E-Philanthropy

I can tell you from experience that your organization can raise a significant amount of money online — but if you don’t follow the right strategy, online fundraising can be more trouble that it is worth. Here are five tips to help you make sure your online strategy is sound: focus on building an e-mail list, use online fundraising as part of a comprehensive program, cultivate and then ask, use social media as a funnel, and consider crowdfunding.

Here are 10 reasons why this appeal from OneJustice hits it out of the ballpark: 1. The headline is an attention-grabber. 2. The perspective is donor-centered. 3. It tells a story. 4. It plays to key human motivators. 5. It puts the donor in the role of hero. 6. It reminds people they aren't giving to the organization, but to those the organization serves. 7. It links directly, several times, to a campaign-specific donation landing page. 8. In includes a compelling photo. 9. It hammers home the aspirational vision. 10. The signature shows the signer's title.

It sounds simple, but an effective email welcome series takes time, detailed thinking and the right technology.

By this point, you’ve probably seen the positive impact a strategic online component can have on your fundraising results. Now the question is: How can you more effectively integrate online fundraising into your marketing campaigns to better reach existing donors and expand your donor base? Here are four proven methods to help you take your online donations to the next level.

To effectively raise money and build an engaged group of supporters, your organization needs more than just a donate page on its website. You need strategies and tools that move people from casual visitors to recurring donors and dedicated supporters — all while minimizing overhead.

Online petitions are an effective tool to capture the casual visitor and active donor alike, and move them both down the engagement path — even if your organization isn’t an advocacy organization.

As a donor to 17 nonprofits in 2013 (and a lapsed donor to others), I decided to keep track of the mail and e-mails I received — as well as the receipts for the year-end donations I mailed on Dec. 20 — and share my observations with you.

Online gifts in the last two months of 2013 rose 16 percent higher than in the same months in 2012, according to Network for Good, a nonprofit that processes gifts made electronically.

Donations from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31 last year rose to $77.9 million, up from $67.1 million in 2012. The size of the average gift was one reason for the growth: The average donation increased 10 percent, from $157 in 2012 to $172 last year.

Running a usability test of your online donation form and website can give you a few jitters if you’ve never done it, but usability testing is not complicated. Anyone can do it. Moreover, usability testing is an invaluable tool for improving your website design and increasing donation conversions. Running your test really only involves four aspects: orienting your participants, giving test tasks, observing participants driving your website (without helping) and wrapping up with exit questions.

While it might not be possible for other nonprofits to perfectly emulate charity: water's marketing strategy — in fact, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea for them to try given that each nonprofit has a distinct mission, target audience and way of operating — all would benefit from applying even just a few of the lessons we can learn from its incredible marketing. With that in mind, here are nine marketing lessons other nonprofits can take away from charity: water.

I wish I could tell you that somewhere out there is the perfect subject line, one that could send your open rates skyrocketing and make opt-outs and spam reports ancient history. But I can’t. I can tell you, however, that creating almost perfect subject lines for your nonprofit is possible

To do it, you first need to understand a few important things …