5 best practices to boost your online charity fundraising

In the world of modern fundraising, online fundraising has become a vital component for not-for-profit organisations. In the digital age, opportunities to raise funds online have never been more accessible. Want to improve your online donation campaigns to make a bigger impact and reach more people?

In this article, we reveal 5 tips that will help your organisation maximise its online fundraising efforts. From optimising your donation form to taking part in online events, we'll look at ways to improve your approach and reach your financial goals while also connecting with your community:

1. Prepare your website and donation forms

A well-designed website is the cornerstone of your online donation appeals! Your website is a major ally on which you can (and must) rely on when making your appeals for donations.

Once on your website, visitors should be able to access your donation form and support you with just a few clicks. Here are a few tips to ensure an optimal user experience (UX):

• Make sure you have clear, visible CTAs on every page that redirect to your online donation form.
  
  

• Optimise your online donation form: reduce the number of clicks required to complete a donation. Make sure that future donors can see all the steps involved in their donation on the same page. Use pre-filled fields, so that they have to fill in as little information as possible.
  
  
• Offer advanced, and multiple payment methods to make giving as easy as possible. Allow donors to make an online donation using their credit card. Also integrate digital wallets such as PayPal, Apple Pay or Google Pay into your online donation platform.
  
• Create dedicated donation forms for each campaign, to ensure a targeted and relevant user experience (UX). 
  
  
• Use widgets on your donation forms to inspire future donors to give more. For instance, with iRaiser’s donation forms you are able to highlight the "most popular amount" on your donation grid, or display a "most recent donor" banner with the names of the latest donors, along with the amount they gave to your cause! People have a tendency to mimic behaviour, so any example they receive can further facilitate their conversion.
  
  

• Another feature that can help convert visitors? Donation amount equivalences. These can be short descriptions or images (or both!) to depict what the amount the donor chooses can/will fund. For example, 20 euros a month can feed a family of 4. This gives a more concrete idea of the impact of their donation, and that even a small amount can make a difference. 
  
  
• Use inspiring images and videos in the background that capture the essence of the campaign. Describe your association's mission and the specific objective of the campaign, and don't hesitate to use storytelling to connect with your audience. Read our article: the Art of Storytelling in Fundraising to learn more.
  
  
• Offer different suggested donation amounts on your grid and highlight donation equivalents that show the concrete impact of each contribution.
  
  
• Enhance the user-friendliness of your donation forms by designing them to be intuitive, multilingual and capable of handling multiple currencies. Ensure their responsiveness across all types of mobile devices, including computers and smartphones.

2. Generate more traffic and attract more donors

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is essential for bringing your site to the attention of potential donors. To improve your website's SEO, take into account SEO best practices in your content production. Make sure you use relevant keywords and regularly publish informative articles related to your mission. If you need help finding the right keywords for your association, you can use tools like Ahrefs or Semrush.

Complement this by implementing targeted online advertising (SEA), to increase your visibility and generate targeted traffic to your website.

Also think about other methods of generating traffic. For example, you can partner with companies or brands looking to contribute to a good cause or increase their CSR activities (such as Louis Vuitton and Unicef at the LV World Run).

You can also take advantage of festive gatherings, such as concerts or festivals, to make your cause resonate. Contact the organisers to broadcast a video about your cause before the concert begins. You can suggest organising workshops at summer festivals and concerts for associations, like at the Solidays festival. They often show videos of associations promoting their cause during concerts.

The more people you reach, the more likely you are to attract new donors!

3. Activate your database

Your existing donor base is a valuable resource. So don't hesitate to pick up the phone and contact members of your database, for a more warm, and personal approach.

You can use emails to spread the word, share updates, stories, and ask for donations for campaigns.

Use social media posts and virtual events to stay connected with your donors and keep them engaged. Don't forget that regular communication builds trust, commitment and loyalty towards your cause among your supporters.

4. Get involved in charity events

Events offer unique opportunities to generate enthusiasm and participation from many people, wherever they may be! You can organise a fundraising event for your cause on a specific day. This can happen when a project is finished, for an anniversary, or on an international day.

Of course, you can also take part in events (online or face-to-face) organised by other players in your ecosystem, to extend your reach and raise your profile. By taking part in peer to peer fundraising events, you can reach new audiences and win new supporters!

For instance, Charity races are great opportunities for your organisation to involve your supporters and their network on days dedicated to sport and solidarity. Every year, during the Brussels 20km, numerous associations such as Amis des Aveugles, UNICEF Belgium and Médecins Sans Frontières, enable their supporters to raise funds on their behalf through personal fundraising pages. Their donors are able to take part in the race with their loved ones, while collecting donations for a good cause.

Another example of a solidarity and sports initiative is the Dossards Solidaires, taking place during the Schneider Electric Paris Marathon. During this legendary race, runners can buy discounted “solidarity bibs” from charities registered through the “Dossards Solidaires”. Theycan subsequently reach out to their friends and family, motivating them to participate in an online fundraising campaign, all with the aim of achieving their fundraising goal in support of their chosen association!

5. Create several donation forms, depending on your campaigns and channels

As you know, each fundraising campaign and each communication channel has its own specific characteristics. You're not going to create the same donation form for your end-of-year campaign as you would for a campaign to fund one of your actions in the field, right?

That's why it's essential to adapt your donation forms. We advise you to create one donation form per campaign and to adapt all the elements to the purpose of the campaign. The texts, visuals, equivalences, etc. A white-label form builder should enable you to do this easily.

Finally, don't underestimate the power of A/B testing. Creating several donation forms allows you to experiment with different scenarios to determine what works best in terms of conversion. A/B testing can make a big difference to the success of your online fundraising campaigns! Restos du Coeur (a prominent charity in France) increased their donations by 47% thanks to testing! 

By implementing these 5 practical tips, your association can significantly optimise its donation process and raise more money online. 

Would you like to see a concrete example of how to raise more donations online? Learn how Restos du Cœur achieved great results by using these practices on their online donation pages.