The benefits of fundraising online

Traditional and online fundraising share some similar characteristics, but it is also distinct in many ways. Taking your fundraising online is more than a strategic decision - it is a channel with rules and metrics of its own. Whether you have been fundraising online for a while, or you started tapping into this channel recently, you will find some major benefits that are typical to online fundraising:

1.      Customizable: you can modify your campaign page in order to make it as unique and personal as possible. The flexibility of modifying your messaging and content at almost zero costs is a big advantage. This way, you can run multiple, up-to-date campaigns that are "tailored" to specific segments of visitors. That way, both new visitors and existing donors landing on the campaign page will feel "at home".  

2.      Spread the word - create a buzz faster:  launching an online fundraising campaign is not enough. The Web is all about traffic, and the resources are available for everyone, even if you are not an expert Web marketer! Every nonprofit organization can increase its traffic and exposure with minimum costs (read more about 6 keys to increase your donor traffic)

3.      Built-in transparency: You probably heard it before. But there is no such thing as being too transparent when it comes to online fundraising. The more transparent your organization is about its cause and goals, the higher the users' trust and willingness is to participate. The technological benefits of the Web enable nonprofits to share with their campaign visitors and supporters up-to-date statistics, goals and targets. 

Imagine the following scenario: an existing donor of yours "liked" your post on Facebook, announcing the launch of a new online fundraising campaign. Her cousin, out of solidarity, also "likes" this post, and her high school friend is exposed in this way to the campaign. The friend doesn't know anything about your organization or the cause it supports, but she/ he feels they want to do "something". Thus, they click on the link, get to the campaign page, eager to help somehow. What would probably make this kind of visitor participate/ donate (aside from the actual cause of course) is her/ his sense of trust.  Trust can be created through transparency. For example:

a) Why would you like to raise that amount of money?

b) How will the donations be allocated in order to reach the goal?

c) Examples of past campaigns (offline/ online) and the impact it had

d) Keep this in mind: in many cases, trust can be the difference between a visitor and a donor/ activist!

4.      The data is right in front of you, daily! The Web is a media that can be fully tracked. Everything happens in real time and can be monitored, analyzed and optimized. Thus, if you launch a campaign, invest energies in the right content, make the necessary buzz and not digging into reports - you are missing the most cost-effective (and fun!) part of online fundraising. 

Once the campaign starts to pick up, you witness a growing number of daily visitors and donations, it's time to analyze your campaign statistics, segment your audience and gain some insights.  Few examples:

a) Visitor sources: which traffic source was most effective? Which traffic source  generates the highest average donation? Can you invest more in the most  effective sources?

b) Invitation letters: what are the open rates? Which subject line generates the  highest open rates? What segment is most responsive to email invitations?

c) Champions: what is the accumulative contribution of champions? What type   of visitors become champions? Which message/ picture have the highest   ratios of success on donors-to-champions?

d) Donation rates: is it higher on weekdays/ weekends? What hours of the day?  Which countries, not to mention states/ regions?

The options for analysis are almost endless, and dependant on the level of data supported by the vendor of course. What is most important is to remember is to look for actionable insights.

Yeah sure, many details can be interesting, but to be effective and maximize the impact of the campaign, you will need to focus on insights that you can influence, and ultimately, generate higher donation ratios, bigger donations and higher participation ratios.

The Web is different in many aspects from offline, traditional media. It has clear advantages: cost-effectiveness, scalability, viral effect and ability to analyze and optimize.

The faster you tap into it, the faster your learning curve improves, and from one online campaign to your next campaign you find online fundraising a viable and sustainable source for donations.