Three ways Nonprofits can improve fundraising with their website

A nonprofit’s website should be one of its best fundraising tools.  A good site will quickly share what the nonprofit does, explain why that is important, and ask people to get involved through volunteerism and giving. The key to using your website to increase giving is clear communication. If a visitor understood the need and recognized that they could help to meet that need, the likelihood of getting them engaged (volunteering or giving) goes up dramatically. So here are five ways nonprofits and improve fundraising with their website:

1. Tell your story first. The temptation on a nonprofit website is to put everything on the home page. Resist that temptation. The first thing you must do is tell your story in a brief but compelling way. You know what you do, but most other people do not, and you have a very limited amount of their attention with which to communicate your story. Can you tell the story of your nonprofit in one (short) sentence? If you can’t, that’s the first problem you need to solve. Remember, a good website starts with a story, make sure you start with yours.
2. Show your uniqueness. Your nonprofit exists to solve a problem. What problem are you solving and how are you uniquely amazing at solving that problem? If you are a food pantry, how are you innovating and serving people compared to other food pantries? If you are an after school program how are you unique compared with other after school programs? There are a lot of nonprofits out there doing great things that people might want to support, so you need to show visitors how you are the best fit for them so that they will choose to support you. Being unique is the best way to connect with people on a more personal level.
3. Ask people to give and show them how. The path for people getting involved in your organization is clear to you but is likely unclear to someone that doesn’t know about your organization. The more clear and direct a path is for a site visitor, the more likely they will get involved in volunteering or giving. The best way to go about this is simply to ask them to get involved with a call to action button. Make sure the button is large (not obnoxious) and has a clear request on it like “give now” or “get involved today!” Remember, the simpler something is, the more likely someone will do it.