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.
26 January, 2010
25 January, 2010
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:
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
20 January, 2010
Add the Social Networking 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.
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.
18 January, 2010
Online Gorilla Marketing
So how can you publicise your event or campaign without a big budget or lots of resources?
Well the answer is using volunteers and thinking outside the box. Whatever you want to promote you need to think about who your audience are and where they are going to read about it. Your website, enews, Twitter and Facebook are obvious and your “warm” audiences will read your stories, but you need to work much harder to ge to new audiences.
Think about what you are promoting. If it is something to do with animals or pets you need to find the websites of people who love that animal, if it is an outdoor event then think about the people who participate or watch that event.
A perfect job for a volunteer; search for that audience and create a spreadsheet or database with the website, email, name and any other contact details they can find. So if you want to organise a duck race then who uses the river, what outdoor sports take place there, which community and local groups are around. If you are organising the sale of a set of paintings of a horse race then where are the racing enthusiasts.
Once you have a list of websites and emails put together a set of resources for them to use, either to be emailed to them or load the resources onto a web page. Resources would include name, description, date, time, directions, maps, logo, maybe a paragraph suitable for email newsletters, printed materials or the web, maybe a poster or leaflet they can print, a contact address – whatever you can offer.
Then send a polite, short, informative email to all the webmasters or admin contacts of the sites you have listed asking them to talk about the event, publicise it to their members, and directing them to all the resources you have thoughtfully put together for them.
There are a huge number of amateur groups out there with website, blogs and email newsletter who really have very little to say to each other because they “do” whatever the group is about , so they are desperate for content. And if you think that’s mad think about how many organisations struggle for news stories to keep their websites fresh or to put in their enews.
Send them something on topic, interesting to their readers and outside their normal conversation and a very large number will publicise it for you.
Well the answer is using volunteers and thinking outside the box. Whatever you want to promote you need to think about who your audience are and where they are going to read about it. Your website, enews, Twitter and Facebook are obvious and your “warm” audiences will read your stories, but you need to work much harder to ge to new audiences.
Think about what you are promoting. If it is something to do with animals or pets you need to find the websites of people who love that animal, if it is an outdoor event then think about the people who participate or watch that event.
A perfect job for a volunteer; search for that audience and create a spreadsheet or database with the website, email, name and any other contact details they can find. So if you want to organise a duck race then who uses the river, what outdoor sports take place there, which community and local groups are around. If you are organising the sale of a set of paintings of a horse race then where are the racing enthusiasts.
Once you have a list of websites and emails put together a set of resources for them to use, either to be emailed to them or load the resources onto a web page. Resources would include name, description, date, time, directions, maps, logo, maybe a paragraph suitable for email newsletters, printed materials or the web, maybe a poster or leaflet they can print, a contact address – whatever you can offer.
Then send a polite, short, informative email to all the webmasters or admin contacts of the sites you have listed asking them to talk about the event, publicise it to their members, and directing them to all the resources you have thoughtfully put together for them.
There are a huge number of amateur groups out there with website, blogs and email newsletter who really have very little to say to each other because they “do” whatever the group is about , so they are desperate for content. And if you think that’s mad think about how many organisations struggle for news stories to keep their websites fresh or to put in their enews.
Send them something on topic, interesting to their readers and outside their normal conversation and a very large number will publicise it for you.
12 January, 2010
Are we doing enough to encourage donors to give?
As Everyclick’s fundraising approaches the £1million mark it makes me wonder if we are doing enough to encourage donors to give?
One of the clearest messages we can take on board from our supporters is that they want to be able to choose how and when to support us. The internet is a perfect vehicle for offering that choice at an extremely low cost and in a format that is accessible 24 hours a day, every day.
First, offer as many ways to pay as you can. Debit and credit cards are a must. If you can't offer direct debits, then offer standing orders. Add PayPal as an option and always include postal and telephone options for those who still won't pay online or have a problem with the form.
Try to include information about alternative ways to support the charity. It costs nothing to add a page explaining how people can support you through eBay auctions and Everyclick, but it makes the choice much wider. Other possible alternatives include in-memoriam services and affiliate schemes.
If you have any donors doing sponsored events, add a page explaining how they can use online tools. Offer a package where you set up a fundraising page, a blog and twitter profile for them – it only takes a few minutes, you get to control the branding and can feed the outcomes to your own website, Facebook and Twitter. Remember that many donors and supporters may not have the confidence or the technical know how to set up a blog, add a fundraising widget and feed it to Facebook and Twitter.
Finally, never forget that volunteering is a way to give. Even if you don't use volunteers in the office, you can use them to run services such as eBay auctions and Social Networking pages.
Engaging with your supporters is critical to retaining their support. Offering them e-communications, easy ways to give, direct routes through the site and multiple options will make it easier for them and will increase your income.
One of the clearest messages we can take on board from our supporters is that they want to be able to choose how and when to support us. The internet is a perfect vehicle for offering that choice at an extremely low cost and in a format that is accessible 24 hours a day, every day.
First, offer as many ways to pay as you can. Debit and credit cards are a must. If you can't offer direct debits, then offer standing orders. Add PayPal as an option and always include postal and telephone options for those who still won't pay online or have a problem with the form.
Try to include information about alternative ways to support the charity. It costs nothing to add a page explaining how people can support you through eBay auctions and Everyclick, but it makes the choice much wider. Other possible alternatives include in-memoriam services and affiliate schemes.
If you have any donors doing sponsored events, add a page explaining how they can use online tools. Offer a package where you set up a fundraising page, a blog and twitter profile for them – it only takes a few minutes, you get to control the branding and can feed the outcomes to your own website, Facebook and Twitter. Remember that many donors and supporters may not have the confidence or the technical know how to set up a blog, add a fundraising widget and feed it to Facebook and Twitter.
Finally, never forget that volunteering is a way to give. Even if you don't use volunteers in the office, you can use them to run services such as eBay auctions and Social Networking pages.
Engaging with your supporters is critical to retaining their support. Offering them e-communications, easy ways to give, direct routes through the site and multiple options will make it easier for them and will increase your income.
07 January, 2010
Can anybody find you?
How about making a resolution to make sure your website is easy to find?
Much of the time, visitors to your website will find it through either typing in a guessed URL or via an internet search engine and you need to ensure that any search engine can find your site without problems.
The first thing to think about is your URL. A search engine will list any page, but it's better to make the URL something meaningful when it comes up in a listing, so it is definitely worth trying to have a domain name which represents your organisation. If you are known by an acronym as well as your name then it is best to have both URL’s pointing at the same site so that people will find you with either.
You can also point other domains to specific pages on your site, so if you have a special campaign or appeal buy a URL and point it to the lading page so that people - and search engines – can find it easily and it will stand out in a list.
Search engines also look for 'meta tags' - simple pieces of code that sit in the header of your web page and contain details of your site. These are crucial because they determine what title is shown in the taskbar menu and what title and description the search engine will display. The most important meta tags are title, which sets the taskbar and search results, and the description is used in search results.
These may seem daunting, but it is easy to check them by right-clicking on your home page and selecting 'view source'. The meta tags sit in a block near the top of the page. Once you have found them, check what they say, whether it is correct, and whether they will help people to known what your site is about.
If they aren't there, ask your web manager or agency to add them. If you manage your site manually, copy and paste the meta tags from another web page and change the details to suit your own site
It is worth checking that you have good titles and descriptions on you most important web pages as well as your homepage. If you want search engines to list pages on your site that you think people will search for then make sure they have relevant tiles and good descriptions. Pages about your services, work, how to volunteer, get involved and those special campaigns and appeals should have page specific meta tags.
Make sure that you website uses header tags, just like using word styles to format the text, the title on the top of the page should always be in header 1 – and the search engines read the header tags. Then the easiest and least technical bit of all, make sure the header is highly relevant to the page – it will help the search ranking.
Finally, make sure the most important phrases for each page are repeated at least three times in the text. Search engines read your pages and judge the search keywords by the title and phrases used. If your page is about street kids in Thailand, for example, make sure those words are repeated several times so that the search engines register it.
If you search for you charity on the main search engine do you come up above the fold and on the first page? If not, you need to do some work –or get some help.
Much of the time, visitors to your website will find it through either typing in a guessed URL or via an internet search engine and you need to ensure that any search engine can find your site without problems.
The first thing to think about is your URL. A search engine will list any page, but it's better to make the URL something meaningful when it comes up in a listing, so it is definitely worth trying to have a domain name which represents your organisation. If you are known by an acronym as well as your name then it is best to have both URL’s pointing at the same site so that people will find you with either.
You can also point other domains to specific pages on your site, so if you have a special campaign or appeal buy a URL and point it to the lading page so that people - and search engines – can find it easily and it will stand out in a list.
Search engines also look for 'meta tags' - simple pieces of code that sit in the header of your web page and contain details of your site. These are crucial because they determine what title is shown in the taskbar menu and what title and description the search engine will display. The most important meta tags are title, which sets the taskbar and search results, and the description is used in search results.
These may seem daunting, but it is easy to check them by right-clicking on your home page and selecting 'view source'. The meta tags sit in a block near the top of the page. Once you have found them, check what they say, whether it is correct, and whether they will help people to known what your site is about.
If they aren't there, ask your web manager or agency to add them. If you manage your site manually, copy and paste the meta tags from another web page and change the details to suit your own site
It is worth checking that you have good titles and descriptions on you most important web pages as well as your homepage. If you want search engines to list pages on your site that you think people will search for then make sure they have relevant tiles and good descriptions. Pages about your services, work, how to volunteer, get involved and those special campaigns and appeals should have page specific meta tags.
Make sure that you website uses header tags, just like using word styles to format the text, the title on the top of the page should always be in header 1 – and the search engines read the header tags. Then the easiest and least technical bit of all, make sure the header is highly relevant to the page – it will help the search ranking.
Finally, make sure the most important phrases for each page are repeated at least three times in the text. Search engines read your pages and judge the search keywords by the title and phrases used. If your page is about street kids in Thailand, for example, make sure those words are repeated several times so that the search engines register it.
If you search for you charity on the main search engine do you come up above the fold and on the first page? If not, you need to do some work –or get some help.
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