How To Use Your Nonprofit Website To Fundraise

Raising money for your nonprofit can be exciting and fun! With the power of the internet, you can reach more people than ever before. Using crowdfunding, social media, and online fundraising, you can get the support you need to make a difference. There are many fundraising ideas to try. Whether it's selling t-shirts or hosting virtual fundraising events, you have lots of options.

There are a number of reasons that people may be visiting your nonprofit's website. For example, they could be wondering where your business is located or are browsing around while doing some research. However, no matter what reason a visitor came to your website, you should not lose the opportunity to try to get another donation.

Your website can help substantially boost your online giving options. Let's explore how to use your nonprofit website to boost your fundraising efforts and hit your fundraising goals.

1. Give the Contact Information for Your Nonprofit

First things first, people need to know how to reach you. On your website, make sure your contact information is easy to find. Include your phone number, email, and address. You might also consider installing a pop-up with this information when someone first comes to your page. Add a “Contact Us" button to clearly give this information to website users.

It may also make sense to have a staff profile page. On this page, you can give a short biography of each staff member, talk about what each staff member does in their capacity inside of the nonprofit organization, and provide an email address. This helps visitors to your website know the staff on a more personal level and can also lead to better communication with the general public.

If your nonprofit is bigger, it may not make sense to have an individual staff page. You might opt for department pages instead.

2. Display Your Nonprofit's Personality

Your website should show who you are! This helps donors to give. It is always best to keep a steady theme running through your nonprofit so that your donors do not get confused as to who is asking for their time and money. Be sure that your website is targeted towards the audience that you wish to draw in.

Consider sharing pictures of your team, telling stories about the work you do, and letting your passion shine through. This makes donors feel connected and highlights the human side of your fundraising efforts. Create a landing page that reflects your mission and core values. Don't forget to show off your nonprofit's unique spirit.

3. Give Your Visitors Something Interesting To Read

Keep your visitors engaged with cool articles, success stories, and updates about your projects. This helps people understand the impact of their donations. Add a fundraising page where you post about past fundraising events, describe peer fundraising successes, and share creative fundraising ideas. When your readers see all of the great things you're doing, they will want to be a part of it.

Getting new content onto your website at regular intervals will keep your readers and viewers coming back. If you are even more ambitious, you can offer your readers an opportunity to sign up for an email list where they can get weekly/monthly newsletters. You can also have a blog section on your website that informs readers of new events. They can get notifications of this blog through the email list.

4. Keep Your Website Updated

No one likes old news. Make sure your website has the latest on your fundraising campaigns, campaign pages, and events. Update your calendar with upcoming fundraising events. Make sure any old event registration links or old donate buttons are taken down. If you have a blog, post regularly. This keeps visitors coming back and helps in keeping your fundraising strategy fresh in their minds.

5. Make Donating Easy

It should be really easy to collect donations from potential donors. Have a big, bright, clear donate button on every page. When they click it, it should take them to a simple online donation form. This form should let them choose donation amounts and pay with a credit card. 

You might connect an online tool like PayPal to handle payments. PayPal streamlines the donation process by providing a secure and trusted payment processor that can easily be added to your website. This trusted fundraising software can encourage donors to make payments. Let donors know if there are any applicable payment processing fees to preserve the integrity of your donation process.

Also, making a donation page inside of your website can be as easy as including a donation tab on your main page. This link could be labeled as "Supporting our Cause" or "How You Can Help." Inside of this donation page, you should include methods of payment for donations as well as information about volunteering.

There are also crowdfunding platforms that can make donations easy, like GoFundMe. This fundraising tool supports compelling crowdfunding campaigns. It's an excellent way for organizations to spread the word through social media and keep donors updated. Consider this online fundraising platform if you are looking for an all-in-one solution.

6. Tell Your Donors Where Their Money Is Going

Donors love to know how their money helps the nonprofit. Any great nonprofit website will have a page that tells donors where their money is going and how it is being spent. Describe specific needs your nonprofit meets and show how donations help make a difference. You should have a prominent link on your main page that goes to an information page detailing this information. 

Another important piece of information to have on this page is your nonprofit's annual report and your Form 990.

7. Publicly Thank Your Donors

It is important to publicly thank all of your donors. Your website should have a "Thank You" or "Our Supporters" page that lists the names of all the donors to your organization. However, you should always provide the option to your donors of whether or not they want their names displayed on this page.

It can also lend to the credibility of your organization. If you can count a few prominent members in your community as donors to your nonprofit, displaying their names on this page may lead others to realize that your organization is doing good work.

In addition, you may want to create levels of contributions. For example, you could break down the contribution levels by the amount of money or time given by the donors. At the highest level, you may want to include personal information about the donors.

8. Track the Users of Your Website

When you have a good tracking program installed on your site, you can gather information about what sites visitors to your site came from and where they navigated after leaving your site. In addition, trackers can provide very useful information about the most clicked-on links within your site and which page in your site is the most common page that visitors see just before they leave your domain.

In addition, you may also be able to build on the SEO value of your webpage by noting which keywords draw in the most viewers to your website.

9. Advertise Your Website

Consider advertising your website. Use social media, local businesses, and community events to tell people about your online fundraising platform. Add your website to your branding, such as flyers or business cards. Ask small businesses to put up a poster for you. 

Online advertisements can help, too, especially if they target people interested in nonprofit fundraising. Encourage your readers to get their friends interested in your site and donate to your organization. Provide incentives for liking and sharing your content.

10. Hire a Lawyer To Help

Laws about raising money can be tricky. To keep everything legal, it might be a good idea to consult a lawyer. They can help you with forming a fundraising strategy. They can also ensure you're following the rules for online fundraising. They can help protect you from mistakes, and it's always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to the law.

Contact a business and commercial law attorney who specializes in charitable organizations to learn more.