The Do's and Don'ts of Online Fundraising and Communications
Don’t: Send from the “Smith Campaign.” “Many times you think it’s important to say ‘American Red Cross’ as the from line, but sometimes it might make sense to actually make it from a person. It’s a lot harder to say no to a person than it is to an entity,” she said.
Do: Put a video on your contribution or donation page, and make it easy for people to share it.
Don’t: Take them to watch a video and come back; don't link to YouTube or anywhere for them to watch the video and then come back and give. They don't come back!
Do: Link only to your contribution page. "When someone clicks on the donate button, they know what they want to do, and they want to do it quickly," Rosenkranz said. "Don't put so much on the links or donation page that they forget why they were there or feel overwhelmed and leave."
Don't: Link to a news story — ever. "Newspapers pay people lots of money to keep people on their sites," Rosenkranz said. "Do not send them there to read a story; they are never coming back to give!"
