When it comes to collecting donations for your nonprofit organization, you don’t have to depend on traditional ways anymore. The traditional ways to collect donations for your nonprofit are still great ways, but it could be frustrating to manually try to find individuals and company heads to pay. Here are some better ways to collect donations.
Nonprofit Payment Processing
Nonprofit payment processing from a reliable service is the sure way to go. With this service, you will have the power to subscribe to service as a package or acquire various needed components separately. Your nonprofit requires, at least, a web form (secure online form), and a method to accept debit and credit card payments to deposit into your nonprofit’s bank account (merchant account).
High-quality payment gateway systems connect payment software and donation with a merchant account. These systems also offer reporting, security, and an application program interface (API) in some cases. This enables nonprofit agencies to process transactions via different interfaces, including lightboxes, direct software integration, and mobile apps. With nonprofit payment processing, your nonprofit must also be able to access online reporting of transactions through a secure web portal.
A “Donate Now” Button on your Site
Having a “donate now” button on your agency’s site is a key step to raise money for your agency. A top-notch site with technical support will have a system to securely collect your money and insert your “donate now” button.
If you don’t feel comfortable with a “donate now” button on your organization’s site, contracting a “donate now” service is much easier for many nonprofits.
Social Media
One of the best ways in today’s world to get your nonprofit in front of people and to collect donations is to use social media. You can run ads on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and more. This will allow you to get your posts out in front of a much larger and targeted audience. The more times you can get out in front of people the more likely they will click on your post and donate. With most people being on social media, you want to make sure this is a way you are exploiting to try to get donations for your nonprofit.
Crowdfunding
You can also use an alternative way of funding through the Internet called crowdfunding. You can raise funds from various individuals/organizations on various crowdfunding sites. However, crowdfunding is not only for nonprofit agencies. Some worthwhile crowdfunding platforms include Weeve, Kickstarter (for creative projects), Indiegogo, and Fundly.
Using Volunteers
Technology and the Internet have paved the way to collect donations in a more convenient way. However, utilizing volunteers is the way to go if you still want to use traditional methods. Using volunteers is also good if you still want to collect donations in the traditional way. They can be used at events and even to walk neighborhoods and going door to door. You also may be able to set up a booth at a local store or event as well.
Traditional Mail
This might not be as effective as it used to be, but it is still effective. It is more of a numbers game than using other methods. The great thing about using traditional mail to outreach for donations for your nonprofit is that no matter what happens, the person receiving that mail has to touch it. They also have to look at it. They may not open it, but you are still getting out in front of them. It may take a few times of mailing that person before you get any kind of response, but if you do it enough and if you can make your mailer appealing, you should still get some results.
Events
Going to or hosting an event can be a great way to collect donations. It is an easy way to get in front of people and get their attention. It allows them to be face to face with someone who is collecting donations for their nonprofit. It also gives people the chance to ask questions and see what you are truly about allowing for a certain level of comfort before they pull out their wallets. It also may be a good way to get volunteers to help out with collecting donations in the future as well if you find people that want to get involved. You can even collect information such as phone numbers and email addresses to reach back out to those who have donated before. While there may be ways with modern technology to reach a bigger audience, sometimes there is nothing like going out and adding a personal touch.
Using these ways will significantly help take your nonprofit to the next level. Then, you can focus more on how to benefit your organization’s cause.
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