Fundraising Alternatives Part 3: A focus on Online Fundraising

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

Follow me on twitter, like my facebook page or get in touch by email; [email protected]

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.