How to Get the Most Out of Your Nonprofit Website with Embedded Giving

Every visitor to your nonprofit website is a potential donor. However, encouraging passive supporters to become donors requires a donation experience that streamlines the checkout process and connects them to your brand at every step. This is where embedded giving comes in.

Embeddable donation forms simplify the giving experience and urge supporters to complete their donation process without ever leaving the page. Below, we’ll introduce you to how these giving forms work and why they’re such a critical tool for nonprofit organizations. We’ll also share five ways to use embedded giving to get the most out of every visit to your nonprofit website.

What is embedded giving?

By embedding your donation form directly onto your website, donors can complete their gift without leaving the page they’re on—no redirects needed.

There are two different ways of approaching embedded online giving:

• Modals: Pop-up donation forms that appear when visitors click your donate button.
• Direct embeds: Inline donation forms seamlessly integrated with your page content, which prompts a pop-up checkout.

Using modals and direct embeds is highly recommended for the most supporter engagement, and with the launch of Classy from GoFundMe’s Embedded Studio, doing so is easier than ever. 

If a website visitor clicks your nonprofit’s main donate button or an inline component further down your page, they’ll enter our highest-performing pop-up interface. This keeps supporters engaged throughout the donation process by minimizing distractions, helping ensure they stay committed to completing their donations. 

Embedded Studio integrates seamlessly into any website with a one-time setup using a Classy-provided code snippet. For WordPress users, our plug-in makes it even easier—embed a donation form in a few code-free steps.

Our internal platform testing has shown a 28% lift in revenue per site visitor with embedded giving enabled. Not only does it drive the highest conversion, but it also offers a better donor experience on mobile, automatically adjusting to different screen sizes and devices.

5 ways to maximize each website visit with embedded giving

We know that embedded donation forms can help improve online donation conversions without sacrificing overall website functionality, thanks to fast load times and user-friendly features. Here are a few key ways to maximize their impact.

1. Remove friction to keep visitors engaged

The more steps a site visitor has to take to complete a task, the higher the likelihood you’ll lose them along the way. Embedded giving helps avoid the risk of site abandonment by requiring fewer clicks throughout the donation process.

Embedded Studio’s intuitive navigation and natural flow move donors through the giving process without disruption, optimized for their device of choice. Supporters will also find preferred payment options offered, such as credit cards, bank transfers, Venmo, PayPal, and digital wallets like Google Pay.

Nonprofits can move select questions to the post-checkout screen for an even faster path to giving, and ultimately, a higher conversion rate. This way, you can still gather key information through custom questions and fields, offer reminders about employer-matching programs, collect tribute information, or ask about communication preferences without slowing down the donation process.

2. Connect donors to your brand at every step

With its attractive look and feel that matches your website, Embedded Studio reduces the risk of donor drop-off. When you take donors to a new page that looks different, they may question whether they’re giving to your organization or if their information is secure, then close the tab. From their first impression through checkout, donors can connect with your brand using our embedded donation forms.

When your embedded giving form pops up, quickly motivate donors with an inspiring header, emotional imagery that captures your mission, and social proof, like partner logos, testimonials, and key impact statistics about your work. 

You can also personalize your messaging throughout the experience to match your campaign goals, including for recurring giving and on your thank-you page, which comes with baked-in social media sharing options to encourage donors’ next action.

3. Embed on more pages for easy giving when donors feel inspired

Supporters may not be ready to give when they first navigate to your homepage. Some may want to browse other pages, learn more about your work, or read your latest blog post. Place embedded giving opportunities (on your main donate button and inline options) throughout your website to make it easy for supporters to give when they feel inspired to do so.

A supporter may watch your latest brand video or see a summary of your recent impact and feel moved to give at that moment. With embedded fundraising forms, they can quickly act.

You can also create embedded forms for your partners to add to their pages. This is a great way to strengthen collaborations and fundraising potential with local businesses and corporate sponsors.

4. Optimize your page load times

Just a one-second delay in site loading time can reduce your conversion rate by 7%, and mobile users are particularly sensitive to slow pages, with 53% abandoning a site if there’s a delay of more than three seconds. 

However, data has also shown that improving page load time by just 0.1 seconds can increase conversions by 8%. In fact, a Walmart case study found that the company’s conversions increased by 2% for every second of faster page load time.

These subtle shifts can make a big difference in your nonprofit’s fundraising potential. Plus, faster-loading pages impact search rankings, enabling you to improve your visibility across search engines and engage more visitor traffic. 

Depending on the page settings and content, embedded donation forms can load as fast as 0.03 seconds. Our latest Embedded Studio forms load up to 10x faster than previous inline or pop-up versions, as they require far less downloaded data and load progressively, meaning nothing loads until the site visitor clicks the donate button. 

5. Encourage the kind of giving you want

Classy’s The State of Modern Philanthropy report found that recurring donors are 9x more valuable to your nonprofit than one-time donors. Use embedded giving to highlight recurring gift options for your supporters with design elements that donors can’t miss.

Embedded Studio allows nonprofits to apply customizable nudges for recurring donations. The animated prompt appears when a donor selects a mid-range suggested gift or enters a custom amount that isn’t the highest or lowest option. The nudge draws donors toward the action you’re prompting them to take.

For example, if the array is $25, $50, $100, and $500, the nudge will appear if the donor selects $50 or $100. If the donor writes in an amount, such as $26 or $499, the nudge will also appear. The recurring nudge amount is one-fourth of the value selected for a one-time donation.

With their ease and convenience, embedded donation forms have the potential to increase your monthly donation revenue for greater stability and opportunity for impact.

Inspire website visitors to become donors with simple embedded giving options

Are you ready to delight your donors with a better way to give from your website? Explore how Embedded Studio can help bring website visitors into your donor community and continue to raise crucial funds for your cause. Our fast, simple, and personalized embedded giving solution feels unique to your nonprofit organization and offers a smooth donor experience.

For some hands-on experience, make sure to sign up for one of our upcoming small group trainings. A Classy Coach will review what campaign types to use for your main website donation form and walk you through the building process. You can also see more of what’s possible with Embedded Studio by checking out our online demo.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien