Having trouble finding good fundraising ideas? You’re not alone. Good fundraising starts with good ideas and then takes good planning and follow-through.
Try to see which of these online fundraising options can help you hit and exceed your fundraising goals this year. Maybe it’s a combination of a few of them.
Contact us if you need advice specific to your nonprofit.
1. Use The Google Ad Grant
Nonprofits can use $10,000 every month for free in advertising from Google. You can use these ads to get new potential donors to your website every single month. Download the Google Ad Grant Cheat Sheet to learn how you can make the most of this amazing program or set up a free Google Ad Grant strategy session with TreeRoots to talk through fundraising with it further.
2. Launch A Facebook Fundraiser
Facebook is a very powerful fundraising tool. Plus, versus many other crowdfunding websites you do not need to give them a percentage of donations back. This makes a fundraiser on Facebook cheaper than using the PayPal button on your website.
3. Ask People To Launch A Birthday Fundraiser
Facebook is making it easier and easier for people to launch fundraisers on their birthday. Why shouldn’t these people be raising money for your nonprofit? You can even advertise to people on Facebook whose birthday is coming up.
4. Apps For People To Donate Their Change
Fundraising online does not just have to be on desktop. There are now many fundraising apps that allow people to donate their spare change to your nonprofit. It can be a great way for people to donate on a recurring basis and you to have a more or less fixed amount in donations monthly for budgeting forecasting.
5. Amazon Smile
Amazon lets nonprofits take back .5% of qualifying purchases with their Amazon Smile program. Almost everyone uses Amazon these days, this can really add up over time – in total, Amazon has raised over 200 million dollars.
It’s very easy for your supporters to set up so that every purchase here gives a little back to you.
Learn how to sign up for Amazon Smile.
6. Use Cashback Sites And Apps
There are other ways for people to shop online and make a donation at the same time. Sites include Good Search and iGive.
7. Peer-To-Peer Fundraising
Individuals can set up their own fundraising page and invited their family and friends to donate. It’s a great way to raise money for events like a race.
8. Make The Most Of Online Giving Days
Online fundraising plans should be well organized. Don’t lose out on good opportunities around the calendar year such as Giving Tuesday. You can look for people to double donations around a particular day too. Did you know that Facebook and Paypal doubled 7 million dollars worth of donations in the US last year on Giving Tuesday?
You should also have an end of year online fundraising plan hashed out. A large amount of donations take place in the last few days of the calendar year. The Google Ad Grant can help with end of year fundraising.
9. YouTube Video Appeal
It’s easier than ever to create quality videos. As part of the Google For Nonprofit program, you can link back to a fundraising page from your YouTube videos.
10. Fundraising Email Segmenting and Funnel
Your nonprofit needs to be using your email list properly. Email lists are still the lifeblood of nonprofits. You can segment your list by people in certain areas and try fundraising campaigns geared towards certain geographic locations. You can also set up funnels so that if someone clicks on one link then they get one email. At a minimum, when someone joins your list, send them an automatic email.
Learn more about email segmenting for nonprofits.
11. Crowdfunding
Do you have a specific need? Maybe it’s worth the effort to launch a campaign on a crowdfunding website. If you still haven’t tried crowdfunding, this year could be your year. Keep in mind, you can also try to get some of your most ardent supporters to launch a campaign – peer-to-peer fundraising can be very effective.
12. A T-Shirt Fundraiser
Online fundraising does not just have to be about getting donations – you can be selling online. There are many websites that let nonprofits design and sell T-shirts. Not only can this raise a lot of money for your nonprofit, but people will be walking around promoting your cause. You’ll want to do your own research before committing to a company, but Bonfire is a good place to start.
13. Sell Merchandise
You don’t just have to sell T-shirts. Your nonprofit can sell other types of swag. You can do so on your own website or find a company that helps nonprofits put together these types of campaigns. Bonfire lets you sell a few other swag items as well, but there are other companies that have more options.
14. An Online Auction
There are many sites that let your nonprofit raise funds with auctions as well. You can try to get businesses to donate vacations or dinners or other high value items. Instead of putting all the work into a live in person auction, you can fundraise with an auction online.
15. Content Marketing
You need a good quality donation page – that is concise and to the point. But you should also try to put together content and have the call to action be donate. Study what makes a good nonprofit landing page. Understand what information your audience wants and then tie it into why you need donations. Sometimes people need more info than what’s on your donation page to actually donate.
16. Use Squeeze Pages
Sometimes you don’t need a full length-article to convince someone to donate. Sometimes you need to be very direct and to the point. You need to have a good quality campaign behind it, but you can use one simple page to get an email address of a potential donor. Your email marketing should be able to take it from there. Check out what makes a good nonprofit squeeze page.
17. Launch A Paid Ads Campaign
Don’t take this step if you haven’t used the Google Ad Grant. The Google Ad Grant can be a great way to see how effective paid ads can be for helping you raise money. But sometimes you need to spend money to make money.
18. Use Remarketing
Do you get people to your donation page that don’t actually donate? You can pay Google or Facebook to remarket to these people. These campaigns can be fairly cheap. It’s worth a shot – especially if you use a discount code from Google.
19. A Pledge Drive
Sometimes people are not quite ready to give. You can ask them to pledge money in the future. Perhaps you can use a squeeze page and remarketing campaign for this?
20. Use Matching Gift Software
When someone donates, you could automatically let them check if their company will double the donation. You can put together an appeal to your current supporters as well. There’s a few databases out there, but the most up-to-date databases require a paid subscription.
Online Fundraising Ideas Conclusion
There are many ways to fundraise online in 2022. Online fundraising is becoming more powerful and more popular. Don’t let your nonprofit get left behind. Focus on one you have not tried. If you need help deciding which one is best for your nonprofit, please sign up for a free digital evaluation with our team. We can help you narrow in on a strategy for your nonprofit specifically.
You must be logged in to post a comment.