Optimal Integration of Fundraising Campaigns on Your Organization's Website (Part 2)
Using the example of Franziskaner Helfen, we want to show you what you should provide your supporters with on the page for your fundraising campaigns. You will learn why they decided to integrate fundraising campaigns on their website and what advantages they see in an interview further down in the article.
Explanation: What is a fundraising campaign?
It is important to explain to your donors what a fundraising campaign is. To do this, it is helpful to include a brief introduction on the fundraising campaigns page. Additionally, you can highlight benefits for your supporters, such as:
Individual: “Organize your own fundraising campaign for an occasion and with the fundraising goal of your choice. Select your own image and description.”
Stronger Together: “Engage your family, friends, and community to do something good together, maximizing your impact.”
Ideas: What occasions are suitable?
Explain to your new ambassadors that there are virtually no limits to creativity. However, it can be helpful to offer some orientation and a few ideas. This can be done with simple bullet points, images, a video, or, as in the example from “Franziskaner Helfen,” with links to subpages.
Project-Specific Fundraising Campaigns
Another option is for supporters to start a fundraising campaign directly for an existing project of your organization. This way, donations go directly to where they are most needed.
Guide: Let’s Get Started!
The form already provides an initial orientation on the process and what information is required. A small tip: try to ask for as little information as possible in the first step. This reduces the threshold. Later, you can enrich your donor data with playfully designed surveys. In addition to the form, a small guide helps:
- How do I set up a fundraising campaign?
- How can I customize it?
- What happens next?
- What happens when the fundraising goal is reached?
Contact: Who to Reach Out to with Questions?
The most important thing is maintaining contact with your supporters. Be sure to offer a contact person if they need help, have questions, or concerns. You can also cover frequently asked questions in a FAQ section at the end of the page.
Use of Donations: What Happens with the Donation?
It’s best if you show your ambassadors on the fundraising campaign page how their donations will be used. After all, they should carry forward your message and mission and want to know what your organization stands for. This is how you best convince your supporters.
You can offer the option to start a fundraising campaign for a specific project. Alternatively, you can use teasers, links, videos, text, and images to show which projects will be supported by the donations. The main thing is to make it emotional. Additionally, you can include a section on how donations are used in your organization, such as “Your Donation Makes an Impact.”
Overview: Which Fundraising Campaigns Are Currently Running?
It is definitely recommended to provide an overview of which fundraising campaigns are currently active. This can serve as an additional source of inspiration, as there may be an idea not yet listed.
The overview can also encourage your potential supporters to start their own fundraising campaign, as it lowers the threshold: “If others can do it, then I can too!”
Lastly, and as mentioned in the first article, it’s crucial to stay in contact with your ambassadors.
- Send a confirmation email with tips at the beginning.
- Reach out to your donors if there haven’t been any donations for a while and provide additional tips on how to advance the campaign.
- Thank them when the fundraising goal is reached and give insights into how the donations are being used.
This way, you create a memorable fundraising experience for your ambassadors. Ideally, you engage the entire community of your ambassadors with your organization.
Interview with Lars Hermes, Fundraising Team Leader at Franziskaner Helfen
Why did Franziskaner Helfen decide to offer fundraising campaigns for your supporters?
Lars Hermes: Donating is sharing—our donors support people in need worldwide with us and want to share this information and involve other people they know. This communication is made even easier through online fundraising campaigns.
For us as a relief organization, it is particularly important that our donors and all interested parties are well-informed about our project work. People should be able to contact us quickly and easily. This includes offering the simplest and most convenient solutions possible to support people on-site with a donation. The ability to start your own fundraising campaign through our website, customize it, and determine the purpose of the donation fits perfectly into this philosophy. That’s why we decided to offer fundraising campaigns to our supporters through our homepage.
What is the feedback from donors?
Lars Hermes: The feedback from our donors is overwhelmingly positive. The ability to start their own campaign without much administrative effort or complicated communication with us as a relief organization is very well received. Additionally, the initiator of the fundraising campaign is always kept up to date on the success of their campaign.
Do you gain new leads through this?
Lars Hermes: Yes, we can also gain leads through the fundraising campaigns. The FundraisingBox campaign tool is an important component in communicating with all interested parties and establishing contact with people.
What are the advantages of the fundraising campaigns for you?
Lars Hermes: The fundraising campaigns provide an excellent and nearly barrier-free way for all interested parties to carry out a personalized campaign. For us as a relief organization, they also offer the advantage that initiators are guided through the creation process and can participate in designing it. The support effort until the campaign goes live is therefore manageable for us. Additionally, there are the network effects that such fundraising campaigns bring with them.
