Build a Successful Fundraising Project Online
95% of world NGOs run Facebook pages and strive to increase their online activities every year. This tendency is a logical consequence of moving payments, donations included, online. A successful online fundraising project can thus help nonprofits raise money much faster than time- and cost-consuming in-house events.
The reasons for building fundraising projects online
What are the key perks of taking your fundraising efforts to virtual space?
- Wide outreach. Reaching out to the target audience is easier online where you can attract followers across a wide range of social media platforms, encourage the creation of user-generated contents, and benefit from automated email marketing.
- On-brand experience. By building a branded project page online, you can align it with an NGO website and help your target audiences find all the necessary info about the activity, history, and aims of the organization.
- Ease. According to Cone Communications, 48% of adult Americans would make a donation through a mobile app if they had the chance. Online fundraising enables this not only for nonprofits, ut also for the potential donors who have the opportunity to contribute just in few clicks.
The key elements of a successful fundraising online project
High expectations and a variety of tools that can help vitalize online fundraising projects with ease make this activity a must-do for any modern NGO. But how do you build an online fundraising project without risks to your reputation and budget? Check out the core project elements that will help you attain your end goal:
- Multi-channel promotion. One clear CTA below a Facebook post can attract some supporters, but if you want to make your project truly impactful, you must knock on every door. Spread the word about the online event through email blasts, social media, and regular website updates to make it buzz.
- Understandable action flow. If you want to collect maximum donations, make it super-easy to donate. There’s nothing that can discourage your supporters more than a complicated, multi-stage process of donating.
- Impact statement. Once a person makes a donation, he/she shouldn’t feel like it is throwing money down a rat hole. Provide a clear explanation of where the donations will go and help your supporters track the impact of their actions.
The ways to run a fundraising project online
Among the hundreds of creative ideas for fundraising online projects, you have to choose the one that captivates your target audience. We’ve collected some proven ways that should help you make a clever choice:
Launch a matching stage
If you set up a period for donation matching either before the campaign starts or in the middle of it, you create great conditions for a targeted promotion, as well as reignite interest in your online project. Organize a charity gala dinner, an awards event, or a social media contest before the project launch to attract the right audience.
Leverage on the power of a single story
Raising money through empathy is one of the best fundraising tactics. Craft an emotional story which recounts the experiences of one person, a community, or a group of people that either benefited from the donations or require support to reach a specific goal. Ensure that the message can really stir the attention of your target persona and embed it in your project to maximize the impact.
Create a campaign video
From informing the target audience about the cause of your online project to telling the inspiring story of your previous campaign, dynamic promo videos can elevate your fundraising efforts. Based on the specifics of the mission and the preferences of the target persona, leverage animation, a combination of events, or a bright visual story of one person to drum up interest.
Organize a contest
Award-driven fundraising campaigns help NGOs reap benefits from raising money through rewarded activities. Set up an engaging online competition that requires making a donation and offers something in exchange. A reward shouldn’t necessarily require some extra monetary spending; it can be the opportunity to become the hero of the next NGO campaign or a free ticket for one of its in-house events.
The best online fundraising tools
To mark your steps to a fundraising project with success, you should keep abreast of innovative online tools. Here are the top 3 digital instruments created for fundraising campaigns:
Qgiv is an online platform that offers versatile templates for fundraising project websites. By picking the preferred template, NGOs can customize content blocks and design sites to match their branding. Apart from a rich template base, Qgiv also facilitates nonprofits with tools like integrated registration and the peer-to-peer pages.
A robust fundraising tool that can be used by both nonprofits and individuals, Fundly, provides great instruments for campaign page development. The core feature that users love is a “Keep it All” module which allows fundraisers to use all donations without any deadlines.
An automated awards judging software, Judgify, helps NGOs launch reward-based fundraising projects free of cost. This tool is a winning solution for organizations that want to build an interactive dialogue with the prospective donors through simplified submission, judging, and public voting modules.
The tips for creating a success-oriented fundraising project online
Prior to putting your fundraising plan in place, you should employ the following tips:
- Capitalize on the involvement of supporters. Apart from focusing on the creation of a meaningful message for potential donors, you should also focus on their voices. As an example, you can involve the target audience in your strategy by crafting a photo banner with the photos of supporters.
- Make communication consistent. By making a connection, you shouldn’t lose it after the project ends. Collect contacts and stretch your dialogue with the project’s supporters by turning it into a consistent activity. Social media, online contests, and email marketing help you keep the audience’s attention.
- Give preference to automation. One-stop tools for the fundraising project launch help you save much time and labor, as well as create a centralized platform for data collection and reporting.
Conclusion
By moving your unique fundraising ideas online, you get broader capabilities for reaching the target audience faster and easier. Leverage advanced digital tools to maximize the impact of your campaigns and build strong online communities.