Successful Fundraising - Tips for Increasing Online Donations

Today, more and more nonprofit organizations are successfully implementing online donation capabilities to their websites as a key component to their overall fundraising strategies.

Unlike some traditional offline fundraising, such as direct mail or telemarketing, online fundraising can provide your nonprofit organization with a more timely and cost-effective means of acquiring donations to support your cause.

Here are a five tips for increasing your online fundraising activity:

Create a Professional Website
A well-organized, professional website is just the beginning of your successful online fundraising strategy. Your website should provide a clear message about your campaign and what your organization strives to accomplish. Your website content should communicate in a personal way, telling your story to your visitors, while encouraging them to participate and take action. It is also important that your website has a professional look and tone to invoke trust with potential supporters providing them with a reason to trust that the money they donate to your cause will be spent towards supporting your campaign.

Highlight Your Donation Button
Your nonprofit website homepage should have a link or button clearly labeled as the place to go to make donations. It really doesn't matter if it says "Donate," "Contribute," or another alternative; what matters is that it is obvious so when potential donors are looking to donate or support your cause, they can actually find it and take action.

Keep Your Donation Form Simple
Don't intimidate potential donors by asking unnecessary questions on your donation form. A simple, direct approach often generates better results. Donation forms should be designed to make it easy for the donor to enter their transactional data and complete the transaction.

Provide Different Payment Options
As the old saying goes, everybody is different. The truth is, even though this is a list of online fundraising tips, some donors aren't as trustworthy of online security as others and still feel more comfortable sending a check in the mail. In order to encourage interested visitors to donate to your cause, it's important your website allows your donors the option of alternative payment methods. By offering online payment via a secure server, as well as the option of printing out a form and later mailing payment to your organization, you will be making strides towards maximizing donations.

Optimize Your Website for Search Engine Rankings
One way to generate more traffic and publicize your website is to optimize your website for inclusion within Google, Yahoo!, and other major search engines. Being highly ranked for the right combinations of keywords will generate quality website visitors who likely will be interested in your cause. The more interested visitors that find your website and learn more about your campaign, the more online donations you will receive.

If you follow these tips and create a website and online donation system that is trustworthy, easy-to-use, and allows donors to choose their own preferred payment method, you will be meeting the needs of your supporters and in turn will raise more money.