Fundraising today is entirely different from what it was in the past. Previously, fundraisers were primarily manual, person-to-person, and completely offline. Today, digital fundraising is vital for nonprofit and charity organizations raising money for their cause. For fundraising success, every nonprofit has to have a digital strategy that prioritizes data, functions seamlessly online, and encourages public involvement.
In this guide, we’ll explain digital fundraising and share our top ideas for starting your virtual journey.
Digital fundraising is an approach to generating charity revenue that focuses on digital and online fundraising methods. Through digital means, NPOs can expand their reach, attract new donors online, and improve relationships with donors, volunteers, and other partners. It can also boost brand awareness, and most digital platforms make the fundraising process more efficient and manageable than their manual counterparts.
With the increased reach and visibility that digital methods provide, organizations can shine a brighter spotlight on their cause.
This form of fundraising has grown tremendously in recent years, and many nonprofits now use online techniques as part of their fundraising strategy.
Deciding on the best digital strategies to implement for fundraising depends on various factors, including your resources, budget, campaign goals, and more. The methods listed below are highly flexible and popular, and nonprofits of all sizes and capacities can benefit from implementing them.
Email is a powerful way to connect to potential and existing donors in a personal manner. You can keep people who are already interested in you connected to your organization. It is also straightforward to tell your network about your fundraising efforts and ask for their support.
Use dedicated email software to help you manage email lists and communications. Consider segmenting your lists rather than always sending the same bulk email to all your email users.
Different software platforms will give you different options for segmenting your email audience. Use these and design relevant content that better connects with individuals within your segmented profiles. Segmentation will improve readers’ experience of your email communications and potentially increase your email open and response rates.
Crowdfunding is an interactive way to make donors feel like they are making a visible impact on your cause. In particular, crowdfunds are fantastic for individual campaigns with a clear aim. For example, your nonprofit may consider crowdfunding for a specific project or aim. With a clear goal, donors can feel they are helping make tangible change by getting involved.
All crowdfunding campaigns also have a visual meter to show donors the progress on the goal amount. Donors can track this meter, share progress with their networks, and receive updates on the campaign’s progress. They become an active part of the fundraising campaign in these ways.
Your crowdfunding page should also include a donor wall with the names of donors and any messages they have. You can share the donor wall, messages, and the goal meter on social media and email as social proof and to spotlight your fundraising efforts.
A crowdfund is a wonderful way to create a feeling of active participation and community around donations.
Peer-to-peer fundraising is another virtual fundraising strategy that involves donors directly in the process. Your NPO’s supporters use unique, individualized fundraising pages to raise money. They direct their family, friends, and network to the page, where they can receive donations for your organization.
Peer-to-peer programs are particularly effective because they simultaneously engage existing donors and volunteers while growing your network. People may feel more inclined to donate when the request comes from someone they know and trust.
Social media is a fantastic companion to this list's other strategies. It’s a vital way to connect to people and expand the reach of your campaign. Through social media, you can interact with donors, and share information on your fundraiser with your existing network and a bigger global audience.
Use social media to tell people about your fundraiser and its aims. Teach people more about your cause and your work so they understand the value of donating. Include tons of compelling videos and visuals that focus on sharing your brand story. Social media is also a great place to thank and credit donors, as they may share your posts with their network, growing your reach.
Text-to-give campaigns make donating easy and convenient for donors. When people feel like they need to go through hurdles to give, they may opt out of donating. Text-to-give leverages the power of mobile phones. Almost everyone has their smartphone on hand all the time! With a text-to-give digital fundraising campaign, they can just grab their phone and donate in no time.
Virtual events are an exceptional digital fundraising technique with many types to choose from for your campaign. You can host virtual auctions, games and trivia nights, workshops, webinars, classes, and more.
Hosting a virtual event can be a simple and rewarding process with the right software to support you. For example, if you’re hosting a virtual auction, the right auction software will give you all the tools you need for your event. This includes a dedicated event webpage or website, ticketing features, payment processing, and much more.
Virtual events are a low-cost and exciting way to draw donors.
Digital fundraising offers your nonprofit diverse and impactful ways to raise money while boosting brand awareness. It can be a fantastic way to tell people about your cause and, through your efforts, you may attract more than once-off donors. You might even draw people that become life-long supporters and dedicate themselves to your cause.
The six techniques above are just the beginning of the expansive and wide-reaching world of online fundraising. Try them out to learn what works for your digital audience and to build a collection of go-to virtual fundraisers you can rely on.
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