Online donations have expanded in recent years, particularly after the global pandemic. Online giving grew by 9% in 2021.
According to recent statistics, 51% of donors prefer making donations online. Online donations have expanded in recent years, particularly after the global pandemic. Online giving grew by 9% in 2021.
With the rise in online donations, having an online fundraising platform is critical for nonprofit organizations. The ideal fundraising platform provides nonprofits with particular features that allow them to grow and generate more revenue. However, with so many alternatives on the market, it can be difficult for nonprofits to choose the best fundraising platform.
As a result, this blog discusses many criteria that nonprofits should consider when selecting a fundraising platform.
Benefits Of Online Fundraising Platform
Before we get into the factors that will help Nonprofits in selecting the best fundraising platform, it is important to understand why they need a platform in the first place. Some of the key advantages of an online fundraising platform are as follows:
- Saves Time and Money
Consider a nonprofit manually entering donor information, monitoring payments, and issuing tax receipts. Isn’t it nerve-wracking? This is where an online fundraising platform might come in handy.
Nonprofits no longer have to enter data into spreadsheets manually. Donor information is automatically entered into the database, and tax receipts are generated with a single click.
- Transparency and Credibility
Transparency is important for any nonprofit. Why? It encourages contributors to give more money online. The top online fundraising platforms help donors understand where their donations are being used and trace the payment. Nonprofits gain trust and credibility as a result of this.
- Raise More Funds
The best fundraising platform allows nonprofits to accept donations in multiple currencies. Donors also receive public recognition for online donations, encouraging them to contribute more. The more the acknowledgment, the more contributors will be motivated to make online donations, resulting in more funds.
Nonprofits can come up with ideas for public acknowledgment, such as releasing the names of top contributors or assisting individuals in accessing gift amounts.
- Accept Recurring Donations
Finding donors takes effort. Also, every nonprofit should retain its current contributors to keep its marketing costs low. The best method to accomplish this is to provide the option of recurring donations.
As a result, nonprofits should select a fundraising platform that allows contributors to participate in their monthly programs. Nonprofits can also keep track of donor contributions in one spot with the platform.
- Segment Donors
The best feature of an online fundraising platform is the ability for nonprofits to segment donors. The benefit of segmenting donors is that nonprofits can learn more about their most valuable donors.
Based on donor interest, nonprofits may create valuable and useful content. It also enables nonprofits to raise more funds by developing personalized campaigns based on donor information.
What To Consider While Choosing A Online Fundraising Platform?
Any online fundraising platform should offer option for payment tracking, analytics and reporting, donor information, and easy integration. These features will assist nonprofits in launching their online fundraising initiatives.
However, which fundraising platform is best is determined based on the needs of any nonprofit organization. Nonprofits should consider the following factors when selecting a fundraising platform:
- Intuitive, Mobile friendly Interface
Finding an online fundraising platform that is easy to use and intuitive can save hours of time and effort for nonprofits. It should allow nonprofits to create donation forms and pages with a simple copy and paste code. They do not have to learn to code or hire developers. While some fundraising platforms have little room for customization, others allow nonprofits to customize pages for the cause.
The donation pages should have the same color, logo, fonts, and theme as the rest of the website. This results in quick brand recognition. Because 25% of donors complete their donations on mobile devices, nonprofits should also optimize their donation sites for mobile use.
- Third Party Integration
Nonprofit organizations use several other tools like Salesforce, Zapier, Google Sheets, Slack, QuickBooks, Mailchimp, and more. All these tools work together to improve the efficiency of nonprofits. Thus, choosing a platform that can easily integrate with the existing platforms is important. This will streamline the fundraising process and allow nonprofits to manage everything from a single dashboard.
- Donor Management
Donations should not be the sole purpose of a fundraising platform. Nonprofits should look for a fundraising platform that offers a one-stop solution for donor management.
Donors should also be able to log in, access and update their information, view their donation history, and download PDF receipts. This will once again free nonprofits from the time-consuming task of manually handling donation information.
- Text-to-give
The growth of the internet and online giving has resulted in the emergence of text-to-give fundraising. What exactly is text-to-donate fundraising? It is a option that allows nonprofits to accept donations via text messaging with minimal effort. It is the quickest and most simple way for anybody to donate.
This is a one-stop solution when nonprofits need to accept funds at contribution drives, conferences, and events. As a result, nonprofits should search for a fundraising platform that supports text-to-give.
- Membership
Building and retaining a network of supporters is the most effective approach for nonprofits to generate more donations, as it is expected that existing donors would donate more than new donors. Also, retaining current contributors may help nonprofits keep marketing costs reasonable.
According to Double the donation Stats, online monthly giving revenue increased by 40% as recurring donation choices gained popularity among online contributors. As a result, organizations should select a fundraising platform that enables them to do the same. Nonprofits may use some online fundraising tools to set membership campaigns, adjust membership tiers, and access donor information for personalized messages.
- Security
The best fundraising platform will enable nonprofits to boost their donations by accepting global payments and providing different payment alternatives. Customers now donate not just with credit cards but also with payment options such as Venmo, PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. Nonprofits should seek an online fundraising platform with added security and strict payment regulations.
Look for platforms that include automated fraud detection, SSL/TLS encryption, financial data tokenization, and two-step authentication. Remember that the platform’s security is closely related to the organization’s trust and credibility. A safe donation platform puts donors at ease.
- Affordability
Selecting an online fundraising platform with extra features is a good idea. However, the platform should not charge a sign-up fee or ask for monthly fees immediately. Some platforms provide a 7-14 day free trial period. Nonprofits can check to see if these platforms meet their requirements.
Access to extra features is not free. As a result, before deciding on a platform and features, nonprofits should consider what is important to them and whatnot. Nonprofits might require certain more features as they grow. So they should ensure that it does not come at a high cost.
Do More With A Right Online Fundraising Platform
Remember that the fundraising platform is more than a place to accept donations. It enables nonprofits to launch fundraising campaigns, build donor relationships, retain and engage current contributors, and much more. Nonprofits should carefully select a fundraising platform with features that will help them grow.
However, with the proliferation of online donation platforms, it is tough to select the right one. This is when nonprofits should consider the factors mentioned above. Choose a fundraising platform that is simple to set up and has no hidden fees or contracts. Nonprofits looking for more tips, tricks, and resources to expand should explore other blogs on this website.
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