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5 key ways to get maximum donations from your charity website

These days, a good website is an absolute essential for all types of organisations, including charities. Helping to get your name out there, raise awareness of your campaigns and make it easy for supporters to donate to your cause, a high-quality, easy to use site can make a huge difference to the work you do.

To help you make the most of your online presence and generate support for your good cause, we’re taking a look at how you can maximise donations to your charity site.

Integrate a third-party payment provider

A great way to increase the amount of money your website generates is to integrate a third party payment provider like JustGiving or Virgin Money Giving. As these sites have excellent recognition among the general public, supporters will feel more confident donating via such a platform. With security a major concern for most people these days, this familiarity can make a big difference.

Ask supporters to spread the word

Word of mouth is just as important to charities as it is to retail and other forms of commerce. If a person sees that a friend of theirs has donated to a good cause, they’ll be very likely to follow suit. Ask your supporters to share a donation link to social media after they’ve made their payment. This should help to encourage even more people to take the plunge and make a donation of their own.

Tell supporters what their money can do

People like to know exactly where their money is going when they donate to a good cause. Tell people what a difference £5, £10, £20 or even £100 will make to the people, animals or environmental causes you support. If people know that the money they give will have a real impact, they’ll be a lot more likely to donate.

Send email reminders to past supporters

If someone has donated to your charity in the past, there’s a good chance they’ll be happy to support you again. Ensure that you already have their consent to email them.

You should consider incorporating contact preferences in to your donation forms, so that donors can choose to receive future communications by email, phone, post or not at all.

Keep supporters informed of your progress

If you’re raising a set amount of cash for a specific project, keep supporters updated on your progress. You may well find that people who have already donated give more money to help you reach your goal or that they encourage friends and family to donate as well. Even if they don’t donate again this time round, the regular updates will make people feel more connected to your charity – something that’s important if they’re going to support the work you do in the long term.

Putting just a bit of extra work into your website and your communications can make a huge difference to your campaign funds. If you’d like more help and advice on making the most of your online presence, take a look around our site or get in touch with a member of our team.