The right fundraising platform should help your organization raise more while streamlining the giving experience for your donors. In this article, I'll walk you through the 7 best online fundraising platforms to help you decide.
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Online fundraising platforms offer a convenient way to collect gifts and support meaningful projects. But with so many fundraising platforms out there, it can feel impossible to know which one will provide the best functionality for your needs – and the best experience for your donors.
In this article, we’ll share the 7 best fundraising sites and the 12 key aspects to think about when you’re choosing an online fundraising platform. Read on!
An online fundraising platform is a tool or software that allows your nonprofit to collect and process donations while managing fundraising campaigns seamlessly. On the donor’s side, online fundraising platforms enable supporters to easily donate to causes they care about.
Typically, these platforms offer a simple and secure way for donors to give online with credit cards, bank transfers, and digital wallets like Apple Pay and Google Pay.
A comprehensive online fundraising platform should provide access to optimal tools that enable smarter fundraising and enhanced donor stewardship under one roof. These include fully customizable donation pages, donor management tools, and recurring giving to turn one-time donors into lasting supporters.
Let’s spotlight 7 of the best fundraising sites to take your online fundraising to the next level. These platforms offer a wide variety of fundraising features and pricing models.
Here’s a quick overview:
Now, let’s go over each option in more detail.
Donorbox is a powerful, all-in-one fundraising platform with a quick setup process and plenty of user-friendly features. More than 100,000 organizations in over 96 countries trust Donorbox with their online giving.
Start Fundraising in Minutes with Donorbox!
Donorbox makes online giving easy, convenient, and hassle-free with powerful features fit for fundraisers of all sizes. Our customizable donation pages contain industry-leading security features that ensure donor protection and build trust.
Nonprofits of all sizes looking for an all-in-one fundraising and donor management platform.
Organizations that sign up for our Pro or Premium plans can also enjoy a flat 2% platform fee for Events, Peer-to-Peer, and Memberships.
Donorbox has zero startup fees or contracts to worry about. Plus, you can ask donors to cover fees so more of their donation goes toward your cause. Learn more about our pricing here.
GoFundMe is a well-known online fundraising platform focusing on crowdfunding.
Many people use GoFundMe to raise money for personal projects, medical expenses, or unforeseen disasters. This tool is perfect if you rely heavily on peer-to-peer and crowdfunding campaigns. Empower your fundraisers to start a campaign for your charity on GoFundMe and raise funds with the help of their network.
Bear in mind that this nonprofit fundraising platform does not offer features like recurring donations or a branded donation form. GoFundMe Pro may be a better option if those kinds of features form part of your fundraising strategy.
Having supporters fundraise or crowdfund for you.
There are no fees to create your fundraiser, but a transaction fee of 2.9% + 30¢ applies. View pricing details here.
Another well-known contender, Zeffy is best known for its “zero-fee” fundraising capabilities – though it does employ a donor tipping model. For nonprofits with tight budgets, this is a solid option.
The platform offers core fundraising tools like donation forms, peer-to-peer campaigns, event ticketing, and donor management.
Nonprofits with tight budgets.
Like I mentioned earlier, Zeffy is free for nonprofits to use, with no platform or processing fees. The platform is funded through optional donor tips during checkout.
Funraise is a popular fundraising platform built for organizations looking to run multiple campaign types without stitching together lots of separate tools. Create branded donation pages, manage recurring giving, run peer-to-peer and event campaigns, and track donor activity in one system.
Nonprofits seeking an all-in-one platform with strong peer-to-peer and recurring giving functionality.
Funraise offers plan-based pricing. The entry-level option starts at $0/month, while Premium Plans start at $99/month. Platform fees range from 0-5% depending on your plan, and Stripe payment processing fees of 2.9% + 60¢ also apply. Learn more here.
Givebutter is a comprehensive fundraising platform built for nonprofits looking to run campaigns, events, and donor management from one place.
On top of donation forms and pages, Givebutter offers peer-to-peer fundraising, auctions, event ticketing, email tools, and donor management features – making it a strong option for teams seeking one tool that does it all.
Peer-to-peer and donor engagement.
Givebutter’s core features are free to use when you enable optional donor tipping. If disabled, a flat 3% platform fee applies, plus standard processing fees of 1.9-2.9% + $0.30 for verified nonprofits.
RallyUp has helped more than 55,000 nonprofits elevate their fundraising impact since 2012.
This platform is best known for its fundraising suite, which includes raffles, auctions, peer-to-peer, crowdfunding, and sweepstakes.
Raffles, auctions, events, and crowdfunding.
RallyUp offers three pricing plans. The Free Plan comes with zero platform fees, but relies on optional donor tipping to fund the RallyUp platform. The Flex Plan lets you waive asking donors to tip the platform, but comes with platform fees of up to 6.9%. Their Enterprise Plan allows you to customize your package based on your fundraising needs.
Standard processing fees from Stripe also apply.
OneCause makes online fundraising easy for nonprofits. Set up online campaigns, launch challenges, and grow your reach in no time with this customizable solution. The platform offers event management, peer-to-peer fundraising, mobile bidding and auctions, ticketing, and more. The focus remains on event fundraising. However, features like donor management and gift matching are included as well.
Event management and ticket sales
Their pricing varies according to the plan chosen. You have to request a consultation to know how much it would cost to afford the software for your nonprofit.
The best fundraising platforms are the ones that offer the features you need most, at a price that fits your organization’s budget. Below, I’ll walk you through 12 of the most important features.
Choosing a fundraising platform with an intuitive user interface can save a lot of headaches. You should be able to design your donation forms and pages with simple copy-paste codes, toggling of switches, and clicking buttons.
A customized, branded donation form with your organization’s preferred colors and logo will ensure your cause looks organized, polished, and trustworthy. Fundraising platforms that offer customizable pages help you boost donor trust and supporter engagement.
Did you know the average recurring donor will give 42% more in a year than those who make one-time gifts? If you aren’t collecting recurring gifts, you’re missing out! Look for a fundraising platform that offers flexible recurring options to elevate donor support.
With Donorbox, for example, you can choose up to four of the following recurring intervals: daily, weekly, biweekly, 1st and 15th, monthly, quarterly, and annual.
Create a Recurring Donation Form
Top tip: According to Donorbox data, forms displaying 3 to 4 recurring donation interval options tend to yield the highest average donation amount per campaign, with the combination of “one-time, daily, monthly, and annually” topping the chart.
Crowdfunding allows your community of donors to combine their many small gifts into a transformative impact. It’s a great way to raise money for a specific project or fund within a limited period of time.
With a goal meter, everyone can get excited about the progress toward a goal. This helps create excitement and can even result in multiple gifts!
Check to see if the donation platforms you’re looking at offer features such as a goal thermometer, virtual donor wall, social sharing buttons, and a dedicated space for campaign updates.
A text-to-give campaign is a convenient way to raise funds for your cause. This solution is perfect for on-the-spot donation drives, conferences, and events. Donors can quickly and easily support the initiatives they care about by sending a text to a given number and donating right from their smartphones.
Some online donation processors have text-to-give functionality built in. Look for a repeat donation feature when choosing a platform with text-to-give enabled.
You have a bunch of ardent supporters who attend your events, love to volunteer, and make regular donations. Would you not want to get them more involved and offer them opportunities to help your cause more efficiently?
Peer-to-peer fundraising makes that possible. Your supporters create their own fundraising pages and share them with their network (family, friends, colleagues, neighbors) to raise funds on your behalf. It’s a great way to expand your reach, boost donations, and acquire new donors from your existing supporter base.
Create a Peer-to-Peer Campaign
There’s no better way to establish a loyal supporter base than a membership program. You may want to create a dedicated community of supporters and retain them by offering specific benefits that get even better with each membership tier.
Select a fundraising platform that allows you to access and store all your member data and payment information securely. Make sure it allows you to create membership campaigns, add customizable membership tiers (as many as you want), and maintain data securely at the backend.
As a nonprofit, you often run events – be it for fundraising, spreading awareness, or appreciating your volunteers. Having a fundraising platform that also lets you create event pages and tickets online is the key to streamlining your workflow and raising more revenue with your events.
Look for a platform that helps you determine the tax-deductible amount when you input the fair market values for each ticket type, and one that allows your event attendees to buy tickets online in just a few clicks.
Many donors’ employers will match their qualifying donations to a nonprofit organization. Some organizations match 1:1, and some even match 2:1! That means that if your organization doesn’t have an easy way to collect matching gifts, you could be leaving money on the table.
Opt for a donation platform that can remind supporters about gift matching or that integrates with a gift matching service.
While some fundraising platforms simply allow you to process donations, others also help you manage donor relationships and records.
If this sounds appealing, look for a giving platform that functions as a one-stop shop for donor management. You should also choose a platform that lets your donors have an account of their own, where they can manage their donation plans and quickly repeat a donation if they want to, as well as download their donation receipts on the go.
Pro tip: Celebrating donors’ milestone events (like birthdays and giving anniversaries) can go a long way toward building a trusting, mutually beneficial relationship. With a system like Donorbox, you can keep track of this important information in each donor’s record. And, you can log your outreach in each donor’s profile, making it easy to remember your past conversations.
Think about the systems your organization is using to send emails, manage donor records, or organize projects.
Choose a donation platform that integrates with your existing systems to minimize your workload. This can help you streamline your workday and avoid having to do duplicate work. As the saying goes, work smarter, not harder!
These days, donors aren’t just giving with a credit card. Many supporters prefer the convenience of being able to make a donation using Apple Pay, Google Pay, Venmo, or PayPal.
Make it easy for donors to support your cause by accepting a wide variety of payment options. Be sure to examine which payment methods your desired online fundraising software will allow you to accept. Using a secure payment processor like Stripe helps put donors at ease and builds trust.
Pro tip: Don’t skimp on security when choosing a fundraising platform! Look for a system that prioritizes safety and outlines specific protocols. For example, Donorbox comes with automatic fraud detection, SSL/TLS encryption, tokenization of financial data, and strong customer authentication, to name a few.
Affordability is one of the most important aspects of choosing a fundraising platform. Choose one that doesn’t charge a sign-up cost or a fixed monthly fee. That way, you can play around with the tool for a while and take the time to understand whether it meets your unique needs.
Do your research to compare pricing with other platforms offering similar features and select one that suits your requirements.
Pro tip: Remember to plan for the future. There may be some features you do not need right away, but as you grow, you will. In that case, a tool that doesn’t charge you for all its features right away but lets you enable them for a few extra bucks, whenever you need them, is absolutely worth it.
Choosing the right online giving platform might seem like a daunting choice. The ideal fundraising platform should allow you to collect online donations easily, manage donor relationships, and fundraise in a variety of creative ways.
Interested in trying Donorbox? Sign up for free and start fundraising in minutes!
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Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions you may have about online fundraising platforms.
An online fundraising platform allows nonprofit organizations to collect and process donations digitally while streamlining the donation process for donors. Some platforms also offer donor management tools to build lasting connections with supporters.
The right digital fundraising platform should offer comprehensive features that adapt to your fundraising and donor management needs. These include recurring donation options on donation forms and pages, text giving options, event ticketing software, peer-to-peer and crowdfunding functionality, and donor management tools that facilitate retention.
Heather is a writer, business owner, and nonprofit professional. She is a Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE) with more than a decade of experience leading fundraising efforts and creating communication materials for arts, education, and social services nonprofits.
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