There is no world more connected than the digital world, and no tool more powerful in spreading information quickly than digital media.

Here are some best practices that you can consider for your digital fundraiser, and tips that a good digital agency would be able to recommend and execute:

• Digital Marketing As A Powerful Tool

• Content Is King

• Interactivity Through Social Media

• Optimising Your Website

• Show Appreciation To Your Donors

1. Digital Marketing As A Powerful Tool

How so?

In a time such as now where a “new normal” is prevalent thanks to COVID19, many campaigns have been forced to be cancelled or postponed. However, there is a silver lining with Digital Marketing.

With an estimated 3.6 billion people using social media worldwide as of 2020, content that is visually engaging AND easily shareable are two key attributes for a successful digital fundraising campaign.

NGOs and SMEs can reach out to their target audience at any time and any place, so long as you are digitally connected through your phone or laptop. Gone are the days you would need physical billboards, hold roadshows, or print ads to make your campaign/products known.

There is no better time than now to harness the power of Digital Marketing and integrate it into your overall fundraising strategy - and we will show you how in the rest of the pointers below.

2. Content Is King

Provide a strong hook that would capture your audience’s 3-second attention span. Pick an angle that would induce curiosity or strong human emotion.

Share heartwarming stories through photos and videos that would tug on heartstrings, and showcase how your organisation is truly making a difference to these beneficiaries.

This will garner more attention to your content. Your audience will want to learn more, hence increasing reactions, likes, and shares.

Experiment with the content, be it animated GIFs, illustrations, or images of real people, and see which ones resonate best (from our experience, content that shows real human faces usually gets better impressions).

Also remember to leave a single clear call-to-action messaging to let donors know exactly what they have to do to support the cause. This would usually be a one-click redirection to a website where they can easily make the donation.

3. Interactivity Through Social Media

While social media has been criticised for decreasing in-person interactions, this does not have to be the case for your digital fundraiser. People love being included - especially if it’s for a good cause. Even during a global pandemic where live events and gatherings have ceased, you can leverage on social media to encourage online participation of digital fringe activities throughout the fundraising campaign.

Take for example a digital fundraiser for children with cancer - Make The Change executed and sustained a 3-month long digital fundraising campaign with 4 different online activities to get our audience to interact with us on social media.

We shared their generated content with hashtags. For instance, one challenge involved participants doing wall squats and only moving their eyes, to understand what it is like for children with cancer going through an MRI.

Sharing these user-generated content on your own social media platforms are a good way to encourage potential donors to also take part and join the cause.

A good digital agency would help you plan a stellar content calendar to also include such interactive online activities to boost your digital fundraiser.

4. Optimising Your Website

After all the great content produced and tear-jerking stories shared, potential donors would be driven to your website. And you do not want it to disappoint.

Your website is arguably the most important part of any digital campaign. It should be able to tell the story of what your fundraiser is about, who it is for, and have an easy to navigate page for donation. If the donation process is not straightforward, you can bet there will be more people clicking out of your website than on the donation button.

It is also vital to make sure that your website is optimised for mobile, as most of your page visitors would be accessing it through their mobile phones. In fact, mobile giving has increased by 80% since 2013, and that is a trend that we expect to continue.

5. Show Appreciation To Your Donors

Retaining a donor is far more valuable than acquiring a new one, and someone who has donated before is more likely to donate again to future causes if they see how their money has helped the beneficiaries.

Besides sending thank you emails, you can make it more public by posting about them on social media - especially if they’ve participated in your digital activities.

A visitor scrolling through your social media platforms and seeing the overwhelming response and support your digital fundraising campaign receives would only compel them to find out more, and hopefully join in as an advocate and donor.

If a donor sees his/her image or name being published on your digital platforms, they would most likely also share it on theirs, spreading the word of your campaign to even wider audiences.

We at Make The Change are truly thankful for the hearty responses we’ve gotten from strangers-turned-donors online that have supported our latest digital fundraiser with our client from the Children’s Cancer Foundation.

MTC CAN HELP YOU MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

As a social enterprise dedicated to helping NGOs and SMEs scale greater heights through their projects, we know how important it is to keep fundraising going despite the unfortunate pandemic. Turning your fundraising plans digital will not be a Plan B, but a better Plan A as we can help plan, position and execute your fundraiser to reach as many people as possible as the possibilities on the online space is endless and we are just scratching the surface.

Make The Change is also now a B Corporation (one of only 13 in Singapore) and this certification assures that all our programs meet the highest standards of social and environmental impact.