Giving on line makes giving easier.Not For Profits (NFPs):
10 Quick Tips to Boost Donations
Visit any webmaster blog (like this one) and you’ll find plenty of information on how to improve the performance of a commercial site – a for-profit site. Give-aways, sales, clear navigation and all kinds of good tips to boost sales.
The objective of a not-for-profit is different. Here, you aren’t selling a product. You’re selling an emotion – sympathy or empathy. As such, the rules are a little different.
1. Skip the hard sell. It sounds like begging.
The hard sell, with lots of descriptors like “the best,” “most powerful,” “winner of the 2008 XYZ Award for Excellence,” and so on.
NFPs should skip the hype altogether. A short, poignant story of how your organization helped one family or one individual is enough to make your case that your NFP is worthy of a donation. This is a soft sell site.
2. Clearly define the problem and how you intend to address it through visitor donations.
Does your organization fight world hunger (savethechildren.org) or build homes for those who can’t afford to buy a house like Habitat for Humanity?
Describe, in detail, exactly the purpose of your organization and how the visitor’s donation will be used to help others, help animals, help the world – help something.
3. Provide a detailed example of your organization’s success.
If your organization has been a success, don’t hide your light under a basket. Success stories are what potential donors are looking for. They want to know their donations are doing good, not providing the head of the NFP with a limo to the airport.
In this section of the site, use a lot of pictures. Show the village before and after the school was constructed or the well dug. Show an individual who has the disease or condition scientists are trying to cure. In the case of soliciting donations, a picture really is worth 1,000 words.
4. Provide the percentage of each donation that goes directly to helping others.
There are a lot of unsavory characters on the world wide web. (Lots of savory people, too, but you don’t have to worry about them.) An NFP, by law, must open its books to any contributor.
A good NFP will be happy to tell you that 90% of your donation goes to help others while only 10% is used for administration and fund-raising costs. Good ratio.
And by the way, if this information isn’t available on the site you should probably move on to another good cause. There are lots of them that proudly display their numbers to show that nobody’s getting rich at ABC Charity. Your donation helps others; it doesn’t feather the nest of organization leaders.
5. Provide several means of making a donation – easy means.
Some people want to talk to human when making a donation. They may have questions that haven’t been answered on the web site. For these generous donors, provide a toll-free number to accept credit card donations. Also, be sure to provide the mailing address of the NFP for those who prefer to use the postal service to get that donation where it’s most needed.
Finally, provide a secure page wherein donors can make online donations. And provide donation option packages and other options such as:
- In memory of
- In honor of
- A monthly gift (automatic withdrawal)
- A gift from one organization to another
- Other related charities
Once a donation has been made, the name of the donor and all relevant information should be added to the organization’s database. This information can be used to solicit donations in the future. If an individual or family made a donation once, they’re likely to make another donation when asked.
However, don’t slam the donor with request after request for more money. The difference between the belief that an organization is performing worthwhile work and just raising cash is a fine line. Send a request regularly but (1) not daily or weekly and (2) not the day after a visitor makes a donation.
7. List your professional affiliations.
There are organizations that audit the books of non-profits to certify that donations are being delivered as promised. Become a member of at least one of these organizations. More than one is even better.
Then, explain what these organizations do to ensure that the visitors’ donations are being properly deployed. It’s a good idea to include a link to these verification organizations so visitors have an even better understanding of what they do, and how commited you are to keeping operating costs down and putting donations to work where they’re needed.
8. Follow Through
Once a donor has made a donation, follow through with a “thank-you” auto-responder. This does a few things. First, it tells donors that their donations have been received. Second, it provides your organization another opportunity to thank the donor one more time and verify the email address.
Finally, your follow up AR can also serve as a donation receipt required at tax time to prove the donor’s largesse to the IRS. Make sure to tell site visitors that their donations are 100% tax deductible – assuming that’s the case. If donations aren’t tax deductible, that information should appear in a prominent place on the site, i.e. the donation form itself.
9. Spread the word.
Ask donors to spread the word about your organization to their employers and to like-minded people.
Many generous companies match donations made by their employees – some dollar for dollar, some 50% on the dollar – it really doesn’t matter. It won’t cost you anything and it’ll do more good, making a donation go further in helping others.
Like-minded people are, most often, friends who share the same interests. For example, The Animal Center, an organization to which you regularly donate, might be of interest to your cat friends or dog lovers. SavetheHorse.org cares for injured, old or abused horses – a fine mission. The point is, chances are your friends share similar interests, one of whom just might make a donation to a worthy cause.
10. Assure donors their information is secure.
Many people are fearful that if they make a donation to one charity, their names will be added to the fund-raising business “donors” list,” which will lead to an avalanche of emails and snail mail and even telephone calls asking for more money or some kind of donation such as your time or your old car.
“Your name and other personal information will never be given or sold to other organizations. We respect your privacy as much as your generosity.” acts as a security blanket for the prospective donor fearful of being blanketed with requests from other NFPs for more donations.
Then, think of the blessings that have come your way and give until it hurts.
No comments:
Post a Comment