To grow your donor base and total donations you need to have an appropriate "Call to Action." The problem is that many nonprofit campaigns lack that. Hence the problem of the "Call to Inaction." It's great to state who you are and what you do, but if you never clearly ask for money and never appeal to potential donors correctly, your results won't amount to much. To do that you need to answer the following questions.

Why me?

Your audience needs to care about what you are doing. Show them why what you're doing is personally relevant to them. They need to connect to you on a human level. Use pictures, tell stories and do anything that can help your audience relate.

Why Now?

Most people donate online on two occasions. The first is towards the end of the year; people are in charitable mindsets and looking to make year-end tax contributions. The other is when there's a humanitarian crisis such as Hurricane Katrina. What do you do the rest of the year?

-Create a sense of urgency and immediacy in your appeal. Explain why a donation is needed right now.

-Break down what you are currently doing and show any immediately understandable or visible results that will make people want to take action.

What For?

People know you're a nonprofit organization and you need donations to help your cause. But where exactly is a donor's money going? What will they get in return for their donation - personally and in terms of your programs?

-Don't just focus on need; focus on specifically explaining the impact a donation will make.

-Show them that you will take care of their money so a potential donor knows it won't be wasted or inefficiently used.

-Clearly show which programs are being helped by a donation or what goods are going to result.

-Share human interest stories and success stories. Share how other donors made an impact or how donors impacted other individuals in need.

Who says?

The messenger is often as important as the message.

Use trustworthy messengers - people you've actually helped or other donors instead of just you. People say friends and family are the most influential in determining where they give money, so also think about how you can get your supporters to speak for you among their own circles of influence.

Source: Adapted by Jake Emen from Katya Andresen's Nonprofit 911 Presentation "Cultivating Donors Online"