Online fundraising has become a proven method for raising funds for your organization.
But there are quite a few tools you can use to boost those efforts and will make a big impact on the revenue you bring in online.
We’ll explain how you can take advantage of those easy-to-implement tools that will allow you to set it and forget it and let the money come in!
1. Use recurring upsells for a sustainable giving fund
One-time donations are great, but having a solid monthly giving program is what makes your fundraising efforts sustainable.
Growing your monthly giving should be a top priority for your organization, and using recurring upsells is an easy way to that.
A recurring upsell asks a donor to give on a recurring basis instead of a one-time donation.
You can customize the amounts that you ask for by using breakpoints to ask for a lower percentage of their initial gift to make it monthly. This allows you to target small-dollar donors without impacting large-dollar donors.
The best part about this kind of upsell is that the donor can enable the recurring donation with a single click. They don’t need to add any other information.
We have found that 15% of donors will choose to do so and the average Anedot customer that utilizes the feature raises $11,000 from it!
2. Use amount upsells to boost fundraising efforts
This is the same principle as recurring upsells, but instead of asking for a recurring donation, you ask them to add an additional amount to their donation.
For example, you could ask for an extra $10 from every donor. You could add a message that appeals to them and explains what that extra $10 will do for your cause. This will help you capitalize on their momentum and increase your total donations!
Or you can use an amount upsell to sell your merchandise. You can say “Donate $10 to receive our new bumper sticker!”
There are many ways you can use amounts to boost your total fundraising revenue!
3. Use countdown clocks for a sense of urgency
Countdown clocks for donation pages are useful in many ways and have proved to be one of the best tools to increase donations. You can use it to count down to an event or to a deadline you set.
Having countdown clocks on your page along with a compelling message increases the urgency conveyed to your donors. If they feel they need to donate for a good reason, they will be more likely to feel compelled to help you reach your goal.
For example, if you send out an email asking for help to reach your year-end giving fundraising goal, you could include a countdown clock on the donation page that reinforces that urgency.
In one experiment, adding a countdown clock to a donation page led to a 61.8% increase in donations!
4. Use abandoned cart emails to increase conversions
If a donor begins to donate but leaves the page, sending them an automatic email asking them to complete their donation is a great way to increase your fundraising efforts.
You should create a email that reminds them of why they clicked on your donation page in the first place, and use that message to remind them why it is important and why you need their help! So, craft your message to appeal to both the head and heart.
Anedot has a feature called Abandoned Actions. It’s similar to abandoned cart emails common in e-commerce. The difference is, it’s built specifically for online fundraising. With Action Recovery, you can create unlimited donor recovery messages! You can craft the email that will be delivered to your potential donor at a specified time, and measure the effectiveness of that message.
This also works great for leads pages for when a supporter begins to fill out a petition or survey, but exits the page.
We’ve seen great success when accounts use this on their donation pages. So no matter your platform, take this step to increase your donations.
5. Use text to give to make donating easier
Text to give is a tool that allows supporters to make a donation by texting a unique keyword to a specific phone number. You can set a keyword that is easily recognizable and link it to a donation page. This will allow your donor to give on the spot, right there from their phone.
Text to give can be a useful tool in many ways, like at fundraising events, or to put on direct mail pieces.
Anedot’s SMS Keywords are free and easy to use! If someone has a DonorID, then the donation can be processed with only the initial text from the donor.
For example, they could text “$25 KEYWORD” to the phone number and the donation of $25 would automatically be processed.
If they do not have a DonorID, then it would send them a secure link to your donation page to complete their donation. Either way, it makes donating simple and fast!
6. Use tandem pages to raise money with related organizations
Tandem pages allow nonprofits, political campaigns, and other organizations to work together for a common cause and raise more money by fundraising together!
A tandem page is a single donation page where two or more organizations can raise money from within the same page. Those donations are automatically split evenly between organizations, but donors have the option to modify the split of their contribution.
Tandem pages typically increase fundraising totals for each organization. In fact, our research shows that they raise more money together than if they made the same effort alone.
7. Use cross sells to raise money together
A cross sell is a mix between upsells and tandem pages. It functions as an upsell, but instead of asking your donor to give more to your organization, the cross sell asks for a donation to a similar cause.
If you have a like-minded organization, PAC, or candidate, you can team up with them and help each other raise more funds.
Once the donor contributes to your organization, the cross sell will give the donor the opportunity to donate to a similar organization. It won’t put your initial donation in jeopardy, it will just help other organizations of your choice raise more money, get more leads, or simply raise awareness about their cause. And they can do the same for you!
On Anedot, like with Tandem pages, the funds will be sent to the respective bank accounts so you don’t have to do any other work!
All of these tools are available for free on Anedot! If you would like to get started using these tools to help boost online fundraising, visit our homepage and apply for a free fundraising account!
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