Online Fundraising platforms: a smart & necessary investment

Now more than ever, having digital fundraising as part of your collection strategy is essential. But when it comes to deciding the right online fundraising software to invest in, not for profits must consider several factors.

Important elements to consider are the time and cost to build campaigns, potential increases in conversion rates, areas where automation can save effort and resources from your team, and the high potential return on investment (ROI). Having the right online fundraising tools can actually empower your organisation to raise more and save you time & money.

Ask yourself the following questions to understand the current situation of your organisation:

• How much time do you spend building fundraising campaigns?
• Do your donation forms provide an engaging & friendly donor/user experience? (reduced scrolling and unnecessary click throughs)?
• Are your campaigns responsive and easily accessible through mobile or other devices?
• Are you tracking and measuring your campaigns?
• Do you have the right skills and tools in place for cyber security protection for your organisation and donors?
• Can you easily access data reports and contact easily to your CRM and key departments?
• How much of your work is automated vs. manual? 

While not all not-for-profits are created equal or have the same resources, the following four factors show how the right online fundraising platform is not just a smart investment for both big & small charities, but a fundamental element for success.

1. Enhanced donor experiences (UX) & optimized campaigns & donation forms (UI)

It’s safe to say that people engage with their favourite brands, companies (and not for profits of course) online almost every day. It’s crucial for your organisation to provide an intuitive & enhanced online giving experience that matches your brand image and supporters’ expectations. Failure to do so can result in supporters’ loss of trust in your organisation and could cost you donations.

A white-label, innovative & secure online fundraising platform will enable you to build multiple fundraising campaigns that offer seamless & secure checkout processes, multi-lingual & multi-currency donation forms, cohesive branding across campaign pages, and personalised engagement tools.
Using optimised fundraising software can not only build stronger relationships with your supporters, but may also increase conversion rates and boost your overall fundraising. Here are a couple of examples of iRaiser clients which have experienced this positive impact recently:

• Restos du Coeur – France: Restos du Coeur recently chose to drop their customised forms & upgrade to the new iRaiser donation forms and experienced an increase of +35.2% in donations compared to the previous year. Discover their campaign here.
• WWF – Belgium: In just 6 months, WWF Belgium recruited 4,000 new donors, and grew their online fundraising by 46% compared to the same period the year before when using the iRaiser fundraising platform.
  Want to know more about WWF Belgium? Read their full case study here.

2. Automation to save time & money

Every organisation allocates a lot of time and resources to creating and editing fundraising pages, writing thank you emails to supporters, sending donation receipts, and running data reports, to name a few.

Using a high-performing software can largely reduce these tasks and complete them much more efficiently. For example, with the iRaiser platform you are able to:

• Set conditional thank you emails when you receive a donation and personalise them.
• Edit and send tax receipts to your donors automatically.
• Create and test multiple types of forms to optimise conversion rate.
• Follow your fundraising in real-time and download your activity reports.
• Track and measure campaign performance.
• Send automated emails to update expiring credit cards.
• Features like these will save your team precious time & money to focus on what’s really important; your mission.
  
  

3. Consolidation

If you’re using several, disconnected channels to raise funds and manage your campaigns, it’s likely you have multiple team members overseeing them. As a result, your information is not always synchronised. Productivity may even decrease because it's possible not all team members have the adequate training to use the different solutions, and you can end-up damaging your donor relationships due to valuable data slipping through the cracks.

Having an online fundraising platform can centralise your efforts and drastically decrease operating time across different systems, training time, and overall, simplify your life.

4. Sustainability

With more & more organisations popping up, it’s important to think about your not-for-profit’s longevity and how to achieve that. Most charities set up campaigns with a determined end-period. Instead of simply offering your supporters the option of a one-time gift, a well-rounded platform will allow you to build multiple types of fundraising campaigns with recurring giving programs that consistently generate revenue throughout the year.

What’s more, are you thinking about your donors’ preferred method of payment? Are you offering the latest tools to allow gifts through Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay to name a few? Can your donors become regular givers in just one click (in some tracking cases in less than 30 seconds); and are you operating in today’s time with today’s digital consumer?

You can also encourage supporters to raise funds on your behalf with a peer-to-peer campaign. This type of fundraising is extremely beneficial, not only because your supporters are personally motivated to reach their fundraising goals, but also because you will have a valuable opportunity to connect with their vast network and hopefully recruit new donors.

Campaign Types on iRaiser

At iRaiser, we know that in order to launch an ultimately successful fundraising campaign, you have to have a well-balanced strategy made up of online as well as offline approaches. With our advanced digital fundraising solutions, you can rest assured your online campaigns are covered. Check out some of the campaign types we offer below.

Payment / Online Donation Forms:

With an easy-to-use form builder, create multiple, secure, fully white-label donation forms that allow your donors to give single or recurring gifts. You can offer donors the possibility to give in their local language & currency with custom donation pages, and even allocate gifts to specific projects. No web designers needed, you have the controls to your most important aspect of fundraising, and that is the digital recruiting of monthly donors.

Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Platform:

Allow your supporters to turn personal life events like birthdays, weddings, or other milestones into opportunities to fundraise on behalf of your not-for-profit. Much more than a traditional P2P product, iRaiser offers your charity a truly white-label solution. Our peer-to-peer fundraising software has advanced features, like team fundraising and individual fundraising, all with your brand at the forefront that your supporters know and trust.

Event Fundraising:

Organise & manage physical or virtual events with engagement opportunities for your supporters. From registrations, to sales of merchandise, to automatic informative emails about your event, all with a fundraising component.

To sum up, investing in the right online fundraising tool is a smart and necessary investment. Not only will it help you engage better with your donors, increase productivity & reduce administrative work, it will help you raise more funds for less resources and consequently contribute to your not-for-profit’s longevity.

When picking the right software, you must consider one that is reliable, secure, and constantly innovating to provide your supporters’ with seamless but memorable donor experiences. You want to set up an online fundraising plan or optimize your fundraising strategy? Read our article: build your annual digital fundraising plan in 5 steps!