Design an Inspiring Donation Page

Step 60.

As we early discussed, the more specific you can be in presenting your fundraising offers the more money you will raise.

The imagery and inspiring words used to compel someone to click through to your donation page must be apparent there as well or the donor may become less enthusiastic about following through on their intention of giving. This is example on the right is not considered best practice. You can see there is nothing compelling or specific, just dollar amounts.

The example on the left is a little better because they use a drop down menu for designation but they are asking the potential donor to insert an amount with giving that person any specifics on what various amounts would do.

Here is an example of how to create an effective pre-donation page that translates all of the powerful creative which inspired a person to click through as a donor in the first place.





Step 61. Allow for User Generated Content

Design an Inspiring Donation Page

Anticipate Every Move

Step 58.

Conduct an exercise . . . Put yourself in your Web site visitor’s shoes. Are you compelled to continue through your organization’s Web site?

Get family or friends and conduct a usabiltiy study on your Web site, you don't have to spend a ton of money finding out where the black holes are on your site.

You will discover if the information being presented is clear and concise?

Have a goal for each page of your Web site. Ask yourself, "On this particular page, what do I want a person to do?" It could be multiple things but make sure you've developed marketing funnels for each objective.

Each page is one part of your charity’s amazing story. Stay focused on the most important elements while networking each page together in a step-by-step process.

The site visitor must feel comfortable and in control, if you are finding in your exercise that you keep having to click back and forth between pages then you have a problem.




Step 59. Compel to Convert

Anticipate Every Move

Build a Strong Case for Support

Step 57.

Millions of charities exist today doing great work to make our world a better place.

Addresses the six questions below through words and imagery and you’ll set your organization a part from the rest.

1. What’s the problem or opportunity your charity is addressing?

2. How are “we” going to solve it?

3. Here’s our unique approach?

4. Here’s how “you” can be involved?

5. Create urgency . . . why does action need to be taken now?

6. What are the consequences of not acting?

These questions can be used for any fundraising tactic in any media.




Step 58. Anticipate Every Move

Build a Strong Case for Support

Build a Bigger Stage

Step 17.

“All the world is a stage” and the Internet is more evident of that than anything else.

Everywhere you click someone is expressing their opinion about something.

Give people an opportunity and they will not only speak their mind but make a production out of it.

If given the chance, people will express their hopes and dreams and even their deepest pains.

Most nonprofits confine their “stage” to within the walls of their organizational headquarters.

However, to excel in today’s world you need to create a digital framework for others to champion the cause.

Nonprofits like to see themselves as the keeper of their respective causes but in reality they can not do it alone.

Tear down your virtual walls by giving people a megabyte or two . . . what they say about your nonprofit will be more powerful than any promise you’ll ever make.




Step 18. Give Them Tools

Build a Bigger Stage

Charities Are Betting it All

Have you ever been in a friendly poker game with a large pile of money on the table, watching the stakes rise on every turn of a card? At that moment, Kenny Rogers begins to whisper in your ear those famous lyrics: “Know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em.” Well, it’s ten past midnight and I’m over 43 so it’s late for me and this has been declared the last hand . . . what should I do?

Surprisingly, many charities are playing a similar game of chance with their donors — and believe me, the stakes are high . . . one can even say the charity is riding on it.

The game is called “Gut-Check Strategy” and it’s played with the best intentions, but a majority of the time it falls well short of what is possible. It’s banking on an idea that comes from a gut feeling rather than proven methods based on analysis.

Specifically, I see organizations play this game by using an arbitrary date to determine their definition of a current and lapsed donor. They’ve indoctrinated the notion that somehow donors become less important and therefore should have less contact if they haven’t given in the last 12, 18, 24, or 36 months — take your pick. Furthermore, I see charities using an arbitrary date to determine pre-lapsed donors so they can intensify their focus before they become lapsed. These are good intentions, but not the best approach, and I’ll go “all in” betting that you only want the best strategies for your organization.

Let me encourage you with a better way of defining current and lapsed donors for your charity. A donor becomes lapsed and requires an alternative fundraising strategy when she or he is no longer an even-money proposition, meaning that your nonprofit is no longer at least breaking even on fundraising to that specific donor. Therefore, a $5 donor can become lapsed as quickly as 3 months but for a $500 donor it can be as late as 48 months or even longer.

Can you see how using an arbitrary date (say 24 months) wastes money, because you’re going to mail that $5 donor the full 24 months with very little or no return on investment? Now in regards to the $500 donor, you’ll be leaving serious money on the table by no longer mailing that donor after 24 months, when they could be profitable for an additional 2 years.

Unfortunately, many charities are placing value in the wrong metrics. They wager their long-term success based on short-term gains. For example, they think it’s wonderful to acquire 10,000 new donors every year . . . while not realizing the fact that 8,000 of those donors gave a gift of less than $20. This is bad because there is a direct correlation between a donor’s long-term value with their first gift to a charity. This example is one of the main reasons why nonprofits are not growing today . . . they’re unintentionally valuing quantity over quality and failing to understand the long-term implications of their marketing decisions.

You can never stop someone from giving you $5, $10, or even $20 but you certainly can govern how much money you spend trying to get them to give again.

You just been dealt a pair of aces worth of strategy — now what are you going to do about it?

I’ll never forget the scene from the movie Rain Man where Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman are able to generate enormous amounts of money in Las Vegas because Dustin Hoffman’s character had the ability to count cards. His character knew exactly what was going to happen before it did. Conducting the right analysis on each and every point of contact with your donors will enable you to predict which one will be profitable and which will not.

Now back to the poker game . . . that last hand ended up being very profitable for me, not because I stayed in and won mind you. On the contrary, I folded and took the rest of my winnings home with me. Often you can accomplish much more with less than you think.

Gut Check

Charities Are Betting it All