Donations are the lifeblood of most nonprofits, without them it would be impossible for NFPs to fund their service projects and achieve their mission and goals. When it comes to fundraising, there are a few best practices that can help NFPs to truly focus their efforts so that they maximise their results. The following 5 best practices can help your NFP to achieve its fundraising goals.

Website Design

So many nonprofit’s feature great storytelling and compelling content on their websites, and yet, the way that their site is designed makes it difficult for supporters to donate, or know what actions they need to take to help the nonprofit achieve its goals. Website design is crucial for ensuring that it’s easy for donors to make contributions and otherwise support their nonprofit.

When designing your site, make certain that each page uses donation buttons that are brightly colored, and that dramatically stand out from the rest of the page. When viewers click the button, they should be taken straight into the donation process, rather than a separate landing page.

Posts and articles should also contain buttons that make it easy for supporters to share the content on their own social media accounts, and, each post should include a straightforward call to action that let’s supporters know what they need to do to help further the NFP’s cause.

Mobile use continues to grow, so nonprofit websites must be optimised for both traditional desktop and laptop use as well as optimised for mobile platforms so that mobile users can easily load pages and read and share the content on your site as well as make donations with just one tap or swipe on their smartphone or tablet.

Use Fundraising Tools

There are a host of fundraising tools available to nonprofits that make it easier to accept a wide variety of payment forms, such as PayPal and Google Wallet, so be certain that your nonprofit is current on the latest payment methods and is using the latest fundraising tools to create social media and other marketing campaigns.

Don’t Forget to Promote All of Your Fundraising Efforts on All of Your Channels

Have you recently started a fundraising campaign such as a crowd funding effort, or a drive to increase donations during the holidays? Regardless of the focus of your current fundraising campaign, don’t forget to promote it on your website, blog posts, social media accounts and all of your other channels to increase your success rate!

Diversify the Ways that You Present Information to Supporters

Look for ways to increase interest in your nonprofit’s mission by shaking things up when it comes to the ways that you present information and tell your non-profit’s story. Don’t rely on text and pictures alone, but be certain to include short videos, as well as create infographics and other images that make it easy for supports to “see” at a glance the difference that your nonprofit makes and the impact made by their donations when they support your cause.

Diversify the Ways that You Fundraise

As the old saying goes, it’s not wise to put all of your “eggs” into one basket. You can boost the amount of donations that you receive simply by diversifying the ways that your nonprofit raises funds. Rather than focusing all of your efforts on one or two campaigns through the year, seek ways for donors to contribute to your nonprofit on a regular, reoccurring basis.

Don’t rely on traditional funding sources alone. In addition to hosting charity auctions and similar events and applying for grants and endowments, and making direct appeals for donations by mail, in person, email and social media, it’s a good idea to create fundraisers around specific themes or projects.

Fundraising ideas to consider include soliciting donations via crowd funding and peer-to-peer fundraising. You can also create a fundraising campaign that simply promotes donors ability to make memorials and tribute gifts along with monthly giving options. Even adding fundraisers that present options for holiday giving and other special events can be a great way to increase the amount of donations that your nonprofit receives during the year.

By putting NFP best practices to work for your nonprofit, you can easily increase support for your NFP and make it easier for your supporters to help you serve your community.