American Express released a survey on online giving in November of 2007 to look at the reasons why people give online.
63.4% chose to give online because of the convenience.
20.3% gave because they were asked to give online, and the other 15.4% gave because of incentives such as credit card rewards, etc.
Let’s go back to that first statistic though: 63.4% chose to give online because of the convenience. Scott Neilson, CEO of FundBunch, says that “this is what you should expect. Giving is an emotional transaction. Once you’ve reached your audience with a compelling message about your cause, you need to make it easy and convenient for them to contribute.”
Neilson is absolutely right in his observation. Much of giving is about this “emotional transaction”. Online giving simply is another vehicle for giving because of the emotional connection. Your job, as the nonprofit providing this vehicle, is to make sure that it is its absolute best.
If convenience is the most important thing to donors, one of the first things you should do is perform an analysis of your website’s online giving tools. Ask yourself a series of questions and have others do the same analysis. Multiple perspectives often are very insightful.
Important questions to ask:
1) Is it visible?
If people cannot find it, they can’t give. That’s a pretty basic understanding. Unfortunately, this is often overlooked in website development. When people have to navigate through multiple pages to get to the actual link to begin the donation process, this can be a major turn-off. Keeping a “Donate now” button on the sidebar of each page often is helpful—it is an easy visual reminder of your need and that the capacity to give online is available.
2) Is it easy to use?
One of the main turn-offs to potential donors is all the extra pages and information they are often required to go fill out. The more information donors are required to fill out, the less likely they are to give, surveys continue to show. Decide on the basic information you need for your records and only require that.
3) Are people aware?
If you offer the ability for people to give online, let people know. Include links in email newsletters. Mention it in the direct mail you send out. Post links on the social media sites you use. You have invested a lot of time in relationships and building those emotional connections so now use those to their maximum benefit. You are not looking to “force” people to give. Instead, your goal is to make them aware. If people value the convenience, they will appreciate your direction even more because it is a way to show that you do value their gifts and want to offer another service to them.
Additional information taken from Understanding Donors Motivations for Online Giving by Scott Neilson.
-- Jessica High is a Research Assistant at Christian Foundation Grants (www.christianfoundationgrants.com) which is a subscription database of foundations that provide grants to faith based organizations. iDonate.com is a website (www.iDonate.com) that allows ministries to receive non cash gifts online