Fundraising online? the data is there
It’s amazing to me the perceptions that we create in the bubbles that we exist in whether it’s our personal world, your personal business network, or the big bubble that is your industry or workspace. One perception that always seemed to echo through the halls of organizations I encountered was that online fundraising isn’t a viable component of a fundraising campaign - plain and simple. Not worth the effort, we’ve never done it that way, it’ll never work. The ‘ol non-profit mantra, we’ve never done it that way.
All it takes, in my opinion, is to take a look around at any given moment and see what people are doing right in that moment. I would bet on most of them being on their phone looking at content or creating content to share themselves. The data, however, backs up that non-profits should absolutely not be sleeping on the power of social media to provide a boost to their organization & their fundraising. Compiling data from the Charitable Giving Report & Global Trends in Giving Report, Double the Donation shares with us that online donations as a whole dominate the field with Baby Boomers, Gen X, & Millenial donors with over half (54%, 55%, 55% respectfully) preferring to give their dollars online. From there, over a third of Gen X & Millenials are most inspired by Social Media to donate. Email marketing is right up there too, coming in second for Millenials & Gen X- first for Baby Boomers.
Many times, the argument I hear about building a fundraising campaign is the focus on earning funds from the local community or local audience. Utilizing social media we expand that boundary to literally the globe but harnessing these tools we can focus & target an audience that has connections to our local community, or an interest in our community, or even in an interest in helping communities like our communities. What’s pretty wild in my opinion is that 31% of worldwide donors give to organizations located outside of their home country truly showing how an audience can be global.
That argument is quickly followed up by the worry of retention, those one-and-done donations. We hook & reel the audience in with social media, we use the power of online tools to enroll donors into monthly, quarterly, & annual automated giving programs taking the work off of your plate. 45% of worldwide donors are enrolled in a monthly giving program, so you can bank on your retention statistic to be a healthy data point.
With online fundraising having 6 years of consecutive growth it’s hard to ignore the potential funds that your organization is leaving on the table. However, earning that given dollar comes at the end of a long line of quality content & messaging with a dash of tugging on the heartstrings. Build your social media & its audience to watch your fundraising grow.
