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On this episode, Tim and Nathan chat about the best ways small nonprofits can leverage online giving. Some of the tips that they share are:
- How to make your donation button impossible to miss and super easy to use.
- The importance of a seamless, secure payment process.
- Why it's crucial to ensure your donation page is mobile-friendly.
- How to identify and reach your audience, the power of visuals, and why consistency is
key.
If you are interested in joining The Practice Community, click the link below.
The Hosts of The Practice of NonProfit Leadership:
Tim Barnes serves as the Executive Vice President of International Association for Refugees (IAFR)
Nathan Ruby serves as the Executive Director of Friends of the Children of Haiti (FOTCOH)
They can be reached at info@practicenpleader.com
All opinions and views expressed by the hosts are their own and do not necessarily represent those of their respective organizations.
00:02 - Optimizing Online Fundraising for Nonprofits
10:15 - Online Donation Processing and Payment Platforms
14:43 - Online Giving Strategies for Nonprofits
Today we are going to cover online fundraising. We have four key points you will want to consider to make your online giving results the best they can possibly be.
Welcome to Episode 124 of the Practice of Nonprofit Leadership. I'm Tim Barnes and I'm Nathan Ruby.
Well Tim. Why is online fundraising something Executive Directors should be considering?
Well, it's no secret that online giving is growing significantly and it's been growing that way in recent years. Here are some 2021 online giving statistics, as reported by BlackBod, who is into the donation space, fundraising space. In 2021, 12% of all fundraising revenue was given online. Now here are some numbers on specific nonprofit sectors. So, if we think about the faith community, 17% of the giving in faith communities came online For animal welfare, 12% of online human services, or 9% online giving, and art and culture was 7% online giving.
Yeah, those are big numbers and they're big enough that if you're leading an organization, you really should be thinking about this. I know in my own giving I have probably two or three places that we actively give to that I give online. I set up the recurring monthly donation and it's online. It's done. I don't have to think about it. Tim, we didn't talk about this before the show, but do you do any online giving?
Yeah, almost everything I do is online. I rarely write a check, I rarely even carry a check, so I pretty much will go to my. I actually use my phone for a lot, so I'll do everything on my phone. So definitely I'm an old guy, but I have adapted.
So we'll talk about mobile giving here in a little bit, and before we get into this, before we launch off of this, every organization is different, but online giving is going to keep growing, and it is. If you're trying to fundraise, this is something that you really need to be thinking about, so let's get into it All right. So, point number one If you're going to do an online giving on your website, that's where most people typically start. The number one thing I can tell you is make the giving button really, really easy to see. It has to stand out, it has to be obvious. It should be one of the first things that your donor sees, or a visitor to your homepage, one of the first things they see.
And in preparation for this episode, I did a very unscientific study, Tim. I know that's probably shocking to you that I did my study unscientifically, but I just went to a few organizations that I know some national organizations, some statewide organizations and I just checked out what is their page, what does their page look like when it comes to online giving, and some of the things that I saw that were really good. That popped out to my attention was a lot of the organizations who really highlighted their online giving. That giving button was in the top right hand corner of the landing page. It was just right there, it was easy to see and it just seemed the top right hand corner was a common place for it to be. Another thing that made it really stand out was the button that the place that you click on says donate or give. It was very clearly marked what that was for. And then another one that really helped was a different font cover, and so some of them was you know where the and I don't I'm sure there's a technical web development term for this, but if the background of the page was dark, then the giving button had an actual light background to it, and then the color of the font was even in a different color. So it really stood out. So people knew where to go.
And so, on the other side of that, on some not good things that I saw, that I noticed was several of the websites had their giving page either in the middle of the page or down lower, and it just it was. You had to look for it, it wasn't obvious, and so so don't do that, don't have it down in the middle or the lower. Another one is going back to the color font it was. There were several pages where it just it blended in because it was the same color and it didn't stand out.
And then one organization I saw oh my gosh, it had, instead of give or donate, it had some funky symbol that and it was like, oh, I wonder what that is. And so I hovered over it and sure enough, that was the giving link and it was like, oh my gosh, I would have had no idea. Probably that symbol had some interest or some connection to the organization. I don't know, I don't know why you would do that if it didn't, but to me, the donor or the visitor to the website, it didn't have any connection to me. So it just happened that I hovered over it because I was intentionally looking for it, that I discovered that that was the giving button.
So I guess the moral of the story there is make it obvious, don't hide it, don't hide your giving button. And then a couple more things. On the giving button is, if you look at my site, it's on every page and it's on every page at the top right hand corner, and so no matter where you are going through that website, if you decide, you know what I'm gonna make a gift? You know it's right there. So have it on either every page or at least multiple pages, multiple sites, because when they're ready to give, they're gonna give right now. So make it easy, easy to find. Don't make it hard to find the giving button.
You know some people may say well, man, all those seem so obvious that you're sharing and you would think so, right, but it just. You look at lots of sites and the people just really miss out on getting their donors to know how to give right there. And it's not obvious.
Yeah, yeah and you know, developing a website, if you've gone through either creating a website from scratch or doing a major overhaul, oh my gosh, they're brutal. There's just so many decisions to have to be made and so many, and typically you're gonna have web developers that are not fundraising experts, they're website developer experts, and so you know some of these things that you have to make sure that you are doing intentionally. That you know. And a website developer if you just tell them, hey, I want that giving button, you know, easy to see. You know either somewhere on the top of the page. You know, on multiple pages, they'll do that, but you just gotta you have to guide them and that's what you want them to do. Are you ready? Are you ready to go deeper? Are you ready to learn more? Are you ready to join a community of people who are walking the same path as you? Well, if you are, tim and I invite you to join the practice community. As a member of the practice community, you will have access to two things. First, you will have access to additional content. Tim and I will be recording additional shows that only members of the community can have access to. Second, you will be invited to our monthly office hours. Once a month, tim and I are gonna be hanging out on a Zoom call and members will be invited to join us. There'll be time to ask questions and to get feedback not only from the two of us, but also from other executive directors who are walking right alongside with you. All of this for just 10 bucks a month. When you divide that out, it's only 33 cents a day. That is a whopper of a bargain. To join the group today. Go to the show notes and click on the link that says the practice of nonprofit leadership, and it has a plus sign at the end of it. That'll take you right to the signup page. We are really excited to offer this opportunity and to be able to connect with you on an even deeper level. Please join us. You'll be glad you did Okay.
Next is keep it simple, and what I'm talking about here is the actual donation process, when you click on the button and then you start to go through the process of making your gift. Make it clear, give clear instructions on how you want them to fill it out, but don't ask for too much information. Don't be asking for you know their home address and their home address number two and their cell number and their home number and you know their work email and their home email. And all of these just collect the basic information that you need to process the gift, not much else than that. And the reason for that is every question that they have to answer, every line that they have to fill out.
Every time they have to click to another page to go to the next page, you are going to lose donors. The more hoops they have to jump through, the more of them will say you know what? That's just, it's just not worth it. The fewer steps that it takes to complete the gift, the more gifts you're going to get. And you know, I've experienced it myself, tim, there's been times I've tried to give online and it's like I am not going to, I'm not going to do that, it's too much. Or it's like, after the second page that I've had to click through, it's like I give up, I'm done. I guess maybe I have a shorter attention span than some, but you just got to keep it simple and get the basic info.
What do you think about those times where it asks you to set up an account so that you can give? Is that kind of a secondary thing? Let's get the gift first and then, if it works, okay, then come back. But yeah, what do you think?
You know there's two sides of that, tim, and you know, on one hand it's like I get it, it's like, okay, I've got this new donor, this new or an existing donor. I want to grab every bit of information I can, and because the more information you know, the better you can pinpoint. You know communication, you know the more likelihood that you can move them up the giving scale, and so I get that part. I also understand, you know, filling out an account or however you whatever the right phreseology is for that. I mean that's awesome because now it's in your database, especially if you're giving a portal which we're going to talk about in a second matches up to your database. Then you know that's easier for staff because they don't have to go in and create an account. There's some great stuff there. But you know what I want? What I want is the gift. I want that first gift.
Nothing happens until that first gift is done. Or if it's an existing donor, you know they're making a gift. Then and this is part of the building a bigger and bigger and more comprehensive fundraising program is once somebody makes that gift. You know, and there should be. I mean you could get a phone number, you could get an email. That's okay. Once that gift is made. Then there needs to be, you know, yes, you would have a thank you that goes out. That's for a pretty standard, but somebody ought to be going back within you know a few days to that donor saying by email or phone, whatever, saying oh my gosh, thank you so much for that gift. That is awesome. And then you get into a conversation with them. So to answer that's a long-winded answer to your question, tim, I would probably come down on the side of I will not make you sign up and open an account and go through all that. I just want a simple gift and we will nurture you and deepen that relationship as we go.
It's good inside, so, okay, all right All right.
Next one, number three, is Secure payment. Do not try to cobble together your own payment processing system. You know I go go out there are there are tons of places out there To that that will set up a gift processing for you, and that's the good news. I mean, there's plenty of places that will go out there Out there that will do it for you. And if you have, if you have a database already, then I would advise you to look for a processing platform that will match up with your database so that some of that information can be captured. You know, if you have an existing donor that goes on and makes a gift, if it, if the processing matches up with your donor base, then it that that those numbers are automatically inserted for you into the database, and that is awesome.
The problem is that's the good news there's lots of options out there. The bad news is they are all expensive. There is not a single that I know of. There may be, and and if you're listening and you know of one, please reach out to us and let us know but I don't know of a single one that I would call inexpensive. They're all expensive and Typically when you're giving online, no matter how you do it and no matter what processing, online processing you're using. Typically that the credit debit card processing fee is I don't know Tim three to five percent. I think that's pretty standard what it is, and that doesn't make any difference if it's a debit card or if it's a of its credit card and if you're doing directly, if they set it up with a bank account. I don't know, tim. Is there a sir, transaction fee on that?
if it's, a, a, ch. You know what? I should know that, but Off the top of my head I don't know.
Yeah, I don't know that either. Um, somebody knows back. Yeah, somebody knows that, let us know. But so three to five percent for processing debit, credit cards, and then the platform whatever giving platform you're using it's another, typically two, three, four, five percent. So the total cost of online gifts is Seven percent, ten percent, sometimes even higher, and that's a that's a. That's a chunk of money, but it is. It is well worth it to have a System that is secure, that's safe, that you know is done right and that you're not responsible for, because if you're, if you're using these, these processing sites, they are responsible for all the security. You are not, and you know I, we've had our, we've had our website hacked a couple of times in the last year and it is.
And we had our email hacked once and it is really nice to be able to tell donors yes, we got hacked. No, you know, your information was not. You know was not at risk, there was no connection to it.
So it's it's really nice to be able to say that you know I I'm gonna share probably a unpopular opinion, because we go round and round with our board and and not just our board, but I've had conversations with lots of different people about this issue, about percentages on using online platforms, and I've just come to the conclusion that it's Part of the cost to do in business and you know it gives you an opportunity to For people to very easily be able to give gifts to you, especially in a generation that isn't used to a check, that isn't used to even cash.
You know that it's your, it's your debit card and when I do a budget for our, for our organization, this is part of what I include. It's part of the fact that it's part of the business of having an organization. So I just I look at it that way. Do I like it? No, we don't ask our donors to cover those fees. We, we cover that as part of the work that we're doing. And I'm not saying we're the right way or you're the wrong way. I'm just saying that's kind of the way that I've approached it. So, anyway, I I take I'm glad that we can have gifts, the people can give and they're motivated to give in that platform and I'm gonna pay for that to happen.
So, yeah, you know that's awesome, that's a that's. We've had the same discussions with our board and with our staff and and our the Contractor consultants that are helping us with our communications and online, and we've gone it the other route and so we do offer it's an option for donors if they want to cover that transaction fee, they can cover that. And so the Sorry Tim and I are laughing because we're we're on a, we use Riverside to record this and we could see each other and for some reason my Apple Mac is when I, when I hand gesture, little things pop up and it makes us it's like hand gestures, I don't know it, but makes us laugh. Sorry about that, but you know, for for us we have the option to pay for that and so if it's a hundred dollar gift and the transaction fee is a 5%, then you know the donor can add on, has the option to add on, five dollars, and so their total amount is 105. But if they don't choose to, then we cover that and in that respect I'm the same way Tim edges cost to do in business and you know it the the five-year value of a new donor. You know, if they're a hundred dollar donor and With cultivation and our newsletters and our interaction, you know we can move them up to a $250 and a $500 donor over five years. What will I give up? $5 to get $2500 or $3000 or $4000 or $5000 in the future? Oh yeah, that's a, that's a no-brainer. So but it's the other. The other side of that is and I see it too I mean, I see those costs come through and it's like good ward. How much did we spend on that? So yeah, cost to do in business.
Okay, next one is mobile friendly, and we talked about that a little bit in the intro, but Right now, the statistics are over half of all online giving is now made on a mobile device, so it's either made on your, on your phone, or or a pad, ipad, tablet, whatever. So having your website being and your wherever you're giving, is ensuring that it, that it's, that your donation page is mobile friendly. It's not an option, it's a have to. If you're going to Jump into this and if you're going to do online giving as a strategy, then this is something you have to do and and I don't think you, you can't, you can't assume that your web page is mobile. Optimized it, I think probably now Website developers are probably more and more into that than they used to be.
But if your website is is a few years old, don't assume that it is, and so I'm going to give you two things to do on that is as soon as this podcast is over. As soon as you're done listening. One I go to the show notes and Practice. Join our practice community. That is totally worth it. That'd be number one and number two email your website developer and ask them if your website is Mobile optimized and, if it's not, figure out a way to get that done, because it's, it's gonna be really difficult to To maximize online giving if you're not, if it's not easy for your cell phones, mobile phones and tablets to be able to use your website and ultimately give through it.
And I would encourage you to consider, you know, making it possible to use like an Apple pay or a Google pay or maybe even PayPal. We use PayPal as well. People can give, in particular for us. We have people who give From all over the world, and so that platform allows us to do that where some of our other Platforms don't. But consider, you know, what are the, what are who your constituents and what are the kinds of mobile Payment plans or payment Things are they using, and consider making it possible to do that in your organization.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely Okay. So here's number four, and this is, I think, probably the most important of the four. They're all important, but this one. If you don't do this, you're not going to have success in online giving, and that is you have to market. This is not a what was that, what was that baseball movie? Tim, this is not a field of dreams. If you build it, they will not come, they just won't. You have to build it, and then you have to go out, interact with your donors, interact with prospective donors and drive them, pull them back to your giving page, so that then they will give. They simply will not find it on their own. You've got to go find them. So here's four quick things, easy, simple things to do.
That One is identify your audience, know who you want to reach out to and tailor your content and your location to that group. So do your donors, your potential donors. Are they on Facebook, Are they on Twitter, are they on Instagram, are they on TikTok? And I think the best way to figure that out, tim, unless you've got something better, is you just simply ask them. Talk to your donors, talk to your constituents, talk to your staff, talk to people that you serve, and just find out where is everybody at and it may be simple or you may have multiple places but ask your group, ask your people where they hang out at, and then that's how you know where to engage at.
One is use visuals. Tell your story using images and videos. That today, I think videos probably more than anything is just such a higher engagement, and they don't have to be long. They could be short 30 seconds, 60 seconds, minute, two minutes, three minutes. Again, attention span is shorter today than it's ever been, so using videos or other images is a better way to tell your stories than writing a thousand words and posting it.
Third is be consistent. Post regularly, and consistent doesn't mean well. Being consistent is different on different social media platforms. So it could be every week, it could be every other week, it could be every day. It depends on the platform that you're using. And then, lastly, is interact with your audience. This one is crucial, crucial, important If you have somebody that engages with you. If somebody makes a comment, if somebody responds, you need to have somebody that is engaging with them. If they like your picture, like something that there's back, if they make a comment on it, respond to the comment on the comment and engage with your audience, and that is going to drive more and more people to your website, which then will drive online giving. So you've got to market, Tim. If you don't market, it's not going to come.
Those are some great insights. It's interesting, too. I'm seeing some of our fundraising platforms, our customer relationship management CRMs, are incorporating that in some of the information they grab for you or that you can put in there. You can identify what are the platforms that your donors are on and you can track that and find out who's on Facebook, who's on Instagram, which is something that's really cool.
It's a really important area to be focused on yeah and another, our database that we use. They have recently come out with a video option. So you go into the donor account, click on an icon and I could do a 30 second, one minute, whatever. I don't know if I'll find out, because I just got signed up for it. Video that goes directly to their email box and then it's in the donor record, which is going to be really cool. That is one of the things that I'm going to use that for is driving our membership program and driving our online giving, because in the video I can say, hey, go to our website page, go here. This is what we're focusing on this month. This is what we're doing, and so we're just getting started with it and I'm really excited about it, but I'm going to start using more and more video and to drive back to that online giving. So we'll see how that goes Well.
I tell you these are some great points and I'm sure we can go on and on. We've got lots of things we can share with you and you probably noticed we've been doing a focus on fundraising here, especially in this first quarter of the year, as you think about what's ahead and what you need to be focused on and I just got to say I really appreciate all the insights and experience that Nathan brings to this topic. And yeah, you've heard us say a couple times we'd love to see you join the practice community. You get the benefit of Nathan's wisdom if you jump on there as well, so it's a great reason to sign up and be a part of that.
Now, organizations that consistently raise the most money have well thought out intentional fundraising plans. They have a goal. They have strategies and tactics, and timelines and budgets. Online giving is a strategy that will work for most nonprofits. Now remember your organization was not created with a cookie cutter. It's not exactly the same as everyone else. However, most organizations can successfully raise money online, but it has to be intentional and you can't just throw something out there and expect it to work. You have to drive it. If you do, you will see results.
Well, thanks for listening today. If you are interested in joining the practice community, there's a link in the show notes where you can go and get signed up, and if you'd like to get in touch with us, our contact information is also in the show notes. That's all for today, until next time.
