Want to drive online giving? Send a letter

Studies continue to show that online giving is the fastest growing fundraising channel. But not every nonprofit is experiencing this stellar growth.

The best way to grow online donations

So what’s the best way to grow online donations? A firm called Dunham+Company recently released a study that has counterintuitive results. The study says direct mail is a growing source for online gifts.

In fact, it says more than times as many donors say they gave online because of being prompted by a letter than by an email.

3 times!

Review your fall fundraising letters

As you prepare to send out your fall fundraising letters, make sure they:

clearly state the link for donors to make a gift online

make the URL easy to remember–something short like “www.yournonprofit.com/donate” would do the trick

and that the page they are directed to is where they can put in their credit card information


Test your own online giving

You may think you have an easy online giving form. But it probably isn’t as good as you think. Today, make an online gift to your nonprofit and pay attention to how it “feels” to go through the process. Also, take note of any confusing parts in the process.

Then get them fixed.

The harvest is now

We are now in the most generous season of the year. People are already making end-of-year gifts. Do your best to make that process as easy as possible. And a simple online giving option is about the easiest there is!

And if you were hoping to ditch direct mail in favor of email, remember the Dunham+Company study. You might be drastically reducing the amount of money you’ll raise. (Obviously, when doing direct mail, be sure to have an easy way for donors to mail money to you too! Don’t just send a letter with a link!)

What are you doing to improve your online giving?

In the comments, let us know what you’re doing to improve your online giving.

(c) The Fundraising Coach, LLC

Get 100 donors in the next 12 weeks? Learn how: 100 Donors in 90 Days!

Other Possibly Related posts:
Question Marc: Is online pledging a good option?
Online fundraising idea for Black Friday & Cyber Monday
Using Twitter and Facebook in your year-end fundraising letter strategy