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6 Top Features of a Successful Online Donation Page

October 6, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

A guest post from Abby Jarvis at Qgiv

If you had asked a nonprofit twenty-five years ago how they asked for donations, they likely would have responded with some combination of in-person appeals, direct mail solicitation, phone donations, and fundraising events.

Today, many of those traditional methods are alive and well but have been joined by new online approaches.Online has been a growing trend due to convenience—donors can give on the go without digging in their pockets for cash or a check.

But now, online fundraising is more than just convenient—it’s critical. In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, online options like text-to-give, crowdfunding, and virtual events are the safest ways to engage with supporters.

These digital strategies all converge in one place: your nonprofit’s website. If your donation page is confusing, too long, or—worse—broken, visitors will abandon the page before making a donation. In order to succeed with your virtual fundraising campaigns, you must create a well-designed and functional donation page. 

We’re going to take a look at some of the key components that every great online donation page should have. We’ll break down these six key characteristics that will help your nonprofit’s online donation page stand out and raise more:

  1. Make your donation page easy to find.
  2. Keep the clutter out.
  3. Offer different giving amounts.
  4. Keep it short and sweet.
  5. Offer recurring donations.
  6. Include social media info.

Let’s jump in!

1. Make your donation page easy to find.

This tip relates more to your overall website than to the content of the donation page itself. But clear and intuitive navigation is an important component your nonprofit absolutely cannot afford to overlook.

Imagine this scenario: a potential donor finds themselves on your nonprofit’s blog, sifting through articles you’ve posted over the past few years. One story in particular tugs at their heartstrings, and they feel moved to give to your cause.

But they’re months back in your archive, and you don’t have calls to action on any of your posts. Instead, the user ends up clicking back and forth several times to different pages, looking for a way to give.

They eventually give up because your donation page wasn’t easy to locate.

The issue could have been easily solved had you included a link to the donation form in any (or all) of the following ways:

  • Eye-catching call to action graphics
  • Throughout blog posts
  • At the footer of your website
  • In a prominent location on your navigation menu (Pro tip: make it a contrasting color that makes it even easier to find!)
  • On your website’s homepage

Making your donation page easy to locate is the first step in receiving more online donations.

2. Keep the clutter out.

Your donation page should be free of distractions and links that might lead users away from your form before they complete the donation process.

Once you have a potential donor on your page, you want to make sure they stay there for a while. 

This is not the place to link to blog content or embed a full-screen video about your nonprofit’s mission. You can still include images and text that enhance your donation page, but don’t push donors away before they have a chance to finish their donation! As this guide to digital fundraising discusses, an overwhelming number of images can detract and distract from the main content.

For an example of a donation page that uses content to drive donations rather than distract, see what Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northern New Jersey does:

BBBS NJ donation form

The BBBS of Northern New Jersey explains to donors where their donations are going and reminds them that the form is secure. The text and image at the top of their donation form adds to the giving experience and doesn’t confuse or distract donors.

Adding a single, emotional image and compelling copy at the top of your donation page will remind donors of why they’re giving in the first place.

Any more than that, and you run the risk of leading donors away from the donation form.

3. Offer different giving amounts.

When you give donors the chance to choose from a buffet of giving suggestions, your nonprofit ends up receiving higher donation amounts over time. But why?

To answer that question, let’s consider two scenarios:

  1. Supporters land on a donation page with an empty field next to “Donation Amount.”
  2. Supporters land on a donation page with multiple suggested giving levels, for instance, between $25 and $250.

On the first donation page, a donor might give $20. On the second, they may decide to opt for the $25 gift because it’s an easy choice. The options that have been laid out for them can lead to a more generous donation.

Of course, you should always include an “Other” field where donors can fill in their own amount. But offering different giving levels on your online donation form can inspire donors to give larger contributions, especially if the suggested amounts are slightly higher than their original gift.

You can also use the suggested donation amounts to illustrate the impact of the donation. This improves transparency and creates a stronger emotional connection between the donor and your mission—hopefully yielding a larger donation!

For instance, this form from Styles4Kidz helps donors visualize what each donation will accomplish:

donation form

By showing donors examples of what their donations will go toward, your nonprofit is able to reassure them that their contributions aren’t just going in a general fund. They also may choose a higher giving level when they can see the tangible difference their donation can make!

Morweb’s guide to donation page design also advises listing other ways to contribute, such as volunteer opportunities, event registration information, or matching gift information.

4. Keep it short and sweet.

Donors don’t want to fill out a donation form that requires them to give an overwhelming amount of information.

And, while your nonprofit has to collect some information, you should keep the fields that donors have to fill out to a minimum. Get the donor’s name, contact information, and payment details, but leave things like communication preferences for another time.

This way, your supporters don’t get irritated halfway through the donation form and leave in a huff. Plus, they won’t have an excuse to put off making a donation for when they have more time.

After all, fundraisers know that “later” often never comes!

In general, donor conversion drops slightly if a form includes even one additional mandatory field. Conversion rates drop sharply if there are two or more additional mandatory fields. Even making the fields optional doesn’t make a huge difference on the number of donors completing their gift.

Simpler is better.

The less information donors are required to give out during the donation process, the more likely they’ll be to make it to the final step.

5. Offer recurring donations.

In the fast-paced world we live in, it’s easy to forget your clothes at the dry cleaners, to feed the dog, or to give your monthly gift to a nonprofit. You can help donors with one of those tasks (and no, it isn’t  swinging by the cleaners or feeding Fido).

Offer a recurring donations option on your online donation page to encourage supporters to give a monthly, quarterly, or yearly gift without ever having to revisit your donation form. 

According to Qgiv’s guide to donor retention, nearly 70% of donors only make one-time gifts. Securing regular support right from your donation page can help decrease this donor attrition rate and give you more reliable revenue streams.

6. Encourage social sharing.

You’ve probably already integrated social media into your overall online fundraising campaign, but don’t skip the opportunity to add it into your donation page, too!

By adding social media sharing buttons on your donation form, you can give your donors the chance to brag on themselves and give your nonprofit some good press at the same time.

These sharing capabilities won’t reveal any personal information about the donation itself, but they do encourage your donors to spread the word about their contribution in general, and perhaps persuade others to give to your cause.

Plus, if supporters tag your organization, it will be easier for you to re-share their posts as an appreciation tactic. Publicly honoring your donors (with their consent) is a great way to show gratitude.

 


Author: Abby Jarvis

Abby Jarvis QgivAbby Jarvis is the Nonprofit Education Manager for Qgiv, an online fundraising service provider. Qgiv offers industry-leading online giving and peer to peer fundraising tools for nonprofit, faith-based, and political organizations of all sizes.

When she’s not working at Qgiv, Abby can usually be found writing for local magazines, catching up on her favorite blogs, or binge-watching sci-fi shows on Netflix.

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Fundraising Tuesday: Home-Cook Your Fundraising

May 12, 2020 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Are you cooking at home a lot more at home since the pandemic began? I know I have been. I’ve been doing some basic recipes that are not a lot of work, but both tasty and filling, like this beer bread.

Beer bread

And I’ve also been taking ingredients I had on the shelf and in the freezer and combining them in new ways. Dried chickpeas and frozen spinach = chana masala.

Chana masala

Right now, your nonprofit should be home- cooking its fundraising.

Now is not the time for anything fancy. Go to the basics: the stuff you didn’t have time to do before the pandemic but that are on every nonprofit’s shelf.

  • Call your donors.
  • Write posts for your blog.
  • Update your website.
  • Listen to conversations on social media, and when you can add s0mething, chime in.

Those are your “beer bread” recipes. You know how to do them, and it’s been way too long since you baked them fresh.

Combine your ingredients in different ways.

  • You already have a database. Put together segments of supporters who care about the same thing, and write to them about what they care about.
  • You already have stories. Re-purpose the same content and use it ten different ways.
  • You already have ways donors can give online. Add ways they can give monthly, on the same site.

Those are your “chana masala” recipes. They look different from what you have been doing before, but they use the same ingredients you already have on hand.

Serve up some beer bread one day, some chana masala another day, and pretty soon your donors will be talking up your organization to their friends! Because let’s face it, nothing tastes as good as somebody else’s home cooking.

P.S. If you want some tips for tasty fundraising–or the recipes for these two dishes!–email me at [email protected].

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Fundraising Tuesday: Every Day is Giving Tuesday

November 12, 2019 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Christmas cookiesYou’ve heard the saying, “It’s not what you eat between Christmas and New Year’s–it’s what you eat between New Year’s and Christmas”?

Similarly, it’s not what you do for your donors between Halloween and Giving Tuesday that determines how much love they feel toward your nonprofit organization. It’s what you do all year.

Communications are the key to a good marriage. Your nonprofit’s communications are the key to a good relationship between your donors and you.

By next November, make your donors love you. Here are the four steps to win their hearts.

This winter, work on your email.

When donors or prospects give you their email address, it’s like they met you on a blind date and decided to give you their phone number. What they’re saying is, “I want to hear from you.” It’s a huge gesture of trust.

Be worthy of their trust.

  • Find out the kind of content they want to see, and send it to them as often (and no more often) than they want to see it.
  • Write great subject lines that signal, “I wrote this especially for you and I know you’ll want to read it.”
  • Personalize every email. “Dear friend” is not acceptable in 2019. It tells your donors they’re not worth your time.
  • Even better: make it personal! You can’t do that for every single email message you send, but every time you do talk to a person in a way that says “I know you,” they will remember it.
  • Keep your list up to date. There are good email tools out there: MailChimp and Constant Contact are two that many nonprofits use. There are also donor databases with email built right in. Buy one and learn how to use it. You–and your donors–will be glad you did.

This spring, take a good look at your website.

living room fireplaceYour website is your online living room. If you’re going to invite donors there, you want them to stay a while.

  • Make the lighting comfortable. Is the font size large enough for middle-aged eyes? Does it read as well on Chrome or Firefox as on Internet Explorer or Safari? Can donors read it on their mobile devices? Can they read it with their screen readers (if they have limited eyesight)?
  • Make the room easy to get around. Place navigation bars on the homepage and on every page. Clearly label your pages and tabs, and don’t get too cute: “About Us” or “Who We Are” are better than “The 411.”
  • Put out the treats.  Your donors need to find what they’re looking for quickly or they’ll leave your site. Be sure everything is within three clicks from the home page: for instance, 1) home page, 2) contact us, 3) email. If you’re inviting people to sign up for an event, consider using a landing page with its own URL.

This summer, spice up your blogging life.

Did you ever meet someone and think to yourself, “I love talking with him. I could spend all night just listening to him?”

Writing a blog gives your donors a chance to say that about you.

Blogging is better for those long explorations than email. It’s more of a conversation than the rest of your website. Blogging is for lovers.

  • Set up your blog using WordPress or some other professional looking tool.
  • Get good ideas for blog posts from your own emails and from the questions people always ask you. Always write for your audience.
  • Turn one good idea into ten different posts!
  • Publicize your blog using your email and social media.

This fall, finally get social. Listen and interact.

What would the love of your life think if when you were together, you only talked and never listened? Or if you only listened when he or she was talking about you?

Not very romantic, right?

But too many nonprofits think the reason to use social media is to have one more place to rattle on about themselves.

Social media are really more like social gatherings: parties, conferences, Chamber of Commerce meetings, public forums. You go those events to meet people and become an important part of the community.

You go on social media to do the same. Not to post. To meet people.

Over time, if you pay attention to them, people come to know, like, and trust your organization. They actually seek you out for information and advice and opportunities to volunteer. They start thinking of you as “their” organization. They fall in love.

 

How do you use social media to make donors love you?

I’ve been studying this subject for years, and I’m happy to share it with you.

social mediaThe No-Nonsense Nonprofit Guide to Social Media: How You Can Start Small, Win Loyal Friends, and Raise Funds Online and Off is your step-by-step guide to courting your donors.

Download it now, and by next fall, you can be happily engaged.

By next winter, you can be busy writing thank-you notes.

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