Online donations are growing. In order for your organization to benefit from this trend, it’s important to spend some time to make sure donors can give easily online and feel appreciated when they do. Here are some tips to do just that:
1. Send Them Personal Acknowledgements
You probably acknowledge and thank your off-line donors in personal ways, but what about your online donors? Sending an auto-responder thank you email for a donation made online is fundamental, but taking the time to produce a personalized or handwritten thank you that is mailed to your higher-end donors is something that would really have an impact.
2. Highlight Your Donors in Your Newsletter and Other Promotional Material
Collateral material, such as your newsletter, can be used to highlight stories about your online donors, and the difference they’ve made. Stories like this not only make the online donors feel appreciated, but also encourage others, who may be inspired by the story, to give.
3. Solicit Feedback
A great way to keep online donors engaged is to ask for their feedback. Donor polls, surveys or emails asking them to provide critical feedback lets them know their opinion is valued, and also provides you with valuable input about what you are doing right, and what you can improve.
4. Go Mobile!
In today’s world, donors are on the go all of the time and it’s likely they will be accessing your site via their mobile device instead of their desktop. In fact, globally this is the first year that people spent more time on their mobile devices than they did on their desktops. Therefore, having a site that is mobile friendly for online donors is a critically important.
5. Make It Easy to Donate
Making a donation is often a spur of the moment decision, and your website needs to be set up to make it as easy as possible to give. The less obstacles, the less clicks, the less clutter, the better. A cluttered page, asking for too much information, not having a seamlessly integrated donation page are all ways to have a donor quickly reconsider making a donation. See and example page here: 5 Donation Page Mistakes That will Destroy Your Online Fundraising
6. Be Social and Interact
Social media is a great way to share information and campaigns to promote online giving. It’s also a great way to engage with online donors. For example, you could send out a tweet thanking recent donors to your campaign, or share updates on the campaign’s success.
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