundraising events. Now, they are shifting these in-person events online to access a wider audience. You’ll learn the best kinds of virtual fundraising events, how to successfully organize online charity auctions, and how to bring Peer-to-Peer (P2P) and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) fundraising events online. Let’s dive in!

What are the Best Kinds of Virtual Nonprofit Fundraising Events? 

There are many ways for nonprofits to host fundraisers, and virtual fundraisers are a great option for innovative and creative nonprofits looking to excite and expand their donor network. But some nonprofits might be initially intimidated by the sound of a virtual fundraising event – What does that mean? What does it entail? Will I need to be well-versed in complex technology? The truth is, that virtual fundraisers are quicker and easier to set up than ever.

Here are some innovative ways to raise funds virtually:

Host a Virtual Walk, Run or Ride

Some of the most popular types of virtual fundraising events are actually events many nonprofits would do in person, such as walks, runs, and bike rides. Many nonprofits whose events are postponed or canceled due to extenuating circumstances, or inclement weather, shift their events online. A fresh level with a "virtual twist" to reach a bigger audience; that way, supporters in rural areas or supporters juggling hectic, packed schedules can  participate in fundraising events for their favorite causes that they might not have been able to access before. 

Virtual walks, runs, and rides allow participants to engage on their own time and track progress as they go. Plus, with options to customize and, gamify their progress, virtual events can be just as – if not more – engaging than in-person events. 

Check out this guide for planning a walk-a-thon for more tips.

Engage Donors with Livestream Fundraisers

Livestream fundraisers – sometimes referred to as “digital telethons” – are an up-and-coming virtual fundraising event during which a nonprofit streams a concert, video game, or just a behind-the-scenes look (think puppies and kittens for adoption at an animal shelter) in order to raise money. Nonprofits can livestream via social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube, or other popular social sites. (Many celebrities stream virtual concerts and hangouts for charity with enormous success.)

Your live stream doesn’t need to be fancy or fussy – in fact, something as simple as an inside look into where the funds will go is enough to get donors interested. If your nonprofit has famous or talented supporters, ask them to participate in a livestream event for your cause. Nonprofits looking to stay ahead of the curve would be smart to think about how livestreaming can play into their fundraising strategy.

Host an Online Auction

Going once, going twice – sold! What makes online auctions just as thrilling as in-person auctions is the ability for donors to bid anytime, anywhere – on their phones, tablets – you name it. This ensures the maximum amount of bidding. The easy-to-use software can help nonprofits keep track of their bid sheets, email and letter templates, shipping labels, auction catalogs, and more. Technology grants nonprofits a holistic view of auction results through comprehensive reporting on donors, auction items, and sponsors. Managing an online auction becomes a fun, frictionless experience.

Virtual fundraising events are here, and here to stay. Your nonprofit should leverage these techniques to reach more donors, raise funds, and drive your mission forward.

How to Organize Successful Online Charity Auctions

We touched on one specific type of virtual event in the previous section – online charity auctions. Successful online fundraising auctions require just as much planning and preparation as in-person events and virtual fundraisers, but when done right, they can be an enormous success at driving revenue for your nonprofit.

Here are some best practices for organizing a successful online fundraising auction:

Register Your Staff and Set Up Your Online Charity Auction

Finding a digital fundraising platform with robust event and auction management capabilities like FrontStream’s Panorama is the first step towards auction success. FrontStream’s online charity auction site, BiddingForGood, is the nonprofit industry’s premier 1.7 million-strong bidder destination site for auctions happening right now.

Once you decide on a tech platform and set up an account, register your staff so multiple users can collaborate on creating your nonprofit’s event. With easy-to-use tools and templates, you can make a unique branded homepage in under an hour. Panorama allows you to create mobile-optimized web pages  for on-the-go bidding. When setting up the auction, be sure to select the option to allow fundraisers and donors to participate from anywhere and on any device. Panorama customers can deploy their auctions on BiddingForGood, making an auction invite-only or public to any bidder around the world.

Take Inventory of Your Items

Now, it’s time to take inventory of your items. This could include new items or items from previous events you’re putting up for auction again. Think outside of the box – the more thought and creativity you put into your auction items, the more engaged donors will be and the higher the bids.

To brainstorm ideas for auction items, try to answer the following questions: What is  free at your disposal ? Can you auction something tied directly to your mission? Are there any businesses in your area that are thriving right now and might welcome more customers? Often, businesses donate things to auctions because they hope to convert new customers. If you need some inspiration, check out our 101 ideas for auction items.

Take stock of the items you have and list a few items you’d like to request that won’t take a lot of phone calls or research. Focus on quality over quantity. Once you’ve finalized your list of auction items, enter them into the system and make a plan for any items you’d like to continue recruiting.

Promote Your Online Fundraising Auction

After you’re done polishing your auction homepage’s look – ensuring it’s mobile friendly – and procuring your items, it’s time to share, promote, and enable supporter participation for your auction via email and social media. You should be able to do this directly from your auction management solution, enabling automatic and frictionless bidder registration. It’s great to target your usual guest list, but be sure to include participants from all your other fundraising events. Unlike a traditional black-tie event, there’s no minimum to participate in an auction. There’s no ticket to buy, and anyone who wants to support you can bid, so cast a wide net.

In your email to supporters, ask them to share the link with their friends and family. Suggest they post the link on their social media profiles. And don’t forget to post about it on your own social media pages. Consider calling some of your major donors and let them know the auction is available online.

Host Your Online Silent Auction

Once you give your pre-auction checklist a final review, it’s show time! Keep in mind that after you publish your event, anyone that’s registered in the community can bid, including you. One of the benefits of hosting an online-only auction is that you get to decide when it opens and closes. List bigger items first to get momentum, and then add smaller items as you secure them. Check out our e-book "10 Secrets to a Successful Auction" for more insider tips.

Don’t wait until your auction closes to say thank you. Get your letters out to anyone who donated an item and send winner emails with tax receipts to anyone who won. Receipts should indicate the item purchased, the estimated value of the item, and the amount of the purchase. These emails can be used as a receipt for tax records, or you can still send your own standard tax letters. Nonprofits should include a leaderboard that features important items, showcases your sponsors, and acknowledges your donors right there on the homepage.

Stay Engaged and Grateful

After your online fundraising auction ends, the work doesn’t stop there – choose from several credit card processor options to securely process payments, run reports, and analyze results to build upon your success for the next go-around. FrontStream’s secure payment processing platform can be directly integrated into your auction and boasts Level-1 PCI compliance, so you’ll never have to worry. Your system should have reporting completely integrated with your auction, so you can quickly and easily review results in a comprehensive dashboard.

Thank bidders for their continued support in a post-auction follow-up note. Keep checking in with your supporters and members over the following weeks and months, and let them know if you have plans for another online auction.

Get Started with 101 Auction Item Ideas

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How to Bring Peer-to-Peer & DIY Fundraising Events Online

Virtual and DIY fundraising events can be a great way to drive donations and further your cause in lieu of an in-person event.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Becomes Virtual

Setting up a peer-to-peer virtual fundraising event, such as a walk, run, or ride, is easier than ever with technology platforms like Panorama by FrontStream, the industry’s leading, all-in-one digital fundraising platform for planning, managing, promoting, and securely processing payments for fundraising events. Simply set up an account, configure and personalize your event, and deploy in minutes. Share with your donors, so they can participate in your virtual event at the click of a button.


Major milestones, personal records, and comments of encouragement from participants and donors are prominently displayed in the dashboard. And a digital donation is more convenient than ever through built-in Donate Now buttons located on all donor-facing pages.

DIY Fundraising Goes Digital

Unlike typical in-person peer-to-peer events, such as a one-day bike ride for charity along a specific route, DIY events don’t require participants to attend an event that is limited to one specific date, time, or place. Instead, supporters can create fundraising programs on their own terms and timelines, taking advantage of a variety of ways to participate and support the organization.

In fact, anyone with a desire to raise money for their favorite charity can simply go online, design a customized campaign, and begin fundraising in mere minutes. Utilizing Panorama by FrontStream, you can quickly create a customized DIY event and send it out to your supporters and followers so they can create their own fundraising pages complete with photos and their personal reasons for supporting your mission. That will help your supporters promote on social media to expand your reach. 
You can also create branded, unlimited donation forms that link to any website or social feed. This allows individuals to continue to rally supporters and fundraise through a network of donors even when events are canceled.

For peer-to-peer and DIY fundraising events, staying active and healthy is a popular incentive for donors looking to effect positive change for the causes they care about. Nonprofits should consider getting supporters physically involved by creating a virtual step contest or walk-a-thon. Virtual peer-to-peer events and DIY events allow participants to engage and fundraise virtually at their own pace, in their own place.

Mobile Donations and Online Fundraising

Next up comes two modern fundraising strategies: online donations and mobile fundraising. Mobile fundraising options are accessible from any device and help reach a wider group of donors, who can donate on the go at the click of a button. Likewise, online donation options such as donate now buttons and customized donation pages are great ways to cast a wider net. Nonprofits should make good use of online donations and mobile fundraising options to raise more funds quickly and with less friction.

What are the Best Practices for Online Donations and Mobile Fundraising?

Accepting online donations and incorporating mobile fundraising options into your strategy are great ways for any nonprofit to ramp up its fundraising efforts. Online donation options – such as ‘donate now’ buttons and customized donation pages – help your nonprofit branch out and reach a bigger audience of potential donors. Mobile-friendly pages grant donors the power to give on the go whenever and wherever they please.

Add a Donation Page To Your Nonprofit Fundraiser

In today’s digital age, online donation pages are a great way for nonprofits to solicit funds from donors easily.  Donation pages are digital tools to collect donor information to process a donation. Donation pages should be easily accessible on your nonprofit’s website and fundraising campaigns. To personalize the giving experience, nonprofits should invest in technology that allows them to customize questions and fields – such as an option to make the donation a recurring gift, or implement suggested donation amounts – while maintaining the look and feel of the donation page through branding.

Incorporate "Donate Now" Buttons Throughout Your Site

To make donating even more convenient, you should incorporate the “Donate Now” buttons throughout your site. Once a donor clicks the button, the donation page will pop up for easy completion. Donate Now buttons are not  intrusive but should be clearly visible and actionable. Customized and branded donation pages and mobile-ready Donate Now buttons simplify and speed up the donation process, rallying your supporters around your nonprofit’s mission and helping drive more giving.

Leverage Social Media Fundraising Opportunities

Nonprofits would be remiss to exclude social media as a key channel for reaching donors. The advent of social media changed how  people consume and share content, engage in social activities, and entertain themselves as we know it – as well as how nonprofits fundraise. Virtually every donor – regardless of location or generation – is now active on various social media platforms.A social media strategy must be key to  your nonprofit’s donor engagement and retention plan. 

Digital Donations

Mobile donations are the future of fundraising; however, nonprofits should be sure to offer other ways to give to reach all supporters.

Opportunities to Enhance Donation Pages

The key to successful donation pages is keeping things simple.

Don’t forget to review the length of your page content. If your page is too long or requires a lot of information a donor doesn’t have on hand, they may not have the time to review the full content on the page. Providing donors with verifiable security measures- like PCI Level 1 compliant payment processing will help them feel comfortable inputting their credit card information.

Suggested donation amounts help to increase the overall donation amount, but your donation page should allow donors to put in a custom donation amount as well. Finally, donation pages must be integrated into your nonprofit’s fundraising platform. If your donation page doesn’t integrate with the rest of your fundraising, chances are you’ll miss out on thanking donors for their contributions and won’t have the most accurate fundraising total.

What are the Secrets to Increasing Mobile Giving?

Recently, mobile giving has increased by 205%. Below, we’ll take you through a few trade secrets to make your mobile nonprofit fundraising bigger and better.

Make the Most of Your "Donate Now" Buttons and Donation Forms

One of the best methods to increase fundraising for your nonprofit is to incorporate simple Donate Now buttons and customized, branded donation pages on your site, campaign page, and in emails. Donation pages allow on-the-go digital donors to quickly fill in required fields and donate right from their smartphones. Donate Now buttons, which, when clicked, prompt the donation page, should be strategically peppered throughout your site, campaign pages, and in emails so that all donors need to do is click, fill out the digital form, and hit submit.

Customization is Everything

Imagine how impressed and satisfied your donors will be when they see a clean, beautifully branded donation page that only requires them to fill out a few fields to donate. Digital donors are busy and don’t want to waste time inputting tons of information, so it’s crucial that your nonprofit minimize the number of fields they must complete. 

Double-check that your pages are mobile-responsive and that the formatting is both functional and attractive on a desktop, tablet, and smartphone. Digital donors might be deterred if they try to fill out a form on their phone and it takes forever to load, is glitchy, or the type is too big or too small to read.

Suggesting Donation Amounts

Suggested donation amounts encourage digital donors to give more. However, it’s important not to overshoot and suggest an amount that is too high, at risk of offending donors and causing them not to donate at all. Still, you don’t want to ask for too little. The best tip for donation amounts is to do your research – compare past donation amounts and come up with a range of suggested options.

Asking Your Digital Donors for Recurring Donations

Along with suggesting realistic donation amounts, setting up the ability for donors to give on a recurring basis is a great way to keep the donations flowing in. Your nonprofit can easily incorporate a box into the donation form that,  when checked, registers the donor for weekly, monthly, or annual giving. The goal here is for the donor to set it and forget it – but, of course, you should have clear instructions for how they can pause or end their recurring gift when they no longer are able to or wish to donate.

How to Create a Successful Internet Fundraising Campaign

These days, fundraising for nonprofits takes many different shapes and forms. One of the newer styles of nonprofit fundraising is internet fundraising, or fundraising online. Nonprofits looking to meet donors where they are should pay attention to this growing trend.

Leverage Your Internet Fundraising Strategy

Let’s face it – we spend a lot of our lives online. We shop, sell, create, socialize, and entertain ourselves on various digital devices, apps, and social media platforms. It makes sense that on-the-go donors would appreciate the convenience of donating online. As mentioned in the previous section, incorporating Donate Now buttons and donation forms throughout your site, campaign page, and social media channels can boost donations from digital donors. And, with the ability to opt into a recurring donation, donors can set it and forget it.

Level Up Your Nonprofit Fundraising Game with FrontStream

If you're looking to up your fundraising game, we've got all the insights and strategies you need to take your fundraising efforts to the next level. Our comprehensive tools and resources will help you maximize your nonprofit fundraising potential, so don’t hesitate to reach out to our fundraising experts anytime.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Nonprofit Fundraising

Here are some of the frequently asked questions about nonprofit fundraising:

1. What is Nonprofit Fundraising?

Nonprofit fundraising involves asking individuals, businesses, foundations, and government agencies for donations to support a cause or charity. It's all about seeking monetary and in-kind contributions to make a difference.

2. Is Fundraising Important for Nonprofits?

Many charitable nonprofits rely on the generosity of donors for funding, so fundraising is a really important activity.

3. What is a Fundraising Campaign?

A fundraising campaign is when nonprofits raise money for a specific cause over a long period of time. It's a way for them to let people know about their mission and ask for donations for a specific program or initiative.

4. What is the Rule of 3 in Fundraising?

The Rule of 3 in fundraising is all about identifying three authentic qualities about your organization, finding three natural channels of communication, and then promoting those three qualities through those channels three times a month for the next three months.

5. What Makes a Nonprofit Successful?

For a nonprofit to really make it, they need to have their finances in order, a dedicated group of volunteers, and strong leaders who are fully committed.

 

 

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