The Ritter Group

Most non profits have a donate button on their website. They may even have a social media presence that occasionally directs people to give to their cause. But these small efforts are not going to produce large online giving. Non profits that do online fundraising successfully do not simply wait for donors to show up to their website and give. Non profits that are successful with online fundraising hire professionals, develop strategy and work constantly to get donors to go to their website and give. They are present both in direct mail, email, social media and mobile media working their cause, building their constituents and asking.

Starting a successful online fundraising program can be daunting, but there are some simple tips you can use to get you going. These are very basic tips designed to get you moving in the right direction:

1.    Don’t underestimate the time, energy and money it takes to set up an effective online fundraising program. Planning, implementations, messaging, all require time and special skills to be effective.

2.    Set milestones that are realistic. Every non profit is different and their level of success with online fundraising will be different too. Do not set your milestones based on what another nonprofit reports. It is better to set small attainable goals than big goals that leave you feeling like a failure.

3.    Ask other non profit organizations for advice and ideas. There is no need to reinvent the wheel if you see another non profit finding success in their online fundraising ask them how they did it? What are things they would change if starting over?

4.    Be willing to invest in an online fundraising/marketing consultant to help you build a strategy for success. The more you plan, the better the results. If you want success build a strategy that can help you, remember that plans and strategies should be working documents that change as you go along. Flexibility is key as you begin to test out your market.

5.    Don’t be afraid to start small. Taking small baby steps or crawling is not a bad way to go. Rome was not built in a day and neither will a new online fundraising effort.

So that’s it, some basic beginner tips to get you going. What tips can you share for non profits just starting out?