7 Ideas to Create a Modern and Easy Donation Experience

An easy donation experience offers value to both supporters and nonprofits, and we’re breaking down how to achieve it all. 

Help your supporter make easy donations through pathways that meet them where they are, whether that’s payment type or donation frequency. At the same time, introduce tools and strategies that increase your revenue and grow your audience.

Our latest report, The State of Modern Philanthropy 2021, elevated data trends from over 4,800 nonprofits to consider when establishing a modern donation experience.

See What’s New In Fundraising

Get ready to deep dive into new considerations based on new data and what it shows us for the future of fundraising. Download the full report to dive deeper into these insights, as well as many more.

1. Engage Supporters Through Desktop and Mobile

Support your donors by engaging them through both their desktops and mobile devices. While we found that 79% of total donations on Classy come from desktop users, 58% of total web traffic comes from mobile. Mobile traffic is notably higher. Their social media sources, accounting for 27% of total mobile traffic.

Desktop visitors may already be familiar with your cause, which could account for the higher donation rate we see. However, your supporters are increasingly on the go., Ensure your website and campaigns are mobile-friendly to capture donations from band new donors.

2. Segment Your Donation Pages

Classy allows you to provide four recommended gift size options on your campaign pages, as well as the option to include a prefilled donation amount. You can use these to send custom donation pages with tailored gift sizes and recommendations to different cohorts of donors.

For example, you can use pass-through parameters to send targeted campaign emails to your high-tier donors. Their suggested donation amounts are $2,000, $3,000, $4,000, and $5,000. For your entry-level donors, you could update those amounts to $10, $20, $30, or $40.

Taking time to segment your donors and customize their donation platforms can positively influence their giving behavior.

Take the first step to building donation pages that convert visitors into tangible donations for your cause through our on-demand lessons in Classy Academy.

Optimize My Donation Page

3. Track Top Donor Acquisition Days

Keep an eye on your calendar to note your top donor acquisition days. 

Look for trends among the following:

• Outreach strategies you used on those days
• What time of year it was
• Any other optimization tactics you may have implemented

By tracking your results year over year, you can explore opportunities for further acquisition and conversion optimization. You’ll learn effective re-engagement paths for segmented stewardship tracks.

4. Grow Your Recurring Giving Program

Recurring giving is a critical revenue source for nonprofits and is growing in popularity within an increasingly subscription-based economy.

For a modern donation experience, encourage recurring gifts through compelling storytelling and targeted campaigns. Consider the different types of recurring giving programs that might be best suited for your nonprofit’s community. Maybe you’ll tap into sponsorship opportunities or incentive levels to build and maintain recurring gifts.

You can also use donor segmentation to launch targeted email campaigns. Draft messages that suggest recurring gift options to donors who have already returned to your site to donate at least twice.

Get Over 40 Fundraising Insights From 1,000 Recurring Donors

5. Incorporate Different Payment Options

The average monthly recurring gift made through ACH on Classy is 55% larger than recurring gifts made with credit cards. Additionally, there’s an 11-14% lift in mobile conversion rates when digital wallets are enabled.

Classy customer GallantFew enabled ACH and digital wallet payment options through Classy Pay. Their 2021 event held on Classy brought in $80,000 more in online donations than their 2020 event. This was with nearly one-third fewer registrants.

By offering digital wallets like Apple Pay, Microsoft Pay, and Google Pay, as well as ACH or e-checks, nonprofits create an easy, familiar experience for their donors.

6. Leverage Matching Campaigns

Campaigns that leverage donation matching on Classy raise three to five times more money than those that do not. Find the right donation match partner for your campaign, whether a corporate sponsor, local business, or individual. You can also run a campaign to crowdsource a future match.

You’ll want to make sure to market your match opportunity effectively on your campaign pages and in your email marketing. As you organize your match campaign, also beware of myths about these efforts, such as the thought that you can only leverage a match at certain times during the year, like year-end.

7. Frame Transaction Fees as Donations

Allow your supporters to go the extra mile and cover credit card processing fees. Our data shows that many will opt in to include that additional donation amount when presented the option. Classy offers a Classy Mode feature, which allows your donors to cover the transaction fees associated with their donations.

Classy customer Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance has 90% of their recurring donors opt-in to pay their credit card processing fees, saving the nonprofit $104 per month.

GallantFew also reports having 92% of its donors choose to cover their transaction fees.

Make Simple Updates to Modernize Your Donation Experience

Minor adjustments can modernize and incentivize your donation experience for supporters. This makes for happy donors and more straightforward, more consistent revenue streams for you. 

If you get inspired to switch up fundraising to meet your year-end goals, take our free Benchmark Assessment. We’ll show you how your fundraising metrics stack up against the performance of over 4,800 other nonprofits on the Classy platform. 

See Where Your Fundraising Stacks Up

Just a few minutes of your time to submit your current fundraising results lets you instantly uncover areas of opportunity to improve your strategy and results.