The potential of online fundraising
At the moment only 6.7% of total fundraising donations in the UK are made online according to Blackbaud’s Charitable Giving Report 2014. However we are seeing an increase of 8.9% year on year as donors are shifting online. So there is an opportunity for both small and large charities to maximise this income stream.
Different options available
There are a variety of ways you can set up online fundraising depending on the resources you have to hand. Consider the following:
Online donations and sponsorship
- It sounds like a no-brainer – you need to have a facility to take online donations. Preferably on your own website and if possible integrated with your database.
- If you don’t have the facility to service web donations and sponsorship use an online giving platform like Justgiving BTmydonate or Localgiving
- Have a ‘Donate Now’ button on every webpage of your website – people need to know you need funding.
- Make sure your website functions on mobile devices like ipads and iphones.
- Monitor how people are behaving on your website and their journey to giving by using Google Analytics.
Social media
- Use social media to direct people to give on your website/online platform and make sure you use direct links to the giving page.
- Content is key on social media especially Facebook – tell strong emotive stories of people that are benefiting from your work.
- Use photos on facebook posts and twitter for higher response rates.
- Be responsive and connect with people on social media – it’s not just enough to have accounts set up. You need to engage people. For example: thank them for their fundraising efforts or share their images/posts
- Measure how many people and the type of content people respond to by looking at Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics.
- Use a campaign specific hashtag for fundraising campaigns to track what people are saying/doing and to allow people to easily find out about your campaign.
Crowdfunding
What is crowdfunding? It’s basically a way to fund a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people. Some things to think about when assessing if this is a good option for your charity:
- Do you have a tangible project which has a set fundraising target by a deadline?
- Do you have the resources to create good content and videos to sell the project and get people to buy in to it?
- Can you mobilise your social media audiences to give to such a project?
- Can you facilitate crowdfunding or do you need to use a crowdfunding website like Kickstarter Indiegogo or Crowdfunder
For more Fundraising Advice
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You may also be interested in a half day training session on Online Fundraising on 2 December which will give you the chance to explore these and many more concepts and ideas further.