Fundraising has always been an important way of supporting a cause, some special interests, inventions or even businesses and projects. However, with the emergence of online fundraising for nonprofits, it has become easier now than ever to smoothly conduct fundraisers on a wide scale. The Internet and social media tools have promised nonprofits a new and effective fundraising avenue.
Online fundraising refers to a method used by nonprofit organizations to raise money using online platforms. It usually involves a donation page, a donation form, and a specific button on a website where donors can quickly make their donations to the nonprofit.
However, many people argue that the share of online donations is small compared to the overall donations. This might be partially correct but that happens only because organizations are unaware of the several online avenues for fundraising and their multiple advantages. The concept of online fundraising is gradually making its way and nonprofits are hugely recognizing the convenience and efficiency it offers. Let’s look into some of the major benefits of online fundraising for nonprofits.
1. Reduced Costs
Online donations are turning out to be efficient financing tools for nonprofits or charitable ventures. Online funding has a wider reach when compared with traditional funding methods like direct mail or phone solicitations and so on. Apart from promising a significant reach, online funding also offers a virtual but instantaneous flow of money. In today’s age, donors can easily understand the process, provided that the administration and execution are properly done.
One major advantage of online fundraising for nonprofits is that it involves much lower costs when compared to traditional means like mail or in-person solicitation. Since the collection process is done online, you can save money on mailing and other related expenses.
For example, you don’t have to organize in-person events or other activities to obtain more donor information. With online fundraising, you can set up fundraising pages to gather information about your existing and prospective donors and their interests in donating to your donation without spending a lot of resources.
That said, lower costs, for an organization, means the opportunity to focus and spend more on the other demanding and crucial areas. There are minimal administrative costs and even reduced conventional office costs. These administrative costs are taken care of through the online donor hub.
2. Transparent and Trust-Building
Online fundraising is largely transparent and builds trust in donors. This is where the important role of the online fundraising platforms comes to play. The platform lets the donors understand in detail as to how their funds are being utilized. This becomes possible owing to the itemization of every single place the money goes.
When the donors are made aware and informed, their trust in the credibility of the nonprofit increases. The overall transparency pulls more prospective donors to contribute to your organization’s cause, which is what happens in peer-to-peer fundraising, an important type of online fundraiser.
3. Increased Rate of Donation
Statistics reveal that online donors are more likely to donate as compared to when donors are contacted through mail solicitation. Just Internet ad campaigns are often found to be generating a higher return on investment than the traditional methods. This is largely made possible by the busy donors. Busy donors are those who operate quite efficiently when they use the internet or the online medium. They are also more prone to donating to noble causes than the non-internet donors. Also, the younger generation is very comfortable being online. They do understand the concept of online crowdfunding and are driven towards contributing for a cause.
When people are giving something, even for charity or causes, they anticipate something in return. Now, in this case, it is receiving public acknowledgement for a donation made. The more the acknowledgement, the higher would be the rate of donation. Thanks to online fundraisers, a sincerely wide-scale acknowledgement is possible within a rather short span of time.
As a nonprofit, you can offer progress reports on particular donations made. With the help of reliable non profit accounting solutions, you can track and report multiple funds or donations. Consequently, you can demonstrate accountability and, in turn, the donors will be motivated to continue supporting that particular cause. Another good way is to showcase the names of the biggest donors on the platform’s Hall of fame. Many such options are there to generate acknowledgement for your donors.
4. Ease of Access
Setting up a fundraising platform is simple. Online fundraising puts forth fewer barriers to entry when compared to conventional fundraising. Organizations can use any social media platform like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for the purpose. With these, they can drive enormous traffic to their crowdfunding website provided that the campaigns are executed well.
Besides social media campaigns, there are other ways to set up a fundraising platform for your nonprofit organization. These include:
1. Text-to-give:
It’s one of the most convenient and straightforward online fundraising for nonprofits that can use to raise donations. It works by sending a mobile-friendly link to prospective donors to make a quick online donation.
2. Segmented Email Campaigns:
They can be another effective fundraising tool used by nonprofits. With this method, the donors are segmented into groups using a donor management system, and the targeted donation emails are sent to each group.
3. Events Like Virtual Concerts:
They can be an exciting way of seeking donations for your nonprofit organization. Organize a virtual concert, and invite prospective donors to watch for a small fee or donation. To make the event more engaging, activate the comment section so the audience can request songs or share their feelings.
Indeed, there are several ways to raise money online without causing any hassle to the donors.
Thus, compared to conventional direct mail or in-person solicitation, online funding can reach a wider target market. In addition, donors are likely to search and find out about your online fundraising platforms this way. Online donations are safe, reliable, quick and essentially convenient. Organizations can save time as they are not required to go through the elaborate process of writing checks and mailing them. They can simply fill in the information and get it sent with just the click of a button. Ease of access is a significant benefit of online fundraising for nonprofits.
Online fundraising for nonprofits is useful in many ways. Along with all the benefits of online fundraising mentioned here, it expands the donor reach within a short period and enables improvement in donor relations without much effort.
