As digital fundraising helps strengthen charity-supporter relationships, the whole sector is evolving with the availability of more sophisticated programs and systems. Whether you’re implementing digital systems and not sure where to start, or you want to make sure you’re up to speed with all things digital, here is our comprehensive A-Z of everything you need to know about digital fundraising!
Acquisition
Donor acquisition is critical to any fundraising strategy. Online acquisition helps you reach more people who may become a supporter in future. Consider SEO outreach campaigns to attract the attention of new support.
Email marketing campaigns provide detailed analysis regarding supporter behaviours when receiving correspondence. The click-through rate (CTR) shows how many recipients read the email and click through to the website. This valuable insight can help a charity tailor specific campaigns.
Data
Data. Is. Gold. Not only does data allow you to make accurate predictions for fundraising campaigns, but by analysing key figures a charity can get to know donors on a deeper level. This valuable insight will help build stronger relationships that will help donors reach their giving capacity.
Email is the fastest and most cost-effective method to reach supporters. Using a sophisticated email platform, a campaign can be created and sent within just a few hours.
Social medial platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter allow supporters more in-depth access to charities than ever before. Using tools such as Facebook Live and Instagram stories, a charity can really tell its story and get donors involved on a deeper level.
Giving Tuesday
Giving Tuesday is a popular online campaign and a key date on the giving calendar. In response to the consumer culture created by Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is a day for charities to kick start the season of giving. Because it’s so close to the Christmas appeal, Giving Tuesday is just one day a year where digital tools such as email and social media are utilised to urge supporters to dig deep and make a one-off donation.
Hashtag
In our digital age, hashtags are an essential tool to help online searchers find you online. All social media posts should be accompanied by relevant hashtags that are unique to the charity and relevant to the industry.
Integration
Integration is a key element to streamline processes and make systems more efficient. Integrating a donor database with a website, payment platform and marketing tools reduces administration and data handling thus reducing the room for error.
Join us
A newsletter or lead magnet on the website is the ideal way to build an email database leading to future support. All online pages should have an option for donors to give you their information by asking them to sign up for a newsletter or download valuable content.
Keyword
Including keywords and phrases in online content helps a charity website become visible on Google searches to those who don’t even know they’re looking for you.
Lapsed donors
Lapsed donors are identifiable as those that haven’t donated in a specified period (usually anywhere from two years). The language used for a lapsed donor campaign should differ to a general appeal as you want to acknowledge past support and try to understand why they stopped giving.
Mobile optimisation
With emails and website accessible available on mobile phones and tablets, all online correspondence must be optimised for mobile to make sure you capture the attention of all viewers no matter how they’re reading the content.
Online raffle and auction
Systems such as SupporterHub include online raffle and auction modules as standard. For less cost, the community can get involved in traditional face-to-face fundraisers from the comfort of the home or office.
Privacy
When handling supporters data, legal privacy policies must be followed. Always update websites and fundraising pages with the relevant privacy policy and never contact potential supporters without their specific permission. If you’re unsure, refer to privacy policies in your country of operation.
QR Code
QR codes make donating easier for supporters. A mobile phone user simply has to tap the code to be taken straight to the donation point on the website. You can add QR codes to all printed material or web pages.
Reporting
Digital fundraising provides access to sophisticated reporting that can help tailor future appeals. A campaign is only finished once in-depth reports have been created and analysed.
Segmenting
Donor segmentation allows a charity to speak to donors appropriately depending on specific information. Segmentation can be as simple as referring to their past donation or it can involve more complex segmenting based on lifestyle factors such as gender, location or age.
Text message
Text message fundraising is a popular and cost-effective way to reach donors as they go about their daily life.
UX design
When designing mobile apps, UX design is the research phase that enhances the user experience by making sure the app works in the way it should and will be effective at helping the charity reach its goals. UX design may involve making sure donation buttons are easy to find and the giving process is as straightforward as possible for the donor.
