How to Impress the Wired Wealthy and Capitalize on the Rise in Online
Giving.
Written by: Sumac Research
Date: July, 2010
It probably comes as no surprise to many of you that online giving is
growing. What may be
surprising, however, is that the very wealthy (a reported 1% of donors
that are responsible for 32% of non-profits annual gifts) are
among those that prefer giving online.
Generally speaking, however, they are frustrated with non-profit
websites. In this article
we will highlight two very important things you can do to impress them
and capitalize on the growth in online giving.
The wired wealthy
For a large part, because few large donations are made via the web,
non-profits have been under the impression that large donors are not
active online,
but according to a new report by Sea Change Strategies [1], that's not
the case.
The "wired wealthy" as defined by the report are people who give at
least $1,000 per year to a single cause, who average $10,896 in
donations per year to charities, and have a median gift size of $4,500.
They are the kind of donors
charities want to attract and keep, as while they may only make
up about 1% of donors to the charities, they account for approximately
32% of their annual gifts.
According to the study, more than half of the “wired wealthy” prefer
giving online and 80% do at least some of their donating via the
Internet. Unfortunately,
however, less than half of respondents thought non-profit websites were
well-designed or inspired them.
Non-Profit Websites: Small Changes to Attract Big Donors
With the growth of online giving and the emergence of the wired wealthy
who are very open to online giving, it is more important than ever to
ensure your website encourages and supports this kind of giving.
If you want to capitalize on online giving, therefore, you should
do two things: Make key
information easy to find and make the donation process easy.
Make Key Information easy to find
According to a usability study conducted by
leading industry expert, the Nielsen Norman Group [2], if you
want to encourage online donations, it is imperative that your website
be user-friendly and answer a prospective donor's questions.
The good news is, you can generally predict what questions a prospective
donor will have. When
participants of the study were asked what information they want to see
on non-profit websites before they decide whether to donate, their
answers fell into two groups of information:
-
What are you trying to achieve? i.e. Mission, goals, objectives and
work; and
-
How will you spend my money? i.e. How you use donations and
contributions.
Out of the sites studied, only 43% answered the first question on their
homepage and an astonishingly low 4% answered the second question.
While typically this information did exist somewhere on the site,
users expressed considerable frustration with finding it.
So, if you don't currently have all of this information on your website,
make that your first priority!
And don't hide it in the “About us” section.
You only have a short time to impress potential donors, so
showcase what great things you do and how you use generous donations on
the homepage if possible.
Making it Easy to Donate
Now just think of what a shame it would be to have impressed a wealthy
prospect with all of the wonderful things your organization does and how
his donation can help, and then lose him during the donation process.
Believe it or not, it happens all the time.
Take a good look at the donation process on your website.
If it is too long or complicated, it can be a deal breaker for
potential donors. Here are
some simple things you can do to ensure the donation process goes
smoothly:
-
Have a “Donate Now” button on each page of your website.
-
Make sure the “Donate Now” button actually allows donors to go
straight to the donation page and not a page that links to the
donation page. An extra page
will just give donors an opportunity to change their minds and it's
frustrating for donors who really are ready to donate.
-
Allow donors to enter the donation information first before asking
for additional information.
The exciting part for donors is giving, so allow them to get to this
part fast and they will be happy.
Then you can ask them for any additional information
required.
-
Make sure your website accepts credit cards.
According to the Sea Change Strategies study, a good portion
of the “wired wealthy” donate using credit cards because they like
to collect the benefits associated with their premium cards.
-
Finally, make sure the payment page opens up inside the website
itself. On some non-profit
websites, the payment page looks entirely different than the rest of
the website. Potential
donors see this as a red flag and they may quickly lose trust and
abandon the donation.
Follow these simple tips and your organization will be securing many
more online donations in no time --
and not just from the “wired wealthy,” but from anyone else who
may stumble upon your website.
Sumac is a complete, integrated nonprofit software solution that is easy
to use, has incredible functionality and costs a fraction of what other
software packages do. For information on Sumac or for more articles
published by Sumac Research, visit:
Sumac.com
Notes
[1] The Wired Wealthy: Using the Internet to Connect with Your Middle
and Major Donors.
Published by:
Sea Change Strategies.
March 14, 2008. Available
at:
http://my.convio.com/?elqPURLPage=104
[2] Donation Usability: Design Guidelines for Improving the Donation
Process and the Usability of Essential Information
on Charity and Non-Profit Websites. Published by: Nielsen
Norman Group. 2009.
Available at:
http://www.nngroup.com/reports/donations/
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