Four Essential Elements for a Nonprofit Website Donate Page
For marketing directors or CMOs of nonprofit organizations, is the best Google search term, “best nonprofit websites”?
I would argue a better one is “best nonprofit website donate pages”. After all, outside of specific campaigns — such as a headliner event where you collect donations prior to that event and at the door — your Donate page is the evergreen hub where cash pours in year round.
The Donate page-specific search term above is how I found this compilation of a dozen highly effective nonprofit donate pages from RKD Group, a fundraising and marketing provider to hundreds of nonprofits.
They created a great list. Based off it, my goal with this post is to boil down the most common (and essential) page elements that you’ll want to compare against your own Donate page. You’ll get a lot of value from this exercise: if you have any gaps, you can update your page to close them so that your Donate page is working as well as some of the most successful nonprofits in the U.S. today.
Here are the four essential elements for nonprofit website donate pages from RKD Group’s list:
One or more photos that speak directly to the mission. The good news is you likely only need one photo — but make sure it’s a great one that’s as high resolution as possible. Look at this one on North Texas Food Bank’s donate page, for example. It’s fantastic!
A condensed version of the Elevator Pitch from your About page: what the mission is and how donations help your nonprofit achieve it. Many nonprofits that are not as marketing savvy treat the Donate page as simply a form. However, for both search engines and humans who are primed to give — because they navigated to your Donate page — it’s very important to include this information.
A form with as few fields as possible allowing donors to give once or set up a recurring donation. A great tactic to avoid overwhelming your visitors with a “sea” of form fields is to split your form over multiple pages. I actually found a better example from a different list of great nonprofit donate pages; they highlight Code for America’s donate form, which on the Donate landing page only requires a donor to mark if the donation is one-time, monthly, or annual and to select from several set dollar amounts or enter a custom amount.
Text and/or graphics showing how donations already given have made a meaningful impact toward the mission. I think this is a vital addition; many donors are more motivated to give if they can quickly see how previous donations have made a big impact. From RKD Group’s list, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD)’s Donate page does this exceptionally well. On a desktop browser, check out the “MADD’s Impact Since Our Founding in 1980” section to the right of their donate form.
And here’s a bonus element to consider:
A status bar showing progress on completing a fundraising goal. This coding element is especially powerful when a campaign is already at least 1/3 of the way to reaching the goal — blast that meter showing real progress to your email list and social media followers, and watch it get even closer to completion. From Donorbox’s list that I shared above, San Rafael High School Boosters (WeAreSR!)’s Donate page exemplifies great application of this element.
Is your nonprofit’s marketing strategy failing to fully deliver related to your fundraising goals?
When it comes to website development for your Donate and other pages, I can connect you with some fantastic developers. Contact me about that here.
