Donation Landing Page – A Comprehensive Guide for Nonprofits
Website landing pages help visitors land in the right place and convince them to give towards a nonprofit’s mission. Online giving has become the norm for many donors, and a landing page is vital to a nonprofit’s fundraising success. This article will explain why nonprofits need a donation landing page and how to boost conversions with it.
Donation landing pages are vital for nonprofits. They help potential donors land in the right place and convince them to give toward a nonprofit’s mission.
Online giving has become the norm for many donors. The Gen Z generation has never lived in a world without it. And others have not only gotten used to it by now but they’re also realizing the convenience of it.
This article will explain why nonprofits need a donation landing page and how to boost conversions with it.
A donation landing page is where donors land after clicking a Call to Action (CTA) that can be included in emails, social media posts, text-to-give links, QR codes, and online ads.
Nonprofits can use donation landing pages to continue a compelling story, explain how donors’ gifts help, and collect donations via different payment methods on a donation form.
Here’s a great example of a donation landing page on the global nonprofit Black Jaguar-White Tiger Foundation’s website. It does not only include this stunning hero image and branded donation form but also stories to boost conversion rates, sponsorship options, and more. Its beautiful design and apt content will inspire people to give.
Why Should Nonprofits Have Donation Landing Pages?
Nonprofits should use donation landing pages to easily redirect people to the right place where they can be effectively converted into donors. Here are a few reasons why you must include them in your fundraising strategy.
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1. Online donors expect it
Most donors expect to see a donation landing page when they click on a Call to Action.
If you’ve written a moving story or shared a video, or are running a heartwarming online ad, many donors have already decided to give. So, when they click on a button or link below the content, they assume they’re being taken to the donation page directly.
However, sometimes, donors still need to be convinced. A quality donation landing page will also help persuade these holdouts.
2. Don’t lose donor gifts
The worst thing that can happen is to lose a donor who wanted to give. Not having a donation landing page is one way this could occur.
If you’re sending people to your website homepage from a social media post requesting donations and expecting them to find out how to give on their own, you’re going to lose them. People are there with the intention to give, not explore your website.
Look at how Khalsa Aid UK is easily sending its social media followers and visitors directly to the donation landing page on its website.
3. Convince them to give more
Most donors that click on a Call to Action will give, but that doesn’t mean they’re stuck on an amount. Many donors can be encouraged to give more.
Donation landing pages can entice donors with compelling stories and descriptions of how donations can help. The best results come from donation landing pages that provide targeted gift amounts. A landing page including a donation form that lists different donation amounts based on thorough donor research would naturally convert better. With Donorbox, it is easy to create such donation forms. These forms can then be embedded on your website donation landing page or you can use the Donorbox-hosted donation landing page that automatically includes this form.
Here’s an example of a donation landing page created on Donorbox, that includes suggested donation amounts in its recurring donation form.
Read our guide on creating an on-brand, beautiful, and effective donation landing page on Donorbox. These pages are optimized for all devices and ensure great conversion rates. If you want to see some of the best examples, here’s an article you should check out!
5 Essential Elements to Design a Donation Landing Page that Converts More
Once a donor arrives at the donation landing page, there are three choices for them to make, they can exit without giving, donate immediately, or read a little more.
Nonprofits may assume the best choice is to donate immediately, but if you can get donors to read a little more, you can convince them to give more and participate in other activities. Here’s what to include to make it possible.
1. Branded donation form
Your donation landing page must include a donation form that matches your brand and stands out the moment people land on your page. Do not make them scroll down to the bottom to be able to find it.
This branded donation form should be simple and easy for them to understand. They shouldn’t have to go through too many steps to be able to give. It often happens that an elongated donation form makes people leave midway.
Donorbox lets you create, customize, and embed donation forms that are simple and super fast. These forms have UltraSwift ™ Pay enabled, which eliminates the step to type personal information and includes digital wallets to make giving fast.
A donation form makes giving easy, but a beautifully designed landing page can stun and entice supporters to stay longer and give more. Your page design should also be mobile-friendly.
Stunning visuals draw the eye to your page and its content. As donors read more, they may feel a deeper connection to your organization and its mission.
Remember most visitors will come to your page on their mobile devices. So you must ensure that the page loads swiftly and easily with all its elements on mobile.
Donation pages hosted on Donorbox as well as our donation forms are highly optimized for mobile devices. For example, the below Donorbox donation form is a part of Honnold Foundation’s donation page and loads perfectly on mobile devices.
3. Targeted donation amounts with impact
Many donors will have an amount in mind when they decide to give. But if you add suggested donation amounts with potential impact next to each amount, you have a greater chance of encouraging people to give more.
Your donor management system should help you achieve this. You should segment your donor base as per filters like donation amount, donation frequency, etc. to determine their giving abilities. Now, add a few likely amounts with impact descriptions to your donation form.
Donorbox lets nonprofits customize their donation form to add these amounts and impact text. Our Donor Management feature also lets you easily add multiple filters to segment your donor records and find out which amounts would fit your donor base.
Tarjimly does an excellent job with this on their donation landing page. Look at how they’ve researched each donation amount and its impact and added the same to their embedded Donorbox donation form.
Your organization’s Calls to Action shouldn’t stop with the appeal. Donations are fabulous, but your goal is to also build a relationship with each donor. This relationship will encourage them to participate in other activities and give more.
Nonprofits can use a donation landing page to educate donors on different programs, advocacy activities, and ways to volunteer.
Once again, Black Jaguar-White Tiger Foundation stands out with its donation landing page for multiple CTAs they’ve added throughout the page. If there’s a potential donor willing to donate on a regular basis, this page has options to effectively convert them.
5. Tax-deductibility information
This is a fact that a lot of people often want to make donations because they’re tax-deductible. That doesn’t take away from their generosity but it is important to them. Hence, nonprofits should make it a point to add tax-deductibility information to their donation landing pages.
It is advisable to place it somewhere below or above the donation form, so it is easy to notice. If you’re going to send donation receipts, you should also add that information along with it.
We love how Khalsa Aid International makes it highly prominent on its landing page. They also mention that the donation receipt will be automatically emailed to donors. This assures people that there would be no hassle in getting the receipt for tax purposes.
6 Ways to Get More People to Come to Your Donation Landing Page
1. Donation buttons
A donation button is one of the most common ways to entice donors to give. Nonprofits can add a donation button to their home page, emails, social media accounts, and other appeals.
You can place donation buttons at the top, middle, and bottom of these appeals to ensure they’re easy to see. You should also make sure to use bright colors and clear text.
The text should be catchy enough to entice people to click. A crisp and impactful message that makes people feel that they can make a difference would usually work well. Or you can simply go for “donate” and “give”. That keeps the message to the point.
See how Muso Health does it on their website homepage – a button with color highly in contrast to the rest of the website and a simple “donate” text. It easily stands out.
2. Text links
Another type of Call to Action is a text link. These are much subtler than buttons but can be just as convincing.
The strength of this type of link is immediacy. The stories and impact data shared in these marketing pieces do the brunt of the work of convincing donors to give.
Nonprofits can add text links to emails, social media bios, and other websites. They can also add internal text links on their websites to catch visitors when they are most likely to act.
3. QR codes
Mailed appeals don’t have to depend on cash or check donations. Many donors that receive mailed appeals would rather give online. You can also add QR codes to your event venues to help people easily land on your donation page.
Making it more convenient for donors to give helps nonprofits raise more money. QR codes connecting them to your donation landing page is the simplest way to make it happen.
Donorbox gives you free QR codes for all the fundraising campaigns you create on it. Just download and print it to add to your event venues. Or just add the downloaded image to your marketing pieces or your website. That’s it!
Check out this example on the Carl Joseph Ministries website. They use this Donorbox QR code to redirect people to their donation landing page hosted on Donorbox.
Technology has made it easier for people to give online no matter where they are. One of the best ways churches and nonprofits can collect online gifts is with text-to-give.
Nonprofits provide a number and keyword for donors to input into their phones. Once the donor sends a message, they receive a link to the nonprofit’s donation landing page where they can give.
The convenience and ease of using text-to-give have already helped nonprofits make thousands of dollars. Donorbox Text-to-Give makes it a breeze! Your donors can make donations with a text and also repeat the donations in the future easily – without having to go to the donation landing page again!
Here’s how it looks –
5. Video appeals
Videos and reels on social media have become such a crucial part of our lives that nonprofits have added video appeals to their fundraising efforts. Younger donors are found to react better to these appeals.
Videos don’t have to be long or professionally made as long as they’re convincing and creative. At the end of each video appeal, nonprofits can add text links, donation buttons, or QR codes for donors to click or be sent to a donation landing page.
6. Online ads
Online ads can be one of the main sources of visitors to your donation landing page. In fact, many nonprofits agree on the fact that online ads often get them the most donations.
If your nonprofit is running social media ads or Google ads, you’d have to add a CTA to them. This CTA must redirect people to the page where they can give quickly and easily. So before you set up those ads, remember to design your donation landing page.
Bonus – Setting Up a Donation Landing Page that Actually Works!
Okay, so you have learned the essential elements for success and the ways to attract people to your donation page. Now, wouldn’t it be great if we gave you some more insights into setting up your landing page to ensure it definitely works? Take just 3 minutes of your time and watch this video where our nonprofit expert Jena shows you how to do it –
There are many ways your nonprofit can customize a donation landing page to encourage donors to give. Some elements are technical, but anyone in your organization can do most.
That’s because online fundraising platforms like Donorbox ensure you don’t need coding knowledge to be able to design a beautiful donation page. It takes a few quick steps to easily create one on Donorbox that will load perfectly on a computer and mobile device. You can also simply copy and paste a code to embed our branded donation forms into your landing page.
Learn more about our features on the website. Sign up for free and get started right away! We also give you the opportunity to choose a customized success package (including expert coaching) for your organization at personalized pricing – check out Donorbox Premium.
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Kristine Ensor is a freelance writer with over a decade of experience working with local and international nonprofits. As a nonprofit professional she has specialized in fundraising, marketing, event planning, volunteer management, and board development.