As you prepare to launch your next online fundraising campaign, consider the prominence of your online presence. After all, your primary interactions with donors are going to be online, which implies you would like to form a positive impression all around.

Luckily, you'll be able to make such a sway by employing a content management system (CMS) that gives features to create your nonprofit stand out online, in addition to necessary information about your fundraiser.

As web development has evolved, CMS platforms have grown to encompass more features. It’s especially important that you simply use a CMS with nonprofit-specific features you'll be able to easily benefit from. We’ll discuss several of these during this article, including:

-Customization
-Donation Pages
-Fundraising Thermometer
-eCommerce
-Social Media

When you make use of those nonprofit website features during your online fundraiser, you give yourself the potential to spice up your donation revenue and build a bigger support network for your cause. Let’s take a better take a look at these features.

Customization

When running your online fundraising campaign, establishing trust along with your donors should be at the forefront of your mind. Donors like better to give to organizations with which they need some familiarity. This familiarity could also be thanks to highly prominent branding they’ve seen within the past or the nonprofit’s marketing outreach.

Either way, continuing this consistency in your website’s branding ends up in trust together with your donors. If each page on your website reflects your organization’s overall look and feel, donors will feel softer giving to your campaign.

You can achieve branding consistency with customization options available in your CMS. These will allow you to:

-Clearly display your logo. Your organization’s logo is that the most recognizable branding element to your donors. Your logo should be visible on each page of your site, especially your donation page.
-Adjust your font and color scheme. Adjust your website’s theme or template to match the font and colors of your brand. this may ensure consistency across not just your website, but all of your marketing materials.
-Style your donation buttons. Style your donation buttons to match your organization’s branding and use bright colors to draw attention to them.

In addition, a CMS with drag-and-drop features is very helpful for little to mid-sized nonprofits that will not have coding knowledge or a tech team to help with web development. Easily drag content onto your page and customize the layout within the way you like so you'll best showcase your cause.

If you’re trying to find more information on getting your web design started, take a look at Morweb’s guide to nonprofit web development.

Optimized Donation Pages

While your entire site should reflect your branding so as to determine trust, the foremost important element you ought to concentrate on during your online fundraising campaign is your donation page. This page is your last chance to convince a donor that they must give to your nonprofit. So, how are you able to make it count?

By creating your donation page through your CMS platform, you’ll not only ensure consistency in branding but also get to require advantage of all the opposite features that include your web design platform. for instance, you can:

-Create a mobile-optimized page. More and more donors are browsing online on their mobile devices. make sure that your CMS platform offers mobile-responsive automation in order that your website will befits fit any screen size. Donors will have a more robust experience viewing your page and your nonprofit could increase its donations by 126% on average.
-Take a minimalist approach. When designing your donation page, less is more. Too many images on your donation page are going to be distracting to your visitors, but a clean layout is going to be naturally appealing. Make efficient use of your space and have the data you would like, without overdoing it.
-Limit your text fields. Only invite the data that you simply need from donors, like their contact and payment information. Having multiple pages and “next” buttons creates an extended process for your donors and provides them multiple opportunities to abandon the shape altogether.
-Easily edit your donation form. Your CMS platform should allow you to form quick adjustments to your donation form, like suggested donation amounts, recurring gift options, and other fields.

-Recurring gift options. A recurring gift option encourages your donors to form their donation automatically recurring on a daily basis (monthly, annually, etc., or perhaps weekly). Allow your donors to pick out the frequency and see the full funds over their selected duration. this can successively facilitate your maintain tier of transparency and keep their trust.

Your donation page design counts the foremost in terms of converting visitors into donors, so make certain to include these design elements into your online fundraising campaign. You’ll be rather more likely to spice up your donation revenue as a result.

If you’re searching for some inspiration, try this list of best nonprofit website examples.

Fundraising Thermometer

Displaying a fundraising thermometer on your website’s homepage may be a good way to make excitement for your campaign and direct visitors to your donation page. Showing your donation numbers upfront won't only improve transparency along with your supporters, but it'll also help create anticipation for your campaign.

Not all CMS platforms offer this feature so take care to discuss with your website provider first to work out if this is often an option. When creating your fundraising thermometer, take care to stay the subsequent tips in mind:

-Set a sensible fundraising goal. because the numbers tick closer and closer to your goal, supporters will feel more engaged together with your cause. Hitting your fundraising goal is an exciting milestone and great content to share on your social media and other channels. If your goal is just too ambitious, your supporters may feel disappointed if the top result's too far-flung.
-Specify a time frame for your goal. this may create a way of urgency for your donors to donate straight away rather than putting it off for a later day. because the end date nears and you grow closer to your goal, donors may feel more compelled to offer to your campaign if only to work out your thermometer to reach the top.
-Link to your donation page. Make it easy for brand new site visitors to contribute to your online fundraising campaign by linking to your donation page. You’ll want to create sure this link stands out with bright colors and a button format.

Highlighting a fundraising thermometer on your homepage will help drive site visitors to your online campaign and encourage them to contribute. Incorporating this live feature into your site design will further create excitement and build anticipation amongst your supporter base.

eCommerce

Online fundraising isn’t nearly donations. In fact, there are several ways you'll be able to raise additional funds.

Donors like better to have a range of the way to grant online, and a few of those individuals will want to receive something reciprocally for his or her donation. one of the foremost effective ways to satisfy them where they're is thru an eCommerce store.

By employing a CMS platform with eCommerce functionality, you can:

-Add an internet store to your website. Give donors the chance to buy branded merchandise from your organization, which also becomes a wonderful thanks to promoting your nonprofit’s brand.
-Increase your revenue. Your web visitors will appreciate having the ability to flick through your merchandise and add it to their donations, especially if your items are freshly designed and well-made. take a look at Bonfire’s guide to designing the right t-shirt for a few helpful tips.
-Expose your nonprofit to more donors. As donors wear your merchandise, this may spread awareness around your cause and encourage others to see up your mission and your campaign.

Make sure your online store is mobile-friendly and features high-quality images of your merchandise so donors have a transparent picture of what they’re fascinated by purchasing. Ensuring your store has these features will result in more sales.

Social Media Integrations

Part of fundraising online means covering multiple avenues of electronic communication. Though it comes in second to your nonprofit’s actual website, social media could be a huge platform through which your supporters can engage together with your organization.

That’s why employing a CMS that gives social media integration is very important and a general best practice to incorporate in your web design strategy. By integrating your website and your social media accounts, you can:

-the benefit of live feeds. Keep your web visitors updated on your nonprofit’s progress with live feeds of your social media posts that they'll view on your website. Choose one or two of your most active channels to feature on your homepage.
-Drive traffic to your social media platforms. Send web visitors to your social media accounts so you'll further interact with them and allow them to know what events and campaigns are developing.
-Gain more traction. When supporters can easily access your social media feeds, this offers them the chance to share your posts with their own networks, expanding your reach.

By linking your website and your social media accounts, you’ll give your supporters a chance to interact with you on a daily basis. Keep them updated through both your website and your social media pages, allow them to easily share your events and news, and build a bigger supporter base for your fundraising campaign.

There are many CMS features you'll include as you launch your online fundraising campaigns. From customization to eCommerce and social media, many options can facilitate the boost of your donation revenue. If you think that your website is prepared for a makeover, start researching CMS platforms that may facilitate your do all of this.