Flourishing Fundraising: Strategies to Maximize Online Giving This Spring (Webinar Recording)

Outside of year-end, spring is one of the best times for fundraising. In addition to in-person events, online campaign fundraising maximizes donation potential and increases community engagement. However, executing a successful online fundraising campaign requires careful consideration and a strategic approach. Recognizing this challenge, we’ve partnered with Double the Donation for this exclusive webinar, “Flourishing Fundraising: Strategies to Maximize Online Giving this Spring.”

In this dynamic webinar, Giveffect’s Client Success Team Manager, Lorenzo Sibilia, and Double the Donation’s Senior Partnership Specialist, Grace Green, equip you with innovative strategies and tools to enhance your online giving campaigns and reach your fundraising goals.

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• Effectively building your online campaigns to maximize online giving value
• Understanding your analytics to improve your donation form performance
• Incorporating matching gifts to grow donation impact
• And more!

We’ve also put together some key highlights for you to reflect on below:

What Is an Online Campaign?

An online campaign is a web page added to a nonprofit’s website dedicated to one particular fundraiser. An online campaign can be an in-person ticketed event, a virtual fundraiser, a peer-to-peer fundraiser where your supporters fundraise on your organization’s behalf, an auction, or a combination of one or more of these options!

What Makes an Effective Online Campaign?

Think of this as your home base for your fundraiser, your single source of information for your contributors/supporters and your staff. With this in mind, you want to be sure that your online campaign:

• Shares information about the impact and needs of the specific campaign or event
• Encourages actions such as donating, purchasing tickets, or even volunteering
• Makes contributing easy and shareable

Important Elements to Include In Your Online Campaign Webpage

When crafting compelling campaigns, it’s crucial to consider how to evoke empathy and inspire action among your supporters. However, this must be done without burdening your staff with complex procedures or sacrificing the user experience. By having templates ready for your campaigns, you can significantly reduce the time and effort required for creation. For example, by utilizing Giveffect’s templates, you streamline the campaign creation process and ensure consistency in branding and messaging across all your fundraising efforts.

Webpage Layout of Your Online Campaign:

• Branded for the organization and initiative
• Tells a compelling narrative, including images and/or video
• Shares deadlines and fundraising targets

Call to Action(s) to Include in Your Online Campaign:

Every online campaign must have a clear call to action or CTA. This is the action you are encouraging your supporters to take. For example:

• “Make a Donation” button
• “Purchase Tickets”
• “Become a Sponsor”

The CTA buttons navigate to a linked checkout flow. Ideally, this checkout flow connects to your CRM or donor management system, as with Giveffect. You’ll then want to send follow-up communications such as thank-you notes, campaign updates, tickets to the event, and more. With Giveffect, for example, these communications can be automated to save time and seamless communication.

Best Practices for Checkout Flows

Once your online campaign page is set up and your donor is engaged and eager to contribute, ensuring a seamless checkout experience becomes paramount in securing their donation. Look for technology that allows you to customize checkout fields to collect data aligned with your organization’s needs. If your supporter is purchasing a ticket, be specific about what the purchase comes with (e.g., dinner and one drink). If your supporter is donating, offer the option of setting up a monthly recurring donation.

Beyond simplifying the checkout process, it’s essential to capitalize on the momentum of donor engagement by leveraging donation-matching opportunities. Giveffect facilitates this process by integrating with Double the Donation for seamless donation matching.

The Most Common Online Campaign Types

• Ticketed events
• Peer-to-peer
• Auctions

1. Ticketed Events

When it comes to fundraising events, ticketed occasions serve as crucial opportunities to engage your supporters and generate revenue for your mission. These tickets can cater to a variety of events, ranging from elegant galas to virtual gatherings. However, to optimize attendance and participation, consider implementing best practices that cater to diverse preferences and budgets.

One effective strategy is to offer multiple ticket options and tiers as part of your online campaign, each tailored to different audience segments. Whether it’s VIP packages with exclusive perks or general admission tickets, ensuring diversity in ticket offerings enhances inclusivity and maximizes attendance. Clearly outline the benefits and inclusions of each ticket tier, enabling potential attendees to make informed decisions about their participation. Additionally, consider incorporating sponsorship opportunities within your ticketing structure, allowing businesses and individuals to support your event while gaining visibility and recognition.

When it comes to the ticket purchasing process as part of an online campaign, simplicity is key. Provide a clear and intuitive pathway for supporters to purchase tickets, prominently featuring a visible “Buy Now” button and streamlining the checkout flow.

2. Peer-to-Peer Fundraisers:

Bid farewell to the era of cumbersome paper sheets for tracking community donations and pledges. Through peer-to-peer fundraising, your organization can empower supporters to establish personalized fundraising sites seamlessly integrated with your campaign. This user-friendly approach enables individuals to effortlessly incorporate their own images and amplify their fundraising endeavors across social media platforms. With Giveffect, for example, peer-to-peer campaigns are quick and easy to set up for the organization’s staff and your fundraising supporter. As new donors support their peers’ fundraising pages, they are automatically added to your database. Now, you can easily thank your new supporter and nurture that relationship.

3. Auctions:

Auctions can take shape in many forms—from online to in-person and from rowdy live to quiet silent auctions. Some nonprofits may opt for a combination of types to meet their goals. Embracing best practices, such as establishing a centralized online landing page to host your auctions, proves invaluable. Encouraging online payments streamlines processes even for in-person events, enabling automation across all aspects. This approach enables attendees to view auction items and register for bids in advance and enhances efficiency and accessibility for both organizers and participants alike. You may need one or multiple platforms for your organization’s needs. However, with Giveffect, tickets, bids, and registrants seamlessly integrate into a unified system, simplifying what can be a complex process.

Benefits of Campaign Promotion

A well-crafted email campaign can significantly boost your fundraising efforts. Studies show it often takes 5-7 touchpoints to prompt a supporter’s response or donation. When preparing your email promotions, ensure they contain informative content and are visually appealing. This approach builds excitement among your audience. During the campaign, use personalized appeals in your emails or direct communications. Employ tools like Giveffect to customize messages with merge fields and target particular donor segments. After the campaign, send automated emails to follow up with donors. These messages can acknowledge their recent contributions or events, confirm their eligibility, or offer guidance on what to do next.

Understanding Your Campaign Analytics:

To analyze the impact of your online campaign, you must have a system in place to collect, track, and leverage the collected data. Data analytics provides direction for organizations to reach their goals more effectively and efficiently. Examples of metrics to keep your eye on are the following Key Performance Indicators:

Key Performance Indicators:

• Giving metrics (first-time donors, giving age & gender, donation payment type, etc.)
• Tracking the effectiveness of promotion (email marketing–open and click rates)
• Web traffic page views

With an all-in-one system such as Giveffect, which includes your CRM, you can accept and track donations, gather contact information to cultivate relationships and eliminate manual data entry across tech platforms.

Growing Impact With Matching Gifts

Over 78% of potential donors are unaware of their employer’s matching gift programs, while another 16% may know but are unsure about their eligibility or the initiation process. Promote matching gifts through newsletters, social media, and your website to capture these donations. Regular reminders can motivate donors to check their eligibility and participate in matching programs, enhancing the impact of their contributions. Tools like Giveffect that integrate with Double the Donation as part of the checkout flow streamline donation matching and offer an effective strategy for increasing donations.

Conclusion

Embrace the insights this webinar shares to ensure your spring nonprofit online campaigns are strategically planned and executed for optimal results. With Giveffect’s all-in-one nonprofit software solution, you’ll have everything you need to surpass your fundraising goals and more!

Raise more in your next online fundraising campaign with Giveffect. Schedule your demo today!