As we gear up for the challenges and opportunities that 2024 brings, it's essential to stay ahead of the curve in the dynamic world of online fundraising. To enhance your fundraising efforts and ensure a successful year ahead, we've pinpointed 8 key fundraising trends that are set to shape the landscape:
- 1. Analysing your data
- 2. Artificial Intelligence
- 3. Gaming for charity
- 4. The Metaverse
- 5. Transparency
- 6. Reactivity
- 7. Adopting Diverse Engagement Approaches
- 8. Cyber security and data protection
From embracing innovative technologies to refining engagement strategies, these trends offer valuable insights to elevate your fundraising activity and maximise the impact of your cause in the digital realm. Let's explore the future of fundraising together and pave the way for a successful year ahead!
1. Analysing your data
Let's start with an obvious trend: data collection and exploitation.
Do you spend most of your time wondering how you can raise more money for your cause? To do this, you fine-tune your donation paths and forms, launch new high-impact campaigns and manage all your communication channels.
Of course, the amounts raised will tell you whether a campaign has worked or not. You can even compare them with each other.
But do you have enough information to improve them? The only way to do that is to collect and analyse data.
You can measure an almost infinite amount of data. To avoid creating a gas factory, start by defining your key performance indicators.
We recommend that you start with 4 indicators. To find out more, read our article here.
In addition to campaign performance, analysing your donor database is also crucial. This includes the ability to produce analysis reports.
2. Artificial Intelligence
Although AI existed before 2023, it has never been so accessible... Hello Chat GPT 👋
Easy to use, artificial intelligence can simplify many of the tasks you do on a daily basis and therefore save you time.
In the point above, we mentioned the importance of data. Some tools will use AI to analyse the desired data and give you directly the main takeaways from this analysis.
If you don't want to or can't invest in specific AI solutions at the moment, you can always use free tools like Chat GPT.
Using these tools is very simple. All you have to do is type in a question or request, and the AI tool will provide you with an answer using information from different sources (press articles, the internet, etc.) that it digests for you.
To better illustrate our point and give you some ideas, we asked Chat GPT three things:
- Give me ideas for campaigns to help injured children
- What are the best channels for engaging Generation Z?
- Can you write an article about the latest Oxfam Trailwalker?
We recorded the responses. Watch the results below! ⤵️
Give me campaign ideas to help injured children
What are the best channels for engaging Generation Z?
Can you write an article about the latest Oxfam Trailwalker?
When using content generated by AI, you must proceed with caution. Don't hesitate to rewrite articles so they reflect your charity's voice and image. Make it a habit to re-read the content produced by AI tools. Just like content produced by a human, it may contain errors or inaccuracies.
3. Gaming for charity
The best-known gaming fundraising events include Z-event in France and Jingle Jam in the UK. These events are not new, but they raise awareness and the money raised is increasingly becoming more substantial.
What's more, these are events organised by third parties for the benefit of nonprofit organizations.
In 2024, why not consider organising your own gaming event?
Based on the same principle as a Peer to Peer campaign, you ask your community to take part in a live-streamed tournament. Choose a simple game such as Uno or Scrabble, or Naval Battle. Each participant launches their own digital fundraising campaign and invites their friends and family to encourage and donate while watching them play. Even if most of the time they are small donations, they come in large quantities and can often lead to considerable amounts.
Another idea is to organise a live-stream weekend for which you will have ambassadors, like gamers or influencers to relay a game. Choose a well-known game such as Fortnite, League of Legends, or Minecraft - and ask their community to donate when it's their turn to play.
4. The Metaverse
Granted, the democratisation of the metaverse may still seem a long way off, but that's no reason not to anticipate it and start testing a few campaigns.
A shared, collective virtual space, the metaverse is still in its infancy and it is still difficult to give a precise definition.
It's one more channel to add to your toolkit to reach more potential donors.
It's also an excellent channel for raising awareness of your cause, thanks to the immersive experiences offered by the metaverse.
Below are a few examples of campaigns run by associations:
- "A Walk Through Dementia" by Alzheimer's Research UK
- "The Source" by Charity Water
Web 3 is the future, and it includes many technologies (NFTs, cryptocurrencies, The Metaverse and augmented reality, etc.). In order to be ready to exploit its full potential in a few years' time, we advise you to start experimenting with new campaigns as early as 2024!
5. Transparency
Your donors, and the younger generation in particular, are looking for transparency. They also want to be able to measure their impact with a point of comparison. They are therefore calling for greater transparency as to how their donations are used.
In 2024, highlight the equivalence of donations on your forms to show what your donors' money is funding. Visit Speech and Language UK's donation form to see what this might look like.
You can also publish the breakdown of your expenditure on your online fundraising platform, as Restos du Coeur has done here, or provide a report dedicated to equivalence, like Action Contre La Faim's.
Transparency fosters trust and openness, serving as the cornerstone for building relationships that last with donors.
6. Reactivity
More than ever, you need to be ready to react quickly and launch a new campaign in the event of a crisis.
In 2023 alone we've had mega-fires, floods, earthquakes, and tragically even wars... And the list goes on.
These crises all represent populations that need to be supported. Being responsive is the key to maximising your donations.
Read our article "Emergency situations: how to prepare" to discover our advice on how best to anticipate these situations.
7. Adopting Diverse Engagement Approaches
A key paradigm shift for 2024 is steering away from viewing donors as one-dimensional contributors. The emphasis is now on embracing a multifaceted approach to donors and their network’s engagement.
Not for profit organisations are recognising the need to diversify their strategies and provide donors with a spectrum of ways to support their causes. It's not just about traditional monetary donations; the trend leans towards a holistic engagement model.
Charities are fostering a sense of involvement by offering options such as participation in events, peer-to-peer fundraising initiatives, crowdfunding campaigns, and more. This approach acknowledges the diverse preferences and interests of donors, ensuring that they can contribute in ways that resonate most with them.
The fundraising horizon for 2024 is all about recognizing the richness of donor engagement and providing a multitude of meaningful ways for individuals to champion the causes they care about and share that with their community.
Looking for some ideas on how to do this? Check out our free guide, 13 fundraising ideas.
8. Cyber security and data protection
This last point is not really a trend, but we felt it was important to mention it.
NetHope's latest cyber-security report (2023 State of Humanitarian and Development Cybersecurity Report) is alarming. It makes the following points:
- NGOs and think tanks are the second most targeted sector worldwide for cyber-attacks
- 45% of not-for-profit organisations surveyed for the report said they had suffered a cyber-attack in the last 12 months
- Only 11% of the associations surveyed are confident about managing the risk of attack and, more generally, about their cyber-security programme. Conversely, 65% doubted its effectiveness and were not confident.
For 2024, we can only advise you to dedicate a budget to cyber-security, and to train yourself in data security and its regulations (the RGPD, for example).
You should also make sure that your partners are appropriate, reliable and robust.
As we look ahead to the fundraising landscape of 2024, it's evident that staying at the forefront of trends is paramount for organisations striving for success.
By harnessing the power of data-driven insights, leveraging the capabilities of AI, fostering diverse donor engagement, and upholding values of transparency and security, organisations position themselves to thrive in an ever-evolving philanthropic environment.
More than just trends, these 8 strategies collectively highlight the importance of adaptability and innovation, paving the way for a more impactful and sustainable future in the realm of fundraising.
If you are looking to start building an effective annual fundraising strategy and integrating these approaches for next year’s plan, check out our free strategy guide here!