Are you trying to get donations for your nonprofit? It can feel difficult to gain traction on any fundraising endeavor but with some simple tactics and keen execution, your nonprofit can be well on its way. In this article, we’ll look at 11 simple tactics to get donations as well as best practices to keep in mind.
Are you trying to get donations for your organization? It can feel difficult to begin to gain traction on any new fundraising endeavor. With some simple tactics and some keen execution, your nonprofit can be well on its way to getting more donations than ever.
In this article, we’ll look at 11 simple tactics for how to get donations as well as the best practices to keep in mind when implementing these fundraising methods.
Let’s dive in—and get your organization more donations!
It can feel intimidating to get started. What’s the best way to get donations and make long-lasting relationships with those new donors?
Remember that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and learning the best way to get donations can take a while. With the right ideas and tools, you can smoothly begin soliciting, accepting, and utilizing donations.
Here are some simple tactics that are vital to any successful fundraising strategy.
This might seem obvious, but your first step toward collecting donations is to create an online donation page.
This is where your Donorbox account comes in handy. When you sign up for a free Donorbox account, the first thing you do is create a customized, branded donation form that you can easily embed into your website without any knowledge of coding needed.
Pro tip: You should make your donation page as simple as possible for your donors, so think about what kind of information you absolutely have to have from donors (name, email) and what kind of information would be nice to have (address, employment info). Decide how you can make the most streamlined form possible to keep your potential donors from getting burned out before they complete their donation.
Donorbox’s donation forms are designed to both look great on your website and be easily navigated by your donors. Here’s an example of how Code for America integrates their Donorbox donation form into their website:
Remember that in the mind of the donor, your organization’s donation form represents how your organization operates. If giving is a smooth, seamless experience, your donors will think your organization is top-notch and worthy of their gift.
Now that you have your online donation form set up, remember to add a crucial option: recurring donations.
Recurring donations are automated donations given at a certain interval of time. On average, a recurring donor will give 42% more annually than a one-time donor.
With Donorbox, you can customize your donation form to offer the following intervals as options for your donors:
You can mark your organization’s preferred donation intervals. Don’t be afraid to let your donors know how their donations can do the most good!
Changing up the donation intervals on your donation form is easy. From your dashboard, simply go to edit your donation form and mark which intervals you’d like to offer. With the drop-down options, select which interval you want to set as the default and which interval you want to recommend (whichever is your preference).
Pro tip: Remember that you want to keep your donation form as simple as possible, so try to choose 2-3 intervals that make sense with your fundraising schedule. If you can’t decide which intervals to use, start with all 4 options and then analyze the giving patterns of your donors to decide what works best for your organization.
If your organization is already sending emails, you’re off to a great start. If you want to take your fundraising a step further, consider segmenting some of your email campaigns.
Segmenting emails means breaking up your email list into groups based on certain criteria. The goal of segmenting is to target your audience in the best way possible with the right message.
Some common criteria for nonprofit email segmenting include:
Targeting with segmented email campaigns means you can get more potential donors to donate by focusing your energy on the groups that need it the most.
Pro tip: No matter what segment of your list you’re connecting with, your emails will have a higher open rate if they demonstrate their value immediately. Since your email will be competing with an average of 88 emails a day, many of which might be other nonprofits, it’s important to grab their attention with the right techniques.
We’ve all seen text-to-give campaigns run by larger organizations. Even the country of Ukraine has run a successful campaign to raise more than one million dollars in three days. But text-to-give can work for organizations of any size.
Because everyone is on their smartphones these days, you want to offer as many ways for a donor to give on their mobile device as possible. That’s why leveraging text-to-give is so important. It’s a fast, comfortable way for potential donors to give to your cause when it’s still on their minds.
Donorbox’s text-to-give feature streamlines the process for both you and your donors. You can create a campaign on Donorbox, choose one of the two text-to-give plans, and activate the feature from the dashboard itself. Your donors will then text your unique campaign ID to the text-to-give number and they receive a link to your online donation form where they can quickly and easily complete their donation. This is what it looks like for your donors:
Whenever a donor is ready to give to your organization again, Donorbox’s repeat donation feature makes it easy. All they have to do is text the keyword “YES” to the same number and they’ll be asked if they want to give the same amount again. Once they reply “CONFIRM,” they’ve donated again to your organization—without even leaving their text messaging app.
Our short code plan gives you a shorter number (801801) that’s easier for your donors to remember and type in and a custom keyword for a specific campaign.
Here are some ways to get the word out about text-to-give so your organization gets the full benefits of this tool:
Utilizing every option available to you means you’re giving donors every possible option to support you. To get donations, you have to have attractive and easy ways to give—and text-to-give will only become more popular in the future.
Are you hosting any upcoming events? A 5K, an auction, a community learning event? These are great opportunities to ask for donations. Here’s why.
If someone is at your event, chances are they’re interested in your organization’s work. Use that momentum to get more donations and hopefully establish long-lasting relationships with new donors.
Don’t sleep on direct mail! Although other, more digital ways of connecting with potential donors are only going to become more important, you can’t forget about the tried and true power of mailing out fundraising materials.
Although mailing can be expensive, if you get a little creative you can still take advantage of this useful way to get new donations.
Pro tip: Consider using smaller mailings like well-designed postcards. This cuts back on your material and postage cost (less material, less weight)! Your donors will also be able to see your branding, mission information, and solicitation without having to tear through an envelope.
If you’re in the US, consider applying for a nonprofit mailing permit that allows you to mail with a special nonprofit discount. Take advantage of every opportunity to save some cash and get more donations!
Facebook is an excellent tool for fundraising. Part of this is due to the fundraising options Facebook has built-in like the ability for your supporters to host their own fundraisers, the ability to collect donations through a Facebook Live video, Facebook’s Tuesday Giving matching program, and more. But to use Facebook to its full advantage, it’s important to understand how Facebook advertising works.
Here are some things to consider when it’s time to promote your cause on Facebook:
Pro tip: Use donation management software to keep track of your Facebook donations so all your donation details can be organized and easy to find. With Donorbox, you can manually enter any Facebook donations you receive into your donor management system. Just go to “Add Offline Donation” from your Donorbox campaign dashboard:
No matter what kind of post you use, remember to link your Donorbox campaign so your followers can quickly find where to donate.
People are more willing to give if they think their gift will make a real difference. Don’t be afraid to show them exactly what their donation can do—buy school lunches for a class of students, cover the cost of new clothing for a family who lost everything in a natural disaster, or pay for clean drinking water.
Once your campaign is over, be sure to show off all you accomplished! Donors want to see their dollars in action, so be sure to share images, charts, and any data you’ve collected to prove how you turned those donations into meaningful action.
What do we mean by “social proof” here? It’s just what it sounds like – proof that others are doing it, too. Potential donors are more likely to give if they see other people give, especially if those other people are their friends, family, colleagues, or neighbors.
You can take advantage of social proof by letting people post to social media after they’ve given to your organization. With Donorbox, social sharing buttons are automatically added to your campaign’s donation form so donors can let their network know they’re proud to support you.
Donorbox also has an automated donor wall that updates with donor names. This means donors get recognition and that their name is out there—and potential donors can see just how many others trusted your organization with their hard-earned money.
Creating a blog for your organization’s website can do a couple of things. For one, you can keep the public up-to-date about any new initiatives like a new campaign and any needs your organization has to carry out its mission.
You can also use your blog to publish mission-oriented content that new donors can find on Google. Through Search Engine Optimization (SEO), you can write blog posts that show up whenever someone searches for something related to your mission. The key is to create quality content that’s factual, interesting, and appeals to your donor’s emotions.
Blogging, when handled the right way, can generate not only new donations but also life-long donors.
Some donors respond well to clear incentives for giving. If there’s a clear reward for giving—besides helping your awesome cause!—there’s a good reason to give that grants some kind of immediate benefit.
If you’re a 501(c) nonprofit, you already have the added benefit of donations to your organization being tax-deductible for the donor. This is a great fact to advertise to give would-be donors the extra push to give this year. But get a little creative to think about other incentives you can offer, like:
Whatever incentives you come up with, be sure to be clear about your terms so a potential donor knows exactly what to expect.
Whether you’re running an email campaign or leveraging text-to-give, give your potential donors a specific reason to donate to your organization. The more focused your ask, the more donors will feel compelled to give.
Try to add some context to your ask. How will their donations help you achieve your mission? Be an open book about your expenses and your budget.
Here are some examples of clear, mission-specific language to use when soliciting new donors:
Don’t be afraid to be specific! Your donors will appreciate the transparency and you’ll get exactly what you need.
Remember that your communications are competing with a lot to get a potential donor’s attention. Urgency helps you capture their attention and can help convince them to donate.
When you’re about to launch a new fundraising campaign, ask yourself these questions to help develop this necessary sense of urgency:
Whatever your answers, it will pay to be transparent about them with your donors.
Pro tip: Remember that you don’t want to come off as negative—giving to your organization should make donors feel good, not stressed! They should complete their donation and feel like they helped you meet an urgent, mission-based need.
People give because they want to help. They want to know that they are doing something good. That their gift is necessary and powerful.
Studies show that supporting others triggers a stronger sense of self-esteem and purpose. Our brains are hard-wired to want to help and to feel better about ourselves when we do.
Your organization has a mission to help. Be honest about why your mission is important and connect with the emotions of your audience.
Once you make the ask, don’t complicate things by making online giving difficult! Here are some important things to consider when it comes to simplifying the online donation process.
Streamlining the online giving process as much as possible will reward you with more donations. The more donors can quickly find your donation form, the easier they can give to support your urgent need!
One way to get donations? Build a good relationship with existing donors! Show donors your genuine appreciation for their gifts to inspire them to give again.
With Donorbox, your customized thank-you email is sent automatically whenever a donation is received. This means your donors feel your appreciation right away, which is key both to tap into that good feeling that giving inspires and to confirm that their donation was successful.
Beyond these thank-you emails, get creative with your thanking! Set up a virtual donor wall with Donorbox so your donors automatically get recognition. Give them shout-outs on your social media accounts. If you get creative, the possibilities for thanking donors are endless.
Getting more donations requires using the right tactics of course, but the right tools are just as important. Ultimately, these tactics rely on a solid, online donation system. To get more donations, you need to have a clear, good-looking donation form that your donors can easily find through text, Facebook, email, and in-person.
That’s where Donorbox comes in. Keeping all of your fundraising efforts together with the same piece of software means less work for you and a more cohesive experience for your donors, no matter where they find your donation button.
For more fundraising tips, check out the rest of our nonprofit blog.
Lindsey spent years wearing many hats in the nonprofit world. Whether she was helping arts nonprofits with their messaging and content, planning a fundraising gala, writing an NEA grant proposal, or running a membership program with over 400 members, she learned how to navigate – and appreciate! – the fast-paced world of fundraising. Now, she loves sharing those hard-earned lessons with the Donorbox community.
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Lindsey Baker Bower