7 Best Practices for Creating High-Converting Donation Landing Pages for Nonprofits

From raising awareness and support for causes to attracting donors — nonprofit marketing is challenging. Regardless of how noble a cause is, sometimes people are reluctant to donate. One of the ways to attract donors and drive donations is by creating a donation landing page.

These dedicated pages give you the opportunity to create awareness, provide relevant information about the cause and persuade people to donate.

Let’s take a look at how you can create high-converting donation landing pages.

1. Craft a Compelling Headline

The importance of a compelling headline can’t be stressed upon enough.

It’s the first thing your visitors will see, and you want it to catch their attention and generate interest. The key is to be simple and specific by telling people exactly what to do.

Here are some headline writing tactics to consider for your donation landing page:

• Demonstrate the impact or benefit (e.g. Your partnership brings children home to forever families.)
• Create a sense of urgency (e.g. Change everything for a child in poverty today.)
• Share a startling statistic (e.g. One in 10 people lack access to clean water. We’re on a mission to change that.)
• Make an appeal (e.g. Myanmar’s elephants need our help.)

You can also use a tool such as CoSchedule’s Headline Analyzer to write better headlines.

Here’s an example of a compelling headline. It’s an alarming statistic that manages to grab attention and will help stir people to action.

Credit: Venngage

2. Give People a Reason to Donate

Once you’ve gotten people’s attention with the headline, you need to work on the supporting or body copy.

Unlike writing for brands, you’re not writing to address a customer pain point or challenge. Instead, you need to write stories that move people, evoke emotions and get them to believe in the cause.

Use the supporting copy to tell your story, giving people a reason to donate. Ask yourself: Why should people care about this cause? Answer that question in this section.

Here are some elements you can cover while crafting the donation landing page copy:

• Introduce the cause.
• Offer context or background information.
• Tell them why they should donate.
• Communicate the benefit or impact the donation will have.

The idea is to engage and motivate people to donate while gaining their trust in the process.

Here’s an example of CARE’s donation landing page. The supporting copy accurately explains the problem being faced and lets people know how their donation can help the cause.

Credit: CARE

3. Incorporate Impactful Visuals 

Imagine landing on a donation landing page only to be met with endless text. It certainly doesn’t manage to keep you hooked or engaged. Next thing you know, you’ve left the page without even reading half of it.

This is why incorporating impactful visuals in your landing page is so important. In fact, content with relevant visuals increases the view rate by 94%.

Apart from capturing attention and driving engagement, visuals help you communicate and get your point across effectively.

Here are some visual storytelling devices you can use to strengthen your donation landing page:

• Photos of real people (or animals) who will benefit from the donation.
• Infographics to visualize key statistics, highlight your cause or make comparisons.
• Icons and illustrations to outline the benefits of donating.
• Introductory or educational video clips, introducing viewers to the cause.
• Interactive content such as maps, calculators and quizzes to generate interest and involve website visitors.

Ultimately, the visuals you choose need to support the narrative and appeal to people emotionally.

Here’s a good example of a list infographic that outlines five reasons to donate blood. It includes interesting statistics that draw readers in and motivate them to support the cause.

Credit: Venngage

4. Share Real-Life Stories

The goal of this type of landing page is to get people to donate.

You can either just educate them on the cause and ask them to donate, or you can go a step further and show them how their money will be used.

The latter is always appreciated because let’s face it: Being transparent with donors breeds trust. People are more comfortable knowing how their donation will impact or change lives before they choose to donate.

Include stories of real people who have benefited from the donations. This helps establish a deeper connection with the audience, helping you gain their trust.

After all, nothing evokes emotions like a good heartfelt story.

Look at this example by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. They showcase inspirational stories by survivors and tell you the impact your donation will have.

Credit: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

You can also include other forms of social proof, such as testimonials from other donors or how much money you’ve raised so far.

Here’s an example of a review by a foster parent that lauds the work done by the nonprofit, encouraging others to donate.

Credit: Venngage

5. Place a Prominent Call-to-Action Button

All the essential elements mentioned above are created with a sole purpose and that is to inspire action and drive people to click on the call-to-action button.

The first step is to place the call-to-action button in a prominent location. It needs to be in a contrasting color so that it stands out and is highly visible on the page.

Another important aspect is the call-to-action button copy.

While you can go for the simple “Donate” button, you might also want to consider more powerful, action-oriented words to grab attention and incite action. Some examples include:

• Take action.
• Join the revolution.
• Help XYZ in need.
• Change lives today.
• Get involved.

Look at this example by the International Rescue Committee. The call to action(s) is prominent and well-placed above the fold, thereby attracting attention and driving clicks.

Credit: International Rescue Committee

6. Create a Simple, Easy-to-Fill Form

You might have created an impactful and visually-appealing donation landing page, but if your donation form is overcomplicated, there is no way it’s going to translate into conversions.

The idea is to make it as simple as possible for people to fill out the form. How do you do that? By not making them fill out lengthy forms! Make sure you only ask for essential information such as their name, email address and payment details.

Another good idea is to offer donation amount options. For instance, someone might be comfortable donating $50, but the same amount might be too high for someone else. By giving options, you increase your chances of increasing donations.

You can also use a survey maker to include a survey after they have filled out the form to uncover actionable insights about the donors.

7. Optimize for Mobile 

Half of all nonprofit website visits came from users on mobile devices, as per a M+R Benchmarks study.This means that if your landing page is not optimized for mobile, it’s likely to drive people away.

Here’s how you can ensure your landing page is more mobile-friendly:

• Create a responsive design so that it smoothly adapts to different screen sizes.
• Make it simple to navigate.
• Minimal text, bold fonts and clean layout.
• Use images that are smaller in size .
• Ensure the page loads quickly.
• Short and easy-to-fill donation forms. 

The Takeaway: Design a High-Converting Donation Landing Page

There are more and more barriers that keep donors from giving.

But an impactful donation landing page gives you the opportunity to break down those barriers, appeal to prospective donors and drive donations. The idea is to nurture these new donors and convert them into long standing contributors, thereby taking them down the marketing funnel.

Implement these seven best practices and design high-converting donation landing pages to make an impact and boost your nonprofit marketing efforts.