{"id":13195,"date":"2016-12-05T15:24:20","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T20:24:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/?p=13195"},"modified":"2016-12-05T15:24:20","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T20:24:20","slug":"nonprofit-website-best-practices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/nonprofit-website-best-practices\/","title":{"rendered":"Boost Holiday Donations With These 8 Nonprofit Website Best Practices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Fundraising<\/p>\n

For everyone, the holidays can feel like a stressful, busy time of year. <\/span><\/p>\n

For nonprofit professionals, the stress of balancing social and family obligations is compounded by these months being the most important time of year for fundraising.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly 30%<\/a><\/strong> of all giving for the year happens in December.<\/span><\/p>\n

The average amount people give is nearly 40% higher<\/strong> in December than throughout the rest of the year. <\/span><\/p>\n

Clearly people are in a giving mindset during the holidays. <\/span><\/p>\n

Nonprofits should do everything in their power to encourage that generosity and provide people with easy, persuasive reasons to follow their hearts this time of year.<\/span><\/p>\n

[bctt tweet=”#NonProfits, take note! People give 40% more in December than the rest of the year.” username=”hostgator”]<\/p>\n

Here are eight techniques you can use this holiday season to maximize the donations that come your way before the onset of the New Year. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Recommended<\/a><\/p>\n

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1. Offer gift options.<\/h2>\n

One of the most valuable techniques you should implement this year is tying the general gift-giving people are doing for friends and family in with giving to your organization. If your donors feel they can check both boxes at once, they\u2019ll be more likely to send money your way. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are a couple different forms this can take.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Create an online gift catalog.<\/h3>\n

Charity gift catalogs make giving to a charity feel more like shopping in a good way. Instead of providing a lump sum of cash, a gift catalog lets them visualize a list of \u00a0specific items that they can choose to give. Giving a couple hundred dollars to charity feels different than buying a goat for a struggling family.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Create<\/p>\n

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Some charities, like Oxfam, take it a step further and make a card part of the gift. You can buy chickens for a family in need in the name of a loved one, and present your loved one with the card as your holiday gift to let them know.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Charitable<\/p>\n

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Offer physical gifts at different donation levels.<\/h3>\n

Sometimes having something physical to wrap up and hand to a loved one feels important. To tap into that desire, you can offer different items to people who donate at different levels. A t-shirt or tote bag for anyone that donates enough allows a donor to let a loved one know they\u2019ve supported a cause they care about while also providing them with an item they can hand them come gift-giving time.<\/span><\/p>\n

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2. Promote your Amazon Smile account.<\/h2>\n

One thing you can count on people to do this season is buy things. And a lot of them are specifically buying things online. <\/span>Last year on Black Friday<\/span><\/a>, more people shopped online than in stores. <\/span><\/p>\n

Your organization can benefit from some of that spending with an Amazon Smile account. Whenever customers use the URL <\/span>smile.amazon.com<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span>rather than going straight to amazon.com, .5% of what they spend will go to your organization. That percentage isn\u2019t huge, but if enough people make you their chosen Amazon Smile charity and then do a lot of their holiday shopping on Amazon, the donations will add up. <\/span><\/p>\n

If you haven\u2019t yet set up an Amazon Smile account for your nonprofit, then that\u2019s your first step. Just follow the instructions <\/span>Amazon provides here<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Once that\u2019s done though, you should actively encourage your followers to select your charity and make a point of doing their Amazon shopping through the smile link. Provide step-by-step instructions on how to set their Amazon smile account to donate to your charity, <\/span>like World of Children does<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

Then promote your account to your followers. Before Black Friday rolls around, send an email to your list about your Amazon Smile account and post about it on your social media profiles. The more people start shopping in your name, the more those donations will add up to something significant.<\/span><\/p>\n

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3. Ask a big donor to match all gifts through the beginning of the year.<\/h2>\n

When donors hear that their donation will be worth more because of a matching gift, <\/span>that ups their incentive to give<\/span><\/a>. If you have a reliable big donor you can convince to match all the donations made within a specific time frame, your promotions to the rest of your list will have some extra kick. <\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Central Texas Food Bank<\/span> found a generous donor to match all gifts this holiday season and put that information front and center on their website to encourage more giving.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Donor<\/p>\n

How much more likely are you to give $10 to an organization when you know that will translate into 80 meals due to someone else\u2019s matching contribution? The psychology behind matching donations is powerful; if you can find a big donor to help, use it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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4. Share touching success stories.<\/h2>\n

This is helpful anytime of year, but when people are already in giving mode, it can especially make a difference. People like to see how their contribution will pay off in specific terms. If you can show them the little girl that was able to wake up to several gifts under the tree because of their help last year, that turns their donations into something more personal and moving.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year in December, Austin Pets Alive shared <\/span>a video of Poppy<\/span>, a dog that came to them suffering from parvo the year before. After being treated in their care, Poppy made a full recovery and was adopted. When potential donors came to the site that holiday season, they knew they weren\u2019t just giving money to an organization, they were helping specific dogs like Poppy go from sickly to running, playing, and stealing slippers in a home they know they\u2019ll be living in for keeps.<\/span><\/p>\n