Digital fundraising is one of the most effective ways nonprofit organisations raise funds today. Learn how to use it to meet your goals.
Have you started fundraising online yet? If not, you’re missing an amazing opportunity!
Digital fundraising is one of the most effective ways nonprofit organisations raise money today, and interest in digital fundraising campaigns shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, online giving has increased by 42% in the last three years, which is incredible!
Digital fundraising gives you access to a broader audience, enables you to run more creative events — and it makes data collection easier. There are also plenty of ways to raise money through digital channels and countless strategies to help you achieve your goals.
Are you ready to learn how?
Let’s get started!
First Off, What Is Digital Fundraising?
Digital fundraising is a blanket term used to describe all forms of online fundraising, including:
- Online donation forms or donation pages
- Peer-to-peer fundraising
- Crowdfunding
- Social media campaigns
- Email campaigns
- Virtual events
- Webinars
- Giving days
- Special appeals and occasions
Basically, if your nonprofit has an online process or form that lets your supporters and subscribers donate money to your cause, it’s considered digital fundraising. It can be as simple as having a “donate” button on your landing page or as complex as an elaborate campaign reaching potential donors across multiple online fundraising platforms.
Digital Fundraising Benefits
Virtual fundraising comes with many advantages that in-person events are missing out on. Here are five of the best benefits digital fundraising has to offer:
1. Reach More People
In-person galas are a great way to raise money, but at the height of the pandemic, these events simply weren’t possible. Even under normal circumstances, in-person events usually require your donors to be present. If your donors aren’t a reasonable travel distance from your event, they won’t attend.
Virtual fundraisers don’t limit donors geographically. They provide you the opportunity to substantially increase your outreach. You can tap into a whole new world of donors — literally!
2. Attract Younger Donors
Donors are skewing younger. Nearly three out of four millennials and two-thirds of Gen Zers donated money during the pandemic.
Younger supporters grew up with the internet, so it’s not surprising that they’re open to online fundraising. A recent study found:
- 46% of millennials have donated through social media platforms
- 43% encourage their family and friends to do the same
- 40% donated to a cause after learning about it on social media
When you’re coming up with your next fundraising idea, keep your younger donors in mind.
3. Be More Creative
Who said advocacy has to be boring?
Take your digital fundraising efforts to the next level by coming up with new, innovative fundraising ideas. Create a virtual scavenger hunt, a paint-and-sip night, or a virtual 5k race. Or, form partnerships with other charities or nonprofits to see who can raise more during a campaign.
There are plenty of ways to achieve your fundraising goals when you’re not limited to a physical space — the sky’s the limit. Brainstorm some possibilities, or ask your constituents what kinds of fundraisers they’d like to attend.
4. Save Money
In-person events aren’t exactly inexpensive. There’s a lot that you have to spend money on, including:
- Event space
- Physical and digital marketing
- Technical equipment
- Signage
- Tables and chairs
- Caterers
- Decorations
- Additional staff members (if you can’t get volunteers)
When hosting a digital fundraiser, you don’t need many of these things and can stretch your budget further. You can also make do with scaled-down versions of certain items, like an event space and technical equipment. The money you save can go towards future campaigns or other fundraising tools and marketing efforts.
5. Make Data Collection Easier
Getting donor information online is easier than collecting it in person. When someone visits one of your fundraising pages or is looking to make a donation, you can create a form asking for their email address.
Once they’re added to your email list, you can keep them up-to-date on future fundraising events. You can also automate your ‘thank you’ emails, send them tax information, and more.
Bonus: Improve Donor Retention
Would you be more comfortable donating $100 once, or $10 a month indefinitely? If you’re like most donors, you’d choose the latter.
Digital fundraising makes it easier for donors to set up a regular or monthly donation via Stripe or whatever other gateway you choose. Simply make ongoing donations an option on your landing page, and watch the funds trickle in.
Common Digital Fundraising Channels
Now that you understand the benefits of virtual fundraising, here are a few marketing channels you should consider when fundraising online:
Email Marketing
Even in the heyday of social media, email marketing reigns supreme. In fact, email marketing boasts an ROI of $36 USD for every $1 USD you spend.
And now that you have a larger email list, your email fundraising efforts can be more successful.
A/B test your emails and design templates, practice segmentation, and don’t forget personalisation.
Here’s what we mean:
📈 A/B testing: Create two different email campaigns and send each of them to a small percentage of your email list. From these samples, you’ll discover which campaign gets more opens, clicks, and is better received overall. Then, fine-tune and send the better-performing campaign to the rest of your recipients. You can perform A/B testing for design templates as well.
👨👩👧👦 Segmentation: Your subscribers are likely a diverse group of people: young, old, male, female, etc. As a result, certain campaigns may be more relevant to specific groups of people. If you send too many emails to the wrong groups, you risk them unsubscribing to your list, so try tailoring your email sends accordingly.
👩🏻💻 Personalisation: People are more likely to open an email if it’s addressed to them. In fact, studies show that 72% of consumers will only respond to marketing messages if they’re personalised.
Social Media Platforms
When done well, social media marketing can be extremely effective.
In fact, 87% of nonprofits use social media. However, it’s easy to view social media as a waste of time. Building a steady, devoted presence takes time, effort, and know-how. At the very least, you should be posting three to five times on one to two platforms per week. We also recommend getting your nonprofit approved to use Facebook’s Fundraising Tools so that you can receive donations.
Peer-to-Peer Campaigns
Galvanise your core supporters by messaging them via email or text and encourage them to promote your next campaign on their social channels. You can also create a landing page or Facebook group and post all the vital information they’ll need to share with their followers.
If you’re really looking to stand out from the crowd, check out our peer-to-peer walkthrough.
Online Fundraising Ideas
In addition to peer-to-peer campaigns, here are a few creative digital fundraising ideas that can give your organisation a boost:
Social Media Takeovers
Social media takeovers are a win-win for you and the account you’re taking over. You’ll get increased visibility and your partner or sponsor will show your audience that they’re promoting worthy causes.
Contact corporate sponsors, brand influencers, community partners, and other supporters with clout and ask them to donate their social media channels for a day.
You can increase your nonprofit’s audience by posting content on their pages. Link the content with a hook-worthy call-to-action that’ll encourage users to visit your fundraising page to donate or subscribe.
GivingTuesday
Participating in GivingTuesday is a great way to boost donations. In 2020, over 34 million people from around the world donated to worthy causes.
If you’re planning a GivingTuesday campaign, we have a few tips for you:
🙌 Keep your donors in mind. Improve donor retention by reminding past and future donors how important they are. Acknowledge the generosity of previous donors, while thanking and encouraging new donors who’ve subscribed to your email list.
🌎 Talk about impact. Provide real-world examples of how donations are improving your cause. Include stories, photos, and testimonials as evidence that your donors are making a difference.
💻 Send more than one email. Create a drip campaign around GivingTuesday that includes:
- An email to introduce the campaign
- A reminder of when the campaign is taking place
- Another email highlighting special donors
- An email that tells a cohesive story
- A final email on the day of the campaign
Event Nights
Plan a campaign around a fun event night. We mentioned a few earlier, but they’re worth repeating, like:
- Digital scavenger hunts
- Paint-and-sip nights
- Virtual 5Ks
- Roundtables
- Live-streamed telethons
- Virtual behind-the-scenes tours
- Virtual happy hours
Start by selecting a date and time for these events. Promote them across your email and social media channels, and talk about the cause you’re raising money for. Incentivise participants with prizes, notify the winners of what they’ve won, and thank everyone for participating.
Tribute Giving
Tribute giving (birthdays and memorials) accounted for 57.4% of online fundraising strategies in 2021. Donating to a cause near and dear to a loved one is a great way to celebrate them.
Our In Memoriam Template offers a variety of respectful, sensitive fundraising options. If your supporters have experienced a loss, they can create a tribute page where friends and family can donate to your charity or nonprofit in their loved one’s name.
Facebook Birthday Fundraisers
Facebook birthday fundraisers have raised over $1 billion USD in birthday donations for more than 750,000 organisations since 2017.
Birthday fundraisers give supporters the opportunity to highlight a charity that means a lot to them and why. These stories inspire their friends and family to donate to your worthy cause.
Start a Digital Fundraising Campaign
Nonprofit fundraising is evolving and we have to evolve with it.Are you ready to start a digital fundraising campaign? Sign up with Raisely and learn how our customisable, all-in-one fundraising platform can transform the virtual fundraising efforts for your organisation.
