Do you know that on-line giving elevated by 9% throughout the nonprofit sector in 2021—and continues to develop for organizations large and small? On-line giving and engagement have change into a cornerstone of the fundraising world, making it important for nonprofit organizations to supply a seamless on-line giving course of.
So, to assist your workforce enhance the net donor expertise, maximize on-line giving, and higher interact along with your donors, we’ll stroll by way of just a few important steps to excellent the net donation course of. From data-based fundraising outreach to investing in the proper cost instruments, we’ll cowl the next methods:
- Focus in your donation type’s design.
- Optimize giving for all units.
- Use a safe, accessible cost processor.
- Leverage post-gift outreach.
Able to enhance the best way you settle for on-line donations and promote a streamlined giving expertise on your donors? Let’s bounce in.
Focus in your donation type’s design.
When donors click on into your on-line donation web page, they need to be greeted with an easy-to-read, simple, and aesthetically-pleasing type. In any case, in case your donation type is just too complicated or poorly designed, it may mirror poorly in your group—or worse—drive donors away and result in type abandonment.
These donation type methods will provide help to to maintain donors on the web page till they full their presents:
- Get rid of pointless questions and fields. If you happen to embrace too many fields in your donation type, the method might change into tedious sufficient for some donors to say “I’ll get again to it later” and finally overlook about their presents. As an alternative, persist with the necessities, reminiscent of fundamental contact and cost info.
- Use constant branding. Colours, textual content, photos, and different design and branding parts ought to stay constant throughout your complete web site—particularly in your donation web page. This isn’t solely a mark of professionalism, nevertheless it additionally alerts to your donors that they’re in the proper place and their info can be protected.
- Embed your type into your web site. By embedding your donation type instantly into your web site, you’ll be able to preserve donors from being redirected to a third-party web site to finish their presents. This small however important step could make donors really feel extra snug, protect the design of your type, and streamline the donation course of.
As with the remainder of your nonprofit’s web site, the proper design and accessibility parts can have a huge impact on how donors navigate your pages and—most significantly—whether or not or not they determine to stay round and proceed participating with you.
Optimize giving for all units.
With the rise of smartphones, you’ll be able to now not anticipate your entire donors to entry your donation web page on their desktops. Actually, based on 360MatchPro’s fundraising statistics, cell customers made up roughly 33% of on-line donation transactions final 12 months.
With this in thoughts, you’ll want to arrange for the numerous portion of customers who can be utilizing cell and handheld units to click on into your platform and try to finish the nonprofit cost course of.
To advertise an inclusive giving expertise for donors on completely different units, you’ll be able to:
- Use giant buttons and textual content which can be readable throughout units
- Incorporate a sticky navigation menu
- Make the most of a vertical format
- Spend money on donation type instruments with mobile-friendly templates
To make completely positive that the giving expertise is optimized for a number of units, you’ll be able to attempt to entry your donation type utilizing a smartphone and leverage instruments like Google’s mobile-friendliness check.
Use a safe, accessible cost processor.
Your cost processor is the behind-the-scenes software program that ensures donor knowledge and funds are being facilitated safely and conveniently. This makes it a essential part of the donation course of that must be as safe and dependable as potential.
Specifically, take note of these key options to make sure that you’re utilizing efficient cost processing instruments on your group:
- PCI safety compliance. As mentioned within the iATS Funds information to PCI compliance, PCI compliance is “a guidelines of guidelines and necessities created by the foremost bank card firms to make sure that retailers are securely dealing with buyer info.” It’s the closest factor to a golden seal of safety {that a} cost processor can obtain, and it signifies that your cost instruments may be trusted to defend donor knowledge.
- Anti-fraud instruments. As mission-based organizations that depend on folks’s goodwill and belief to lift funds, nonprofits are uniquely susceptible to the reputational backlash that comes with hacks and fraud scandals. To stop fraud, go for cost and donation instruments which have devoted anti-fraud measures, reminiscent of CVV2 verification and encryption.
- A number of cost choices. Some donors choose to present with their bank cards, some go for ACH, and others can be attempting to facilitate funds from the opposite facet of the world. To accommodate your entire donors and increase your giving potential, be sure that your cost processor accepts numerous cost strategies, reminiscent of credit score, ACH, and worldwide processing.
Poor safety, restricted cost choices, and different hiccups can flip donors away from submitting on-line presents. These options will assist uphold donors’ belief in your group and pave the best way for a snug giving expertise.
Leverage post-gift outreach.
The net donation expertise doesn’t finish when donors have submitted their presents. Removed from it—the best way that your group communicates with donors after the very fact can decide whether or not or not they determine to present once more and keep related along with your group.
An built-in cost processor generally is a large assist on this regard, appropriately capable of combine instantly along with your CRM and manage cost and make contact with info. These particulars ought to then be used to create simpler post-gift outreach by:
- Bettering future fundraising appeals with donors’ names and giving measurement
- Leveraging donors’ names and giving historical past to personalize thank-you messages and acknowledgments
- Alerting donors to extra giving alternatives, reminiscent of selling matching presents packages based mostly on donors who used their work emails to submit presents
Whereas it’s simple to concentrate on donors as they’re within the technique of navigating your web site and donation web page, taking steps to additional steward donors within the aftermath of their presents will pay again in dividends.
Now that you simply’ve explored key suggestions, methods, and instruments to advertise a extra optimistic on-line donation expertise, you must have all the things you must get began with enhancing on-line fundraising on your group. Begin the method by implementing these finest practices and staying knowledgeable about donation and cost software program within the nonprofit area.
Concerning the writer: Peggah Azarvash
Peggah, a gross sales account government at iATS Funds, is a passionate Gross sales Govt with 10 years’ expertise offering cost resolution help and steering to nonprofits.