In the continuously growing trend toward digital fundraising, an organization’s donation form is its most invaluable resource. However, not all giving pages are created equally, and an optimized form can go a long way toward shaping the donor experience and boosting fundraising outcomes. Therefore, ensuring your organization's donation form is well-designed is a must. The level of efficiency and effectiveness (or lack thereof) offered by your current form might be holding you back. But by implementing the following practices, your team can uncover top opportunities for growing its potential as well. These include: In today's digital age, nonprofit supporters expect convenient, frictionless, and secure online transactions through which to support their favorite causes. By implementing these tips and strategies, you can ensure your donors are engaging at new heights.
Let’s begin!
1. Make your forms mobile-friendly.
In today's digital age, an increasing number of donors are accessing websites and completing transactions via mobile devices. In fact, Double the Donation statistics indicate that an estimated 57% of nonprofit website traffic came from mobile devices, with the number of transactions completed through mobile devices increasing by 50% year over year.
To ensure you don’t miss out on engaging this group, you’ll want to verify that all of your donation forms use mobile-friendly designs. That means your giving pages should easily adapt to different screen sizes without introducing barriers caused by difficult navigation, illegible text, or slow loading times.
In the end, this expanded accessibility across the mobile realm can significantly boost revenue by accommodating donors' preferences and increasing engagement across all device types.
2. Implement visual goal trackers.
Visual goal trackers generally work by rallying a sense of community among donors and prospects and by demonstrating real-time progress toward fundraising goals. For example, you might embed a fundraising thermometer widget directly into your online giving page.
Trackers are often visually engaging and designed to motivate donors to contribute. Supporters can see the immediate impact of their dollars reflected in the campaign's success in real time. This collective momentum can drive higher participation rates and larger donations, ultimately increasing overall revenue.
3. Prompt recurring donation upgrades.
Encouraging donors to upgrade to recurring donations is a powerful strategy for securing long-term revenue. One of the easiest—and often most impactful—ways to encourage recurring donation upgrades is to make it as easy as checking a box on your standard donation form.
This approach not only increases overall revenue but also strengthens donor loyalty and engagement, as contributors feel a deeper connection and commitment to the cause through their ongoing support.
4. Highlight matching gift opportunities.
Matching gifts are standout corporate giving programs offered by thousands of companies that match employees’ gifts to charitable causes. However, eligible donors often remain unaware of the opportunities, so promoting matching straight from your giving page is a top strategy you don’t want to miss.
By prominently featuring matching gift information on your donation form, you inform donors about these programs and provide easy steps to submit matching requests. This not only increases the donation's value but also encourages donors to give more, knowing their contributions will have an even greater impact.
5. Collect employment information.
Since donors often don’t know if they qualify for matching gifts, a growing number of nonprofits are taking proactive steps to screen donors by eligibility themselves. But in order to do so, your team needs to know where the individuals work.
Fortunately, collecting employment information from donors as they give allows nonprofits to identify individuals who work for companies with matching gift programs. By knowing where donors are employed, nonprofits can proactively inform them about their eligibility for matching gifts and assist in the submission process.
6. Conduct A/B testing.
Can’t choose an image for your giving form? Wondering which blurb will be most impactful on your donation page? No worries! An A/B test is essentially an easy way to let a sample of your audience select your most engaging content—which is what’s then automatically shown to the rest of your network.
A/B testing your donation form involves creating and testing two versions of a donation form, generally differing by a single variable, to determine which one performs better in terms of conversion rates and donation amounts.
By testing different elements, such as headlines, images, form fields, and call-to-action buttons, your team can identify the most effective design and messaging to refine your strategy and drive action for your cause.
Optimizing your donation form is a critical step toward maximizing your nonprofit’s revenue—which then goes to fund essential programs and projects for your community. Not to mention, you can provide a more positive donor experience as supporters engage with your cause in new and unique ways.
Just remember: To really take your donation form to new heights, incorporating integrated matching gift functionality is key. Good luck!
About the Author
Adam Weinger is the President of Double the Donation, the leading provider of tools for nonprofits to raise more money from corporate matching gifts and volunteer grant programs.
