7 Tips on Fundraising for Nonprofit and Charity Organizations

By John

The task of raising funds for nonprofit organizations are becoming somewhat easier owing to the plethora of online tools and platforms available to cater for these causes.

While all charity organizations are nonprofits, but certainly not all nonprofits are charity organizations.

Now, what organizations are termed charities? If a nonprofit’s purpose is more of educational or welfare, and it funds or provide services to support medical research, or promotes a cause that in any way could benefit the public, that entity is called a charity.

Facts on Charity & Donations

Generally, nonprofit that earns substantial part of its income through public solicitation, is defined as a public charity. Though, most countries require nonprofits to register as charities, especially if they are to solicit for donations from the public, but private charitable foundations are classified as charities without necessarily soliciting for donations.

The designation of charity and tax-exempt status are only given to organizations that further charitable causes, ranging from educational, religious, scientific, literary, public safety or prevention.

Such organizations can also exist to earn income for other qualifying charities. While such organizations are required to make their financial and operating data public so that its donors can be well informed about what — and how – their donations are used.

The major difference between public and private charity foundations is in how the organization derives its funding. For the private foundations, there are usually a select group of people, which they typically draw their funds from. And public charities typically rely on the public for support and derive its funding from several sources.

In the United States, the federal tax law provides tax-exemption to charity organizations under section 501(c)(3) of the IRC (Internal Revenue Code), which also include eligibility to tax deductible charitable contributions. However, for an organization to qualify for 501(c)(3) status, they must apply to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the status.

7 Tips for Nonprofit and Charity Organizations to Raise Funds

The following recommendations and tips are for public charities who are looking for individual donors, corporate sponsorship, foundation grants, and earned income.

1. Get Online

The Internet has made it possible to reach people beyond your immediate location, which can substantially improve the funding capabilities of these organizations.

Getting a website should the first point of call for any charity in this modern time, as a website avails you a platform to showcase your brand and charitable deeds for everyone to see. SeekaHost™ gives you everything to create, manage and grow your web presence, even the eligibility for training at the SeekaHost University.

Once your website is up and running, then narrow down to creating a donation page, and by analyzing how many people are visiting that specific page, you’ll most likely find out if your organization is getting enough attention.

2. Build Your Brand

Besides getting your website running, how your brand is perceived can impact greatly on your nonprofit success.

So, you must ensure the donation page is fully attention grabbing by emphasizing on what your brand have achieved or looking to achieve. And make sure you have your nonprofit’s name and logo, compelling photographs, and copy which align with your brand standards.

Also read: Steps to Establish Your Brand on Social Media like a Pro

This step will help the potential donors to feel safe knowing that they’re on the right organization’s website.

It sure require lots of effort in building your brand, but with strategic thinking, timeliness and persistence, you’ll not only get more donations, but also wonderful recommendations.

3. Make Use of Social Proof

Social proof is a way to demonstrate that other people have done it before. Let’s say, they’ve donated to your charity, recommended your organization, or even tweeted the page or shared the photo on social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook.

This single act can go a long way in convincing others to donate to your cause; within the context of fundraising, the social proof displays potential donors that have supported the cause, and often, include the amount of money raised.

It’ll result to plenty of goodwill for your organization with more public confidence, and incredibly boost your brand.

4. Transparency

The nonprofit organizations are supposed to have a higher standard of transparency because most donors would want to know how well their money are being utilized and the impact your organization is actually making.

It is recommended that you make your organizations financial information available and easily accessible so that donors can feel confident to make donations knowing how their donation will be used.

And most people now turn to sites like Charity Navigator that help to rate charities by providing information on their donation percentage and amount spent on charitable programs versus their overhead expenses.

5. Learn to Give Back

The simplest way to show appreciation is saying thank you, but beyond that, making a little gift item available as a souvenir for the donors can go a long way in encouraging them more to donate to your cause.

Giving a gift to donors for making donation is a better way to show your appreciation, most especially for the new donors.

While gifting them a banded piece will help to remind them of your organization every time they make use of the item.

6. Stay in Touch

Always ensure that any person who gets to your online donation page, and pulls credit card to donate money, gets to hear from you sometime again.

This may be the real opportunity you have to strike a longtime relationship with the person as his eagerness to donate to your nonprofit means he is open to interaction.

So take ample advantage of such opportunity to build your email list by making it easy for donors to opt-in once they’ve made a donation by checking a simple box.

7. Put Privacy & Security First

While most People don’t normally want to give out too much information when filling forms online, always ensure only the necessary details are required. So be more sensitive to their privacy and limit your donation form to only the fields that are mandatory.

And even though financial transactions are commonplace on the internet, but still people want to make sure you’re taking security measures to ensure that their information is secure.

So, it’s important that your website is secure to build trust with donors, and keep the donation form simple, require only minimal information in completing the online transaction.

Conclusion

There is definitely a surge in online fundraising for Nonprofits, if you’re still stuck on manual submission of proposals to corporations that you have connection with, now is the time to get online so that you can increase your chances of getting funds.

You can get all the help you need in getting online with SeekaHost, as we’re far more than just a web hosting company, with powerful services and web solutions, we are also a powerful business network that works for your online success.