There are many charity donation websites out there, but not all of them will be right for your charity, and more importantly there are many alternative approaches to fundraising online.
Firstly, you will need a way of accepting online payments, but once you have this, there are many ways to accept donations online for free without a charity donation website such as JustGiving.
These are our top 4 tips on how to collect donations online, without using a third party charity donation website:
1. Make the most out of your own website
The obvious place to start is your own website, but you’d be surprised how many charities we come across that do not accept donations via their own website. 22% of visitors to a charity’s website are prospective donors1: Your website is your shop window to the world, and your online donation system the cash register.
2. Add giving options to your social media profiles
The likes of Facebook and Twitter are fantastic ways to get the message out about your cause, but they can also help attract donors. 55% of those that engage with charities via social media are inspired to take further action; of which 59% will make a donation2. Why not add a donation button to your Facebook profile?
3. Put a request for donations in your email signatures
It takes two minutes to add a link to your online donation page within your email signatures. This is a great way of reminding people that your charity relies on donations.
4. Create an e-newsletter for potential and existing donors
It’s a good idea to keep your supporters up to date with the charity’s latest projects. Why not use e-newsletters to update donors about your latest fundraising appeals?
There are a number of ways to collect donations online, but first of all you will need an online donation system for processing card payments, and ideally paperless Direct Debits too. Once you have this set up, the possibilities are endless and you won’t need to rely solely on external charity donation websites to bring in the funds!
If you are interested in finding out more about how we can help, please do get in touch or leave a comment.
