Tag Archives: donating

14 simple things to do to your web site to attract more donors

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Quit looking for the magic app or crowdfunding platform that will attract online donations for your organization. Attracting online donations is NOT a software challenge: it’s an information challenge.

Here are 15 EASY things your nonprofit, non-governmental organization, charity or other mission-based organization can do right now via your web site that will make your organization more attractive to online donors, who may be current volunteers, new volunteers, family of board members, someone across town or across the country:

  1. Make sure your organization’s full name appears as text on your home page and your “about us” page (not just in the graphic of your logo). This will make your organization’s information easy to find online. Many times potential donors will look for you online based on your organization’s name – you want to make it easy for them to find.
  2. Make sure the location of your organization is on you home page and your “about us” page. You don’t have to give the street address if, for some reason, you don’t want to make your physical address easy to find (such as in the case of a domestic violence shelter or home for foster children) but you do need to say the city, the state or province and the country where your organization is based. Many times I have looked for a particular nonprofit in a particular place and I cannot tell on the web site if the nonprofit is the one I am looking for because it never says what region it’s in – and there are so many nonprofits and NGOs with similar names.
  3. You need to have as much information on your web site about what your organization has accomplished as you do about it needing funds. And don’t just talk about activities: talk about RESULTS from those activities. People want to fund organizations that make a difference, not organizations begging for money, especially organizations that have dire messages about soon closing their doors.
  4. Note what your organization’s costs are. If I make a donation, what is that donation paying for? If most of your funds go to staff salaries, that’s okay: talk about the expertise of your staff, the hours they devote to working directly with those you serve, what they do in their work, etc.
  5. Make sure your web site is free of misspellings and grammar mistakes. If your web site isn’t a good representation of your organization’s work, why would I donate?
  6. Make sure your web site has no outdated information. If I click on “upcoming events” on your home page, and the first item is about an “upcoming” event that actually happened nine months ago, I’m not going to be inclined to donate, because if you cannot maintain an up-to-date web site, perhaps you struggle delivering your programs or managing money as well?
  7. Make sure your web site is mobile ready – it should work on a smart phone, not just a lap top.
  8. Do not say on your web site that you involve volunteers to “save money” or list a monetary value for volunteer hours, because as a donor, my reaction could be, “Why should I make a donation? They should just get volunteers to do the work for free.”
  9. Make sure your web site has everything it needs to attract new volunteers. Volunteers often become donors.
  10. Have a page that describes the history of your organization, who founded it, where it is located, why it was founded, etc. This establishes credibility for your organization.
  11. List the board of directors. This further establishes credibility for your organization – it shows the people willing to be fiscally-responsible for this organization.
  12. Get a group of family members or friends of staff to bring their laptops or smart phones to your organization. Ask them to find your web site online, without using the URL – using only the name of the organization, or something about your mission and your location, like “Help animals in Henderson, Kentucky.” See how long it takes them to find your organization’s web site using various methods and find out how they search for it. Note any problems they have in finding the site and address this accordingly.
  13. With this same focus group, ask what the site says that would make them want to donate. Listen to what they say and make improvements based on that.
  14. Offer a way to donate online. Even if just 10% of all of your donors choose to donate online, that’s money you would not have gotten otherwise, and the number of people that switch from donations by postal mail to online donations rises every year. There should be a way for people to donate using a credit card and Paypal.

And here is a non-web site specific way to increase donations to your organization: Put a notice on every fundraising event or fundraising activity that says that a person doesn’t have to participate in the event or fundraising activity in order to donate to the organization. “You don’t have to attend our black and white ball to donate to our organization! You can make a donation anytime via our website…”

By the way: much of this is the criteria I use when reviewing a site for an organization I think I might donate to – and many times, I have NOT given to an organization because it lacked the aforementioned info.

Also see:

Mission-Based Groups Need Use the Web to Show Accountability

Crowdfunding for Nonprofits, NGOs, Schools, Etc.: How To Do It Successfully

Web Site Construction & Content Suggestions for Nonprofits, NGOs and small government offices

Design Standards and Tips for Nonprofits, NGOs and small government offices

Required Volunteer Information on Your Web Site

Marketing Your Nonprofit, NGO or small government office Web Site

Don’t Just Ask for Money!

Nonprofits & NGOs: you MUST give people a way to donate online

Basic Fund-Raising for Small NGOs in the Developing World

How to help Nepal

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I’m already seeing these posts online:

How can I go to Nepal and help regarding the earthquake?!

Unless you have specific areas of expertise regarding post-disaster situations, speak Nepalese, and can go under the auspices of a respected non-governmental organization or your own government, DO NOT GO. And please don’t start collecting things to send to Nepal either.

When a disaster strikes, thousands of people start contacting various organizations and posting to online groups in an effort to try to volunteer onsite at the disaster site. If the disaster happens in the USA, some people jump in their cars and drive to the area.

But what most of these people don’t realize is that spontaneous volunteers without specific training and no affiliation can cause far more problems than they alleviate in a disaster situation, particularly regarding disaster locations far from their home. Consider this:

  • In many post-disaster situations, there is NO food, shelter, services or gas to spare for volunteers. Many volunteers going into the Philippines, Pakistan, Haiti, Japan, even the Gulf Coast states in the USA after Katrina or states affected by Sandy, had to be absolutely self-sustaining for many, many days, even many  weeks. No shelter or safety measures could be provided to these volunteers by the government. Those volunteers who weren’t self-sustaining created big problems and diverted attention from local people in need.
  • Just because you have some equipment does not mean you are ready to volunteer: inexperienced people have been killed using chainsaws after hurricanes and other disasters, by falling limbs and live electrical wires, during their DIY clean up efforts. Responding to these people when they get themselves into a jam takes away from the needs of local people.
  • In disaster situations, you are going to be encountering disaster victims. They are going to be stressed, maybe desperate, and maybe angry. As a trained volunteer or paid staff member working with a credible organization, you are going to know how to comfort these people and direct them to where they can get assistance, and how to convince them that you have to save this person over here instead of their relative over there. If you are untrained and unaffiliated, you may become a target of their anger, because you cannot provide them with appropriate assistance, or because you provide them with incorrect information.
  • What will you do when you are accused of stealing from someone? Of harming someone? Of making a situation worse? What do you know about local customs and cultural taboos that, if you violate them, could taint all outside volunteer efforts? Aid workers have been arrested, even killed, because of cultural missteps. Who will navigate local bureaucracies to save YOU in such situations?

I could go on and on – and I do, on this web page about how to help people affected by a huge disaster. Disasters are incredibly complicated situations that require people with a very high degree of qualifications and long-term commitment, not just good will, a sense of urgency and short-term availability.

Also, more and more agencies are hiring local people, even immediately after a disaster, to clean rubble, remove dead bodies, build temporary housing, rebuild homes and essential buildings, and prepare and distribute food. Hiring local people to do these activities, rather than bringing people in from the outside, helps stabilize local people’s lives much more quickly!

If you want to help the people of Nepal, donate to CARE International’s efforts in Nepal and/or UNICEF’s efforts in Nepal and/or Save the Children’s efforts in Nepal (all of these organizations serve all people, not just children).

Here’s more about donating Things Instead of Cash or Time (In-Kind Contributions).

If you want to go abroad to help after a disaster, then here is advice on how to start pursuing the training and experience you need to be in a position to do that – it will take you about 24 months (two years) to get the minimum of what you will need to apply to volunteer for such scenarios.

Also see: