Basics rules for online fundraising

Few of us doubt that online fundraising is important, at the moment few charities are making a great success of online appeals (other than the PR driven disaster funds) but online is a cheap way to collect money, and offering donor choice makes it essential.


So what are the basics for those just starting out?

1. Make sure its legal.

Just like any form of fundraising there are some rules. The most important online are complying with the financial controls about handling money online and the Data Protection Act rules for managing data. However there are lots of guidelines for good fundraising practice that apply to online fundraising just as much as any other sort. Don’t forget your common sense...
2. Chose a reputable payment provider

There are literally dozens of online payment providers. They all offer pretty much the same thing, but you still need some research. Not all of them offer Gift Aid assistance, either a tick box for you to then make the claim, or actually collecting the gift aid for you. Not all are good at keeping up with regulatory changes like PCI registration, and many have not implemented the Maestro card changes, so double check. Always worth asking your peers who they have used and who they recommend.
3. Publicise your online fundraising

It is not enough to add a DONATE button to your website and sit back waiting for the £££ to roll in. Very few people give via the donate button without being prompted.

Promote your online donation facility via as many pages on your website as possible, via email news, in email footers, social networks – in fact every way you communicate with donors. Make sure the ability to give online is clear on all your direct marketing and offline communications – online donations are much cheaper for you to process and data capture and have a higher average gift than offline.
4. Add as many payment options as possible

Donor choice has been proven to be critical for direct marketing success. The same is tru of online donations, so always offer as many payment options as possible, even if you have to add them over a period of time. Credit and debit cards are normally the start, but how many? Can you offer Maestro and AMEX? Setting up a PayPal account is an easy option which encourages younger none credit card donors. Direct Debits take more work but are critical and recurring card payments add another option. Don’t forget to tell CAF Card donors how to donate to you as well.

5. Tell donors how to give offline

one of the most frequent omissions on charity donate pages is how to give offline. This may seem a contradiction when we are promoting online payments. But if a donor has decided to give we want them to have every option. And what happens if their card fails? Add your postal address and phone number to the donation pages so that donors have a choice.
6. Offer alternatives to cash donations

As well as asking for money we need to offer alternatives. Particularly in a time of recession we need to encourage supporters to contribute in any way they can. Explain how to fundraise, do sponsored events, hold coffee mornings. Give supporters options to donate mobile phones, buy flowers, use Everyclick and support you through Ebay. And don’t forget that volunteering time is another way of donating, so give people the chance to volunteer in any way you can manage.
7. Make sure the site “invites” donations

Your site doesn’t need to be flashy or expensive, in fact being too flashy can be off-putting, but it does need to be attractive and inviting. Think about all your support types and try to find a balance between the younger audience who want quick, sharp options and the older generations who tend to read and research more before signing up. Have an instant click through alongside an information page about why and how things work.
Make sure the donate button is obvious, clear and above the fold. Don’t make people have to scroll to the bottom of a long page of copy before they can click.

8. Tell donors how their donations will help

In the USA charities have been significantly more successful generating online donations than in the UK. One of the key distinguishing factors between the two is that in the US they are much more direct about what a donation will pay for.

Include information about donors, sponsored events and participants. Show practical images about people receiving whatever you provide. Be inspirational and personal. Provide information about what things costs and what a donation will pay for.

9. Plan to segment your donors

Although you may not start with a big list of names and donors plan to segment them in the future. Think about what data you need and how you will capture and store it. Will it be sensible to segment by age or gender, will donors give to geographic appeals or by some other clear interest like animal type or local interest.

Identifying these giving trends can allow you to target your appeals and is much easier online than off. As soon as you have a reasonable number of names who have a specific giving history you can start to send email newsletters with targeted asks and test the response to different groups.

10. Make friends of your supporters

Online we can be much more informal than on paper. Donors like feeling part of a group so the more friendly and inclusive you can be the better.
At the same time be polite. Don’t spam and clearly show you are not a spammer. Don’t shout or overwhelm. Always give donors choice about what they receive and how.

And critically remember that any online donor can easily publicise any bad practice. Ask donors to spread the word about your good works while making sure you don’t give them anything to complain about.

The power of news - 7 year old raises £60k for UNICEF Haiti appeal

UPDATE - another day and the sponsorship tops £100k ($160k)

7 year old Charlie Simpson has raised more than £61,000 for the UNICEF Haiti appeal form a 5 mile bike ride and a JustGIving page. He planned to do 7 laps (5 miles) round South Park in Fulham (South London). He originally set a target of £500 which has so far been exceeded by 12000%.

There are more than 5000 links to the story on google search, from coverage of Charlie on Sky news to MIXX and the Times online to Twitter.

Clearly a good news story which caught the attention of a couple of newsies and took off world wide. And now there is a twitter about every 5 minutes about the story, so who knows where it will stop.

Charlie said:

My name is Charlie Simpson, I want to do a Sponsored Bike Ride for Haiti because there was a big earthquake and loads of people have lost their lives. I want to make some money to buy food, water and tents for everyone in Haiti.

Visit his page at http://www.justgiving.com/CharlieSimpson-HAITI

Add the Social Nwtworking Icons

It is important to show everybody that you have Facebook and Twitter profiles and want to be listed on Digg and Delicious.. it all adds to the buzz and lets supporters interact how they want to.


So make sure you include the social media icons on your website and email newsletters.

I am often asked where you can get the icons and the best site I have seen is at:

http://webdesignledger.com/freebies/the-best-social-media-icons-all-in-one-place


Any other suggestions reply ot tweet me to add to the list.