Gail Perry-5 Things Your Online Donors Want Fundraising

By Gail Perry

Lots of money will be flowing to nonprofits next week at the very end of the year. When online donors visit your site, here's what they want out of their giving experience:

1. They want it simple
Since they are busy, busy, busy, don't over complicate your site or the ask. People visiting your site at year-end are there for one purpose only — to give.

Put the ask right up front, and make it easy for them.

2. They want to feel good about their gifts
Remember that your donors are making personal, emotional statements with their gifts. They are not shopping for hardware or bath towels.

Talk a lot about the good they are doing. Put evocative photos on your donation page.

Make your post-gift thank-you page warm and fuzzy. Send lovely thank-you notes that touch their hearts.

3. They want choices
All donors have different visions of how they want to help you and how they want to give.

So be sure to offer them a variety of ways to support you and different giving opportunities all tied to specific results your organization achieves.

4. They want an uncomplicated checkout
Remember that a majority of would-be donors never make it through the process to complete their gifts. Some stats show that 98 percent of visitors to an organization's donate page do not complete their gifts.

Make your donate page seamless and easy to whiz through.

Check out this list of the "11 Deadly Sins of Donate Page Design" from Sea Change Strategies and Care2. Be sure you avoid these common mistakes in nonprofit donate pages:

Cluttered pages
Unintuitive layouts
Unclear directions
Too long, complex forms
Unnecessary fields
No address or phone number
Error messages are confusing

5. They want to donate quickly
Make it easy for impatient online donors who are in a hurry. If you make it difficult for them, they'll be gone — probably to another nonprofit's site.

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Gail Perry Author's page Gail believes in parties first, rabble-rousing second, and having fun while changing the world. Gail Perry CFRE is an international fundraising coach, speaker, trainer and thought-leader. She is a leader in a new breed of fundraisers who are on the cutting edge of fundraising today. Her Fired-Up Fundraising approach, developed over the past 25 years as a nonprofit philanthropy expert, has helped organizations raise hundreds of millions in gifts. Gail's practical and refreshing approach to raising money in today's world is based on the very latest innovative fundraising strategies. An inspirational and popular speaker, she leads energizing fundraising workshops and board retreats around the globe. She particularly enjoys working with nonprofit board members, introducing them to a new perspective on fundraising and ways they can be successful at it. Gail's book, Fired-Up Fundraising, has been called the "gold standard guide to building successful fundraising boards." Gail got her start in fundraising at Duke University, and then went on to lead fundraising at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. You can read Gail's weekly blogs at FiredUpFundraising.com, and also find her provocative articles at FundraisingSuccess, Guidestar, and Capital Campaign Magic.