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Fundraising Tuesday: How Passive Fundraising Can Boost Your Nonprofit’s Revenue

July 9, 2024 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Korri Piper of ShopRaise

Imagine launching another new fundraiser for your nonprofit’s cause without having to invest in event promotion or ask donors to give more out of their own pockets. Passive fundraising can make that dream a reality!

ShopRaise’s passive fundraising guide points out that there are still a few active steps you must take to make these campaigns successful, such as thanking participants and marketing—but this is a small effort compared to other fundraising activities. Plus, these low-hassle initiatives offer a high return on investment as small contributions add up over time.

Let’s unpack a few ways that passive fundraising can boost your nonprofit’s revenue.

Provides a steady revenue stream

Because passive fundraisers can be run year-round, they create a dependable stream of revenue that supplements income from your other campaigns. For example, donors can continue participating in your shopping fundraiser every time they make an online purchase, even if you also host a one-time virtual or in-person event.

With this steady source of income, your nonprofit can:

  • Increase its financial sustainability: Passive fundraisers allow nonprofits to collect donations fairly steadily. This way, you can predict your income more easily and stabilize your financial health.
  • Reduce the pressure to fundraise: When your nonprofit needs funds, you might be scrambling to find a successful fundraising idea. Passive fundraisers provide a steady source of income to sustain your operations without constantly planning new campaigns.
  • Use resources efficiently: Generating income passively enables your nonprofit to allocate its resources to mission-critical activities. For example, a matching gifts tool that automates match requests can double the donations you already receive, providing more income that your nonprofit can use to develop its programs or improve community outreach.

Plus, when you host passive fundraisers alongside your other campaigns, you’ll receive funds from a variety of sources. This way, your nonprofit can recover quickly in case a funding source falls through or you incur higher expenses than expected.

Increases donor engagement

Donor data collection, segmentation strategies, and personalization likely describe your nonprofit’s donor engagement plan. In addition to these strategies, passive fundraising offers a unique way to catch their attention and keep them interested in giving.

Let’s take a look at the ways passive campaigns lead to increased engagement using the example of a shopping fundraiser:

  • They make giving convenient: Passive fundraisers allow donors to contribute without altering their regular routines. With a shopping fundraiser, donors can participate simply by downloading an app or browser extension and making purchases online as usual. This makes donors more willing to participate in your fundraiser.
  • They deepen donor involvement: Since they require such little effort, passive fundraisers ease your donors into increasing amounts of support. Using our example of shopping fundraisers, supporters connect with your organization first by shopping for your cause. Over time, their small contributions will keep your mission top-of-mind and can encourage them to explore other involvement opportunities, especially if you thank them for their contributions.
  • They create a sense of community: By helping donors give in easy ways, passive fundraisers let supporters feel like a part of your nonprofit’s community. Donors can serve the common goal of contributing to your mission through everyday activities, such as shopping online.

Passive fundraisers don’t just increase engagement—they also help you engage more donors. The low commitment of these campaigns makes them accessible to a wider range of donors. This way, your nonprofit can raise more by reaching more donors.

Keeps fundraising costs to a minimum

The saying “You have to spend money to make money” is often true for nonprofit fundraising—most campaigns are an investment. Whether you pay for a venue, tech support, or an omnichannel marketing campaign, the costs can quickly add up.

Passive fundraisers, on the other hand, are designed to generate funds with little to no direct expense. They’re highly cost-effective and help you raise more by spending less. Here’s how:

  • They minimize upfront costs: Setting up a passive fundraiser requires little to no upfront spending, depending on the type of fundraiser you run. Also, many of these fundraisers, like gift card campaigns, raise unrestricted revenue that you can put toward any area of your budget.
  • They have lower administrative costs: Since passive fundraisers run themselves, most of their processes are automated. This means less spending on staffing, volunteer coordination, or other administrative costs. Some passive fundraising platforms will even provide marketing support, so you can save money on promoting your campaign as well.
  • They offer a high return on investment (ROI): Reduced costs and continuous funding make passive campaigns a lucrative fundraising method. Although individual contributions from passive fundraisers are usually small, they add up over time to make a significant difference for your mission.

Before starting a passive fundraiser, create a plan for how you’ll use the revenue from those campaigns. With a designated purpose for your passive fundraising income, you can focus instead on allocating your resources where needed to fund your initiatives and overhead expenses.

Getting Attention calls digital fundraising “one of the most effective ways to…meet supporters where they are.” This is the key to passive fundraising! Your nonprofit can boost its revenue by making donations easy for both you and your supporters. When you consider the ways it can boost your nonprofit’s revenue, passive fundraising is a no-brainer!


Korri Piper, Sales and Marketing Consultant & Director of Vendor Relationships at ShopRaise

Relationship director, project manager, writer and general life enthusiast. Let me tell you how online shopping can solve the world’s problems.

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Fundraising Tuesday: The End of AmazonSmile (Everything Nonprofits Need to Know)

March 21, 2023 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post by Korri Piper at ShopRaise

Online shopping and online fundraising have both grown in popularity in recent years, leading to major changes for both for-profit businesses and nonprofit organizations. Shoppers not only gravitate toward online retailers, but they’re also interested in making a difference through their purchases.

In 2013, Amazon.com came up with a solution that combined all of these trends: AmazonSmile.

AmazonSmile provided a convenient way to donate while shopping online. The small contributions from this easy-to-run passive fundraising program added up over time to aid the fundraising efforts of more than a million organizations. However, on January 18, 2023, Amazon announced they would be discontinuing the Smile program on February 20.

In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about the discontinuation of AmazonSmile and its effects on nonprofits like yours by answering the following questions:

  • What was AmazonSmile?
  • Why was AmazonSmile discontinued?
  • How has the end of AmazonSmile affected nonprofits?
  • What next steps can nonprofits take?

What was AmazonSmile?

Founded by Amazon.com as one of their business philanthropy initiatives, AmazonSmile was a program that allowed shoppers to give back to their favorite nonprofits while making everyday online purchases. Shoppers could conveniently contribute through purchases that they were going to make anyway at no additional cost. Plus, they could support a wide range of nonprofits, from enterprise-level groups to the smallest community organizations.

For nonprofits, AmazonSmile provided a free, easy way to bring in extra revenue all year long. The program did have its disadvantages, such as its low commission rates—just 0.5% of a supporter’s total purchase went back to the nonprofit. Also, shoppers could only contribute through purchases made on Amazon.com, and nonprofits couldn’t view data on which supporters participated, making it impossible to thank those donors individually. But it was a creative idea that kept supporters engaged and supplemented countless organizations’ annual fundraising efforts.

Why was AmazonSmile discontinued?

In their news release about the end of AmazonSmile, Amazon.com announced that they would be focusing their philanthropic efforts on other programs. Because more than a million organizations participated in AmazonSmile, the business’s leadership said they felt like their “ability to have an impact was often spread too thin.”

The move came alongside other cost-cutting measures for Amazon.com, including widespread layoffs. However, during the transition, Amazon.com has pledged to donate the equivalent of three months of AmazonSmile revenue to each participating organization based on their 2022 earnings. They will also continue to encourage nonprofits to ask for in-kind donations by sharing their Amazon wishlists with supporters.

How has the end of AmazonSmile affected nonprofits?

Despite Amazon’s pledges to ease the transition, many nonprofits have already shared how the discontinuation of AmazonSmile will affect their fundraising. Small to mid-sized organizations in particular pointed out that the ongoing revenue stream made a major difference in their ability to further their mission with limited resources. The discontinuation also eliminated an accessible way for supporters to give to these organizations.

This transition has affected nonprofits’ financial planning as well, particularly because of its timing. According to Jitasa, most nonprofits create a new operating budget at the end of each fiscal year so it can be approved before the next fiscal year begins. Nonprofits whose fiscal year follows the calendar year had likely already finalized their operating budgets when Amazon made the announcement. Learning in January that one of their revenue sources would be discontinued in February has left little time to figure out how to replace that funding.

What next steps can nonprofits take?

The approach to and timing of AmazonSmile’s discontinuation leaves a gap in many nonprofits’ fundraising strategies. If your organization is among those, you’re probably considering how to make up the ongoing revenue you’ll no longer receive. Fortunately, there’s a free and easy solution available: partnering with a dedicated online shopping fundraiser program.

How Online Shopping Fundraiser Programs Work

Participating in an online shopping fundraiser program works similarly to AmazonSmile. Supporters can contribute to your nonprofit as they make everyday online purchases. But rather than being tied to a specific retailer, these programs leverage a wide partner network of e-commerce businesses. When a supporter shops at any participating retailer using the program’s app or browser extension, a percentage of their purchase goes to a nonprofit of their choice.

ShopRaise’s guide to shopping for a cause explains how your organization can get started with an online shopping fundraiser program in three easy steps:

  • Sign your nonprofit up. The program’s fundraising experts will walk you through a simple onboarding process, answer any questions you may have, and handle all negotiations with retailers for you.
  • Market your fundraiser. If your organization is switching from AmazonSmile to a new online shopping program, you’ll need to make supporters aware of the change and regularly remind them to use the app and browser extension as they shop online. The online shopping fundraiser program can help with this step by creating branded flyers, email templates, and other marketing materials for your nonprofit.
  • Track your results. You’ll be able to view real-time fundraising data, allowing you to thank your top supporters individually and see how their contributions add up to make a difference for your organization.

Once your organization is onboarded, online shopping fundraisers are fairly hands-off. All you’ll need to focus on is marketing and tracking results.

Benefits of Online Shopping Fundraiser Programs

Besides helping fill the gap created by the discontinuation of AmazonSmile, online shopping fundraiser programs have several other benefits for nonprofits like yours, including:

  • Bringing in unrestricted funding. You can put the contributions from your online shopping fundraiser toward any area of your organization’s budget, including operating expenses.
  • Providing flexibility for different organizations. Nonprofits of all sizes can fundraise through an online shopping program—along with schools, faith-based organizations, community groups, and even sports teams!
  • Increasing your fundraising capabilities as compared to AmazonSmile. Other online shopping fundraiser programs can get commission rates as high as 10% depending on the purchase, as compared to AmazonSmile’s 0.5% average rate.

Online shopping fundraiser programs also benefit supporters by allowing them to shop more ethically as they go about their daily lives. Plus, they can contribute to your nonprofit with little effort and at no additional cost.


Korri Piper, Sales and Marketing Consultant & Director of Vendor Relationships at ShopRaise – Bio

Relationship director, project manager, writer and general life enthusiast. Let me tell you how online shopping can solve the world’s problems.

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