Dec 3, 20197 min read

8 Fundraising Tips for Nonprofit Websites with Online Donations

Updated: Jan 15, 2020

At GiveWP, we like to think we have the best nonprofit fundraising tips. But it always helps to take a step back and see what our community has to say.

In a recent Bluehost Twitter Chat for Nonprofits, we discussed tips for nonprofits to succeed during the holidays. While crucial for the season of giving, these fundraising tips are also important to keep in mind year-round.

Tip 1: When starting out with online fundraising…

There’s a long list of fundraising tips for people who are just starting out with online fundraising. Some of the most important that we saw were about mobile giving and recurring donations. Keep in mind that recurring donations are the backbone of nonprofit fundraising.

A lot of donors also like to give on their phones. So you need to make sure your website forms work well on mobile and desktop screens.

Q1: Try to offer recurring annual or monthly donations! Make it easy for folks to keep giving. And of course, make sure you're doing it securely and have tested your donation form & flow before you're doing a big drive! #BHChat — Dave Ryan (@0aveRyan) November 19, 2019

Plus, you need to think about who you’re targeting. Create donor personas so you know how to present your fundraising “asks.”

A1. When getting started with fundraising, start simple. Develop strong donor personas and outline why they'd care enough to get involved. And definitely make the process of giving as easy as you possibly can. #BHChat — David Hartstein (@davharts) November 19, 2019

Then, finally, always thank your donors. If you don’t, they won’t return to give again and they won’t recommend your organization to others.

A1: Take good care of your donors. Send them to a nice Thank You page and send an email w/the donation receipt and all tax deduction information #BHChat — Jocelyn Mozak (@JocelynMozak) November 19, 2019

Tip 2: Look for these hosting features for online fundraising…

Always make sure your website is secure with SSL and HTTPS. The HTTPS URL boosts donor trust and also prevents someone from stealing their information.

#BHChat A2 – Definitely HTTPS – need an SSL certificate, most hosts install those for free now. Again make sure the process works from online form, to payment gateway to confirmation email to data storage. — Birgit Pauli-Haack (@bph) November 19, 2019

Another really important feature to have is a staging site function. Bluehost offers an easy staging site feature where you can import your live site to staging and vice versa with the click of a button.

You should also consider caching, backups, and free SSL options. As a nonprofit, a free SSL is ideal. Caching might affect your donation functionality by interfering. Finally, backups are important in case your site goes down. You can quickly replace a broken site with your backup file.

A2: In a good host for online donations, look for: 1. Staging site for testing. 2. Solid system for backups that you know how to use. 3. Free SSL options. 3. A way to exclude certain items from caching if there is caching.#BHChat https://t.co/MkAI7zftUW — GiveWP (@GiveWP) November 19, 2019

Tip 3: Maximize website speed for donors by…

First and foremost, always choose a reliable theme for your fundraising website. If you choose a bad theme, everything else gets thrown off. When in doubt, go with a default theme from WordPress.org. The most recent is Twenty-Twenty.

Then, test your site on slower mobile data speeds, get rid of large images, and make sure everything is optimized.

A3: For speed, focus on functionality over pizzazz. 💚Test your site using 3G phone speeds, and get rid of slow-loading elements like large, unoptimized images. 💚Choose a reliable theme and don't overload yourself with plugins. 💚Try to keep it as simple as possible. #BHChat https://t.co/a0LkdnvgrE — GiveWP (@GiveWP) November 19, 2019

You can use online tools to test your site speed and then compress images that are slowing it down.

A3. Tools like @pingdom and @Google PageSpeed Insights can diagnose your site speed troubles with one click! Often times high-res images can slow down your site, so make sure you compress your images to <100kb! #BHChat pic.twitter.com/hDBu6oWDn8 — Whole Whale (@WholeWhale) November 19, 2019

Tip 4: Use a tech checklist that includes…

Always check everything you’ve set up before you launch it to the public. There are a few key things you should always include when you check your online donations and fundraising funnels. Mainly, make sure you received the money in your payment gateway, the thank you email went out, and you were notified of the donation.

Q4. What should be on your tech checklist before you launch any online fundraising campaign? #BHChat A4: Test your donation form! ~ did the $ arrive? ~ did the thank you email go out? ~ did you get notified of the donation? — Jocelyn Mozak (@JocelynMozak) November 19, 2019

Then, of course, make sure that someone is responsible for keeping track of and following up on donations.

#BHChat A4 – the whole online donation process sometime seems overwhelming and people forget their own in-house processes. What happens when the email about a new donation arrives? Who handles it? What do you want to do afterwards. — Birgit Pauli-Haack (@bph) November 19, 2019

Finally, take it a step further and test everything from start to finish. Test it twice, three times if necessary.

A4: Your tech checklist for online donations should include – Testing many, many times on many, many devices. – Test the site speed – Test the user flow (navigation) – Test the form(s) – Test the gateway(s) – Test emails – Test refunds – Repeat #BHChat https://t.co/3oEXEK6z1V — GiveWP (@GiveWP) November 19, 2019

Tip 5: Make sure donor information is secure…

The first thing you need to secure donor information is an SSL. SSL certificates ensure your website comes up with HTTPS instead of HTTP in browsers. This makes donor information impossible to intercept and it builds trust. Donors like to know their information isn’t being stolen.

You also need to consider data laws. Depending on where you live or who you’re targeting, you need to make sure you’re compliant.

A5: Make sure you're only capturing necessary data and set a date on your calendar you can expunge it. Then, make sure you're using an SSL cert, reputable platform, know how to remove data for a GDPR erasure request and don't forget your backups also contain that data. #BHChat — Dave Ryan (@0aveRyan) November 19, 2019

It also helps to own all your data as well as make sure that you’re not storing it on your own website or feeding it to other systems.

#BHChat A5 Secure as in private – if you use an external systems, make sure the data is yours, and you don't feed your donors person information into an AI system. — Birgit Pauli-Haack (@bph) November 19, 2019

Finally, of course, make sure that your website plugins and WordPress core software are always up to date.

A5: First, own your data like we mentioned in A1. Then, use an online donation plugin like GiveWP alongside and SSL and make sure: 1) Donor payment info is never stored on your site. 2) Plugins are always updated. 3) WP Core is up to date. #BHChat https://t.co/cxFL2Kquoa — GiveWP (@GiveWP) November 19, 2019

Tip 6: Analyze your fundraising results with these tools…

Once you’ve started collecting donations, you should always look back to see how you’re doing. It’s easy to analyze your data with things like GiveWP’s reporting dashboard, which comes free in the core plugin. It’s also versatile so you can set goals based on your definition of success. Do you want more donors? Higher average donation amounts?

A6. It depends on your definition of success. Is it raising a certain goal? Is it getting a certain number of people to upgrade their contributions? Is it dollars per page view? Simple goals can be seen in your donor management tool (like @GiveWP) . #BHChat pic.twitter.com/TcxqlGJtVR — Chandler Weiner (@C_Dubbs) November 19, 2019

Then, you can even take your fundraising analysis one step further. Where did people come from to give to your organization? How many people who came to your website gave? Integrating something like Google Analytics with your online donation plugin allows you to track this.

Tip 7: Follow up after every donation and campaign…

Make sure you always say thank you to your donors, no matter what. You should even try to get creative with your thank you. Consider creating a video or sending a handwritten thank you note.

Say Thank you

A7: Always say thank you! A video is best because it makes them feel like they are getting face-to-face appreciation, but a handwritten note can go a long way too. Find out how to automate handwritten notes to donors: https://t.co/vBxLF4Pw1h#BHChat https://t.co/69cJfMOsI7 — GiveWP (@GiveWP) November 19, 2019

Tip 8: Build relationships with your donors without the fear of failure…

The ugly truth about all fundraising is that there are times you will fail. Don’t be afraid to fail. There are ways around it. Just make sure you’re always grateful to your donors in the process.

A8: Don't be afraid to fail. It happens, but it's not guaranteed. If you do ever fall short of a goal, there are ways to bounce back! Here's some advice we have on the topic: https://t.co/mgpkXvbNpF#BHChat https://t.co/199CHa45se — GiveWP (@GiveWP) November 19, 2019

It’s also important to remember why you’re raising money in the first place. Your cause is more than the amount of money you raise. It’s all about the relationships you build.

A8. Develop a plan to build relationships and invest visitors in your cause first and foremost. Few visitors will donate the first time they hear about you. After they care, plan how to get them more involved #BHChat pic.twitter.com/ouyEKlvZa7 — David Hartstein (@davharts) November 19, 2019