If your organization's average online gift is lower than you would like or your organization has not developed a well thought out year-end online fundraising campaign in the past, then you need to make changes to your online fundraising program ASAP.
Create Killer Landing Pages
Tell people what you want them to do quickly. Be clear how their donation will make a difference. One tactic that has been successful for the nonprofit CARE is to provide their donors with two simple pie charts that illustrate how funds raised are allocated below the credit card donation form.
Also give people several options to contribute money – one-time giving, monthly giving, etc.
Cut The Wonk
You nonprofit will raise more money by telling compelling stories that resonate with real people. Donors are human beings (not ATM machines) and they need to feel connected to your organization and to your story. Save your press releases for the media, and your “talking points” for policy makers.
Build A Great List
You need invested people on your list to fundraise. There are two main ways nonprofits can build lists:
* Organic Cultivation: via your own website, events, social networking sites, direct mail, etc.
* Paid Acquisition: Online acquisition (like Care2) Google Ad Words, email appends, chaperoned emails, etc.
Cross Promote
The best way to reach your donors is to connect with them wherever they are – which means everywhere. Make sure you cross promote your fundraising campaigns across multiple channels such as your website, email appeals, social networks, direct mail, telemarketing, etc. Also be sure that the content is edited for each channel since each one has its own unique tone and voice.
Segment
As I mentioned in Five Fundraising Tips to Add to your Checklist, querying and segmenting your online membership may not be a ton of fun, but it’s vital to the success of your online fundraising program. You need this information to tailor appeals to different segments of your list. Why would you send members of your list who have never donated to your organization the same exact appeal to members who have donated $250 3x in the past 12 months? These two audiences are connected to your nonprofit very differently and therefore should receive different appeals that match their level of engagement.
Close The Loop
Don’t forget to thank your donors and tell them if you met your goals. This simple strategy has proven to help build better relationships with donors. Also make sure you include any compelling stories, successes, or photos so donors feel that their donation made a difference.
Measure The Results
There are many ways your nonprofit can measure the success of your online fundraising campaigns:
* Open Rates: What percentage of people opened up an online fundraising appeal.
* Unique Web Visits: How many unique visits to the landing page.
* Conversions: What percentage of people who clicked on the donate link, donated money.
* Click-Through Rates: How many people clicked on a donation link.
What You Can Expect
* Email fundraising response rates were .13%, and email advocacy response rates were 4%.
* Online fundraising grew overall by 4.5% between 2008 and 2009.
* Expect an annual email file churn around 17%.
Check out the presentation:
This article originally appeared on Care2's Frogloop blog.
