In the United States alone, almost 2 million nonprofit organizations are vying for the attention and dollars of potential donors, according to the 2021 Nonprofit Trends and Impact Report from the Urban Institute. And in 2020, small non-profit groups took the biggest hit during the economic crisis precipitated by the global pandemic.
For these reasons and many more, it’s essential to recognize the importance of creating a donation page that stands out in the crowded fundraising arena. This can be a daunting task, but there are some tips and tricks to help you in your quest to support your organization.
Here are five steps to creating a donation page that wins.
Step 1: Know Your Audience
The key to understanding how to create a donation page that resonates with donors is to, well, understand your donors. Your donation page’s tone, message, and voice should match who you want to reach.
PTA/PTO fundraising donation pages should focus on messaging that makes sense for school communities, including school staff, teachers, parents, and kids. That message would be very different if your target audience is a sports-booster club (think cheerleading, baseball, hockey, soccer, and other team sports).
Key questions to ask yourself before you start writing your donation page include:
What am I asking my donors to do?
Why am I seeking donations?
What would motivate me to donate to this fundraising campaign?
Who you are writing for is a critical component of creating a donation page for a successful fundraising effort. You likely know your target audience already (and probably you are part of that audience), so start thinking from that perspective.
Step 2: Appeal to Their Emotions
How and where we decide to donate our hard-earned money is often deeply intertwined with what matters most to us. To create a successful donation page, storytelling that captures the emotional aspects of your fundraiser helps appeal directly to donors who want to support a cause they feel passionate about.
It is critical, however, to strike a balance between emotional and effective storytelling—they aren’t always the same. Keep your page concise, because you don’t want to overwhelm the donor with content.
A great way to appeal to the heart of your audience is to share success stories from past fundraising efforts. How much did you raise and what did that money do for your cause? Everyone loves a success story, and knowing where their dollars will go is a sure-fire way to increase your conversions.
Step 3: Design Your Page for Easy Donating
No one wants to spend their time scrolling and scrolling to find the “donate” button. Instead, keep your donation page clear and simply designed.
Get to the point quickly, and make sure it’s easy to give. Don’t clutter your page with too many graphic elements, keep your visuals clean and simple, and offer a clear and quick way to enter a payment method.
Another way to create donation pages that are easy to navigate is to offer pre-sent donation amounts. Take the guesswork out of how much to give and make it a one-click donation experience. In fact, studies have shown that pre-populating a donation field with an amount slightly higher than your average donation can result in an increase of up to 20 percent in the total amount of donations you take in.
One last tip on design: create a donation page that is mobile-friendly. The majority of people are likely to visit your page on their mobile devices. Be sure to test it out on your own phone or tablet to make sure it’s just as easy to use there as it is on your laptop or desktop computer.
Step 4: Recognize Your Donors
Some donation pages have a leaderboard and the option to share their donation on social media. A leaderboard can serve two purposes: it encourages others to make donations, even in small amounts, and can spark competition!
In addition, anyone who shares their donation on social media widens your audience. Almost everyone has some kind of social media footprint these days. Providing an easy way to share their contribution exposes your donation page to an audience you might not have access to otherwise!
Step 5: Offer A Recurring Donation Option
Fundraising is a lot of effort, and you want to create a donation page that doesn’t need to be revised every time you’re going to launch a new campaign.
Make it easier on yourself, your organization, and your donors by considering a recurring donation option. In fact, you can set a recurring donation as your default option, meaning that users would need to actively choose to only give once.
Create A Donation Page: Key Take-Aways
To create a donation page that is effective, emotionally resonant, and successful in maximizing your donations, make sure you take the time to know your audience, create a compelling and easy-to-understand story that resonates with your audience, and design a page that is easy to navigate while also encouraging on-going and recurring donations. Happy fundraising!
Learn more about how to manage all of your fundraising efforts on one digital platform, and sign up for your free Livingtree Give account today!
