Typically, nonprofit organizations and other charity-related entities have a mission of organizing fundraising and donation activities to carry out their missions to save the world. Fortunately, with the advent of technological advancements, including the age of the Internet, accepting donations can go digital, thereby avoiding wasted time and energy in the long run.
Thus, if you’re running an organization that runs a donation drive, below are the seven best ways to accept donations online:
The “Donate” Buttons
This can be one of the great ways of accepting donations because the donor will only have to click a link embedded in a button to an online page and enter the payment information. While a brief description of your charity can be added to these buttons, their primary function is to collect money from other people to support your cause.
Moreover, this method can also be used in connection with other donation formats to obtain powerful donations from potential donors.
Donation Apps And Other Digital Fundraising Platforms
If you’re looking for an easy way to accept donations online, you may consider using a donation app or a digital fundraising platform. For instance, an intuitive donation application can integrate your website and database, making the collection of donations much easier in just a few clicks.
On the other hand, if your organization doesn’t have a website that can be added to a donation app, then you can utilize a digital fundraising platform which also makes acceptance of donations much more convenient.
Recurring Donations
Another method of taking donations online is through the recurring donation feature which is available at many payment processors. This is very beneficial because it allows your donors to make recurring donations quickly from the comfort of your home.
By using this feature, it’s easy for the people to deduct a small amount of money from their account than paying a huge amount of money instead. More importantly, it’s easy for you to accept donations even in small amounts.
Email Campaigns
These can also be used to accept donation digitally. All you need to do is set up an email campaign to make the process of collecting donations much easier and faster.
For instance, a “donate” button taking your donors or anyone who want to get involved in local non-profit work to your online donation page can be added in your emails. Also, with the use of this method, you can set up recurring emails as well as schedule automatic sending of these emails, making donation acceptance much more convenient.
SMS Campaigns
With more people using mobile phones with unlimited SMS messaging, SMS campaigns to accept donations online can be an excellent and popular idea. This method usually works by sending an SMS message to your potential donors about the donation drive and a brief pitch on why they should donate. Along with the message, a link is included bringing them to a secure online page where they can give their donations by entering their payment information.
Moreover, to make sure you take advantage of SMS campaigns for your donations, be sure to sign up with a payment processor for the processing of payments. Also, be prepared to pay for a transaction fee along with the messaging fee to get the most out of this method.
Crowdfunding
While crowdfunding can be most beneficial for business purposes, it can also be used by organizations to accept donations to support their cause. For instance, crowdfunding refers to a process of raising funds through the collective efforts of a large group of individuals using social media and other crowdfunding platforms.
By using this method, you’ll have easy access to a variety of investors who can interact and share your fundraising campaign. This makes crowdfunding one of the best ways of accepting online donations.
Social Media
Another interesting method of accepting donations online is through social media. With active Facebook, Instagram, Twitter accounts, and more, you can request your family, friends, and colleagues to spread the words by posting your cause outside your primary circles and by liking and retweeting. Once you publicize your donation cause, you can start collecting the donations in the easiest way possible.
Benefits Of Accepting Donations Online
With the recent availability of technological advancements, collecting donations digitally has become very popular. It has been an effective way of getting donations for your cause anywhere and anytime. But, to better understand this process, the following are the essential benefits of accepting donations online:
- It comes with reduced costs and improved efficiency – Collection of donations digitally doesn’t require you to spend more money than receiving funds physically. With the use of an online platform, you can manage the donations with reduced administration costs and increased efficiency.
- It attracts more people to donate – Allowing your donors to donate online means they don’t need to issue a check and fill out forms which are time-consuming. Also, using a digital platform is much simpler, thereby attracting more people to donate.
- Your organization has access to donors worldwide – Accepting donations online means your organization gets easy and direct access to donors around the world. By using a digital payment provider, currency conversions are made easy, thereby opening the door to collect funds globally.
- Donations are safe and secure – In addition to a quick and hassle-free transactions, collecting donations using a reputable payment service can make the transactions safer and more secure. Moreover, some platforms allow you to streamline the tracking of contributions and make reporting easy.
- It’s easier for donors to make regular donations – Writing a check from time to time is much less convenient and prone to errors. Luckily, with online giving, you can make it easier for the donors to donate regularly. A digital donation system enables you to collect payment automatically any time plus provide them with a platform to determine how much they’re donating and how frequently.
The Bottom Line
As the world becomes more technological, digital platforms have started to become the best method for accepting donations. Fortunately, the methods listed above show that collecting donations online is always possible for any non-profit organization. Remember, when you start to accept funds virtually, you can improve your funding efforts and provide your charity works better support in the future.