10 Ways to Attract New Donors to Your Website

It takes two-tenths of a second for website visitors to form a first opinion of your organization. It is this time that decides if your prospective donors find your organization worth donating to or not. Equally, for you, it means the difference between getting funds and driving away prospects.

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Now, if you want to attract new donors to your website, it is challenging but not impossible. There are a few crucial factors on your website that lets the donors decide the worthiness of your organization. Let’s see ten ways in which you can turn website visitors into donors for a lifetime.   

 1. Understand your donors

What motivates the donors to donate? Understanding your website visitors is important if you have to design your nonprofit website. This knowledge will help you enhance the website with rich content exactly the same way your donors want. As they say, researching the target audience is the first step to building an effective website. Gather information on your target audience, in this case, your prospective donors, and learn what motivates them to donate. With this information in hand, you’ll figure out how to attract donors to your website and encourage them to donate.    

 2. Optimize the nonprofit website

A clean well-designed site attracts visitors. It is a general rule and is applicable to all websites including nonprofit sites. If your website is slow-loading, clumsy, cluttered, outdated, and unorganized, don’t expect donors to stay on your site and complete their donation process. They have the option to visit any other nonprofit website and donate to their causes. That’s why you have to optimize the donor journey on your website.

• Check if the website loads fast
• Expect most of the website traffic to come from mobiles and tablets. So, make your nonprofit website mobile-responsive.
• Allow visitors to share the donation page link with family and friends.
• Create a straight-forward donation process
• Keep the navigation simple

On the donation page, guide users gently to the “Donate Now” button. When donors engage with a website that is attractive and user-friendly, they will be more than pleased to browse through the pages and donate.  

 3. Use your website to tell the story

An emotional connection is quintessential to getting heard. Your story is what will attract new donors to your website. And this doesn’t mean you limit to one page where you detail the story. Expand your nonprofit’s story to blogs, testimonials, and even the downloadable annual report. How does one benefit from bringing the story to the forefront? It has the potential to convert one-time donors to recurring donors. You can win their trust in the long term.   

 4. Disclose how donations will be utilized

Prospective donors will be curious to know how you have or will utilize the donations. Your annual report is the best source to let them know how effectively the donations are utilized. Always, share a downloadable link on the website of your annual report. In the mission section, include the donation target you expect to raise and what tasks you plan to undertake with the amount. If the donors cannot find this information, it will have a negative impact on them and they’ll think the organization is inefficient or trying to hide the details. Don’t give users a chance to think this way. Being transparent about the donation amount and disclosing how they will be utilized makes the donors feel confident about their donations and your organization.   

 5. Make your mission clear to website visitors

It isn’t enough if your intention is just to ask for donations from website visitors. You have to educate them and provide information regarding your nonprofit, its mission, and its vision. An impactful ‘About Us’ page acts as a trust builder for visitors curious to know about your nonprofit and its work. Share organizational details and team profiles. 

A blog section or an impact stories section will give your website a unique value proposition to build trust and acceptance. Share powerful narratives on the works your nonprofit has done and its impact. Focus on high-quality content through photos, videos, and stories.

 6. Provide a reason to donate

Why should people donate to your organization? Donors are seeking an answer to this question. Show them the power of their donations. Use case studies as proof of how you have utilized the donations. To collect donations, say things like-

• Your monthly $10 can help a child complete their studies.
• They are starving. Your donation of $100 can feed 10 hungry families now.
• Without your immediate help, this dog will continue to suffer. If you choose to donate $25 now, you help to cover its surgery costs.

Be specific about how the donors’ money will make a powerful impact. This is sufficient for them to consider donating to the cause. And yes, additionally, create a sense of urgency. It helps to secure donations instantly.    

 7. Set up a donation page on an online fundraising platform

You may wonder about the need to set up a page on an online fundraising platform when you have the freedom to do the same on your website. There are many benefits of it.

• Prospective donors will be familiar with online fundraising platforms and they trust these more.
• Many may not have heard of your nonprofit’s name and may hesitate to donate to the cause
• Most prospective donors land up on online fundraising platforms when they decide to donate. They will not visit individual nonprofit websites, at least, not the unfamiliar ones.
• When you set up a donation page on a popular online fundraising platform, you increase the chances of its visibility.
• Online fundraising platforms have a ready-to-use page setup which makes it easy for you to quickly set up the page whereas you have to design the page from scratch on your website.
• You can easily embed the “Donate Now” button of your donation page onto your website.
• Some online fundraising platforms provide logo badges to display on your website. It helps build donor trust.  

So, register your nonprofit on the best online fundraising platform and start crowdfunding. It’ll help you to get more funds for your cause.   

 8. Make it easy to donate

When you optimize your website for the donors, you also ensure a quick donation process. If you make the donation process complicated or confusing, donors are going to leave the site midway before completing the process. Keep the instructions clear. Many online fundraising platforms allow embedding their “Donate Now” button on your website. By doing this, you take the website visitors to the donation page you have set up on the online fundraising platform. This method makes your donation management simplified as all your donations are routed to one place rather than multiple channels.       

 9. Display the online fundraising platform’s badge on your website

Many online fundraising platforms have this concept of rewarding nonprofits with badges when certain thresholds are met. For example, you receive a logo badge if your nonprofit is top-rated on their platform. Similarly, you get a review badge when your nonprofit has a certain amount of reviews from donors on the online fundraising platform. You can proudly display this badge on your nonprofit website. This way, you route all your website visitors to the fundraising platform and increase donations and social proof.

 10. Make the donors feel appreciated

A donor may donate for any reason, but make them feel appreciated. Alongside promoting your organization’s story and mission, share the benefits a donor will receive on becoming a member or recurring donor. For instance, you can create membership tiers for recurring donations and send them gifts based on the donation amount. Make it clear on the website about the badges and gifts they’ll receive. You can create a donor gallery section on the website to make the donors feel appreciated. You can nudge them to write a testimonial and include that on your website. You can create a separate page for the list of lifetime donors and include a brief about them. By promoting donors on your website, you not only make them feel appreciated but also inspire future donors.

Wrapping Up

A user-friendly website and fast donation process- pay attention to these processes. Provide transparency in donation utilization details and appreciate the donors.

Above all these, the most significant need is to start crowdfunding through an online fundraising platform. Take these steps to attract new donors to your website and you’ll receive love and trust in addition to funds for your cause.  

GivingX, a trusted online fundraising platform, is used by thousands of nonprofits to raise funds for issues they are involved in. Start crowdfunding today before you set up your nonprofit website.