What is Digital Fundraising and How Can It Benefit Your Charity?

Since the pandemic there has been a significant rise in digital initiatives for organisations, especially those involved in charitable causes. 

Your charity has probably been impacted by this growing digital revolution, offering more ways to collect donations, engage with donors, and raise funds.

Once a popular and preferred way to donate, cash donations are slowly dwindling, forcing non-profits to focus more on digital mediums to tell their story, raise awareness and gather more support for their cause.

This is why digital fundraising has become more crucial than ever. 

Online platforms open doors for your charity to reach new audiences, add value to the donor journey, and, in turn, raise more money for your cause. It’s an important tool to use, especially when giving is witnessing a decline.

This guide explains what digital fundraising is, how it helps your non-profit, and how to create a digital fundraising strategy for your non-profit.

What Is Digital Fundraising?

Digital fundraising is using online tools and platforms to raise money for your cause. There are many ways to begin – you could start by building a website for online donations, or engaging with supporters on social media.

A more streamlined approach is to use an online fundraising platform with features that align with your digital fundraising strategy. 

When it comes to trust and ease of use, thousands of UK charities rely on KindLink’s fundraising management software. 

We empower charities to create and launch fundraising pages in minutes, and track donations and monitor campaign activity with our fundraising CRM and database. 

Get more out of your fundraising efforts with our free platform.

Benefits of Digital Fundraising for Your Non-profit

Digital fundraising offers multiple benefits in addition to traditional fundraising means.

Wider Reach

The internet allows you to connect with your contributors across the world, bypassing any geographical limitations. A digital fundraising platform allows you to reach out to a wider audience, particularly younger audiences who prefer digital engagement. 

Use the digital space to tell stories of impact, through photos and videos, that make a more immediate and emotional appeal to your audience.

Cost-Effective

Sending appeals through lumpy mail is a traditional method of reaching out to existing and potential donors. Whilst it still works, it comes with printing and postage expenses. Online fundraising tools require a one-time setup with subscription fees (if required), which is much more cost-effective and can deliver greater impact with less initial time and marketing investment.

Convenient

Online fundraising platforms like KindLink allow your supporters to donate anytime, anywhere, at their own comfort and convenience. Your contributors don’t need to wait for an offline community event or postal appeals when they can donate online from the comfort of their homes.

Increased Engagement

Digital fundraising for your non-profit helps in improving engagement with your donors and building an online and offline community of supporters around your cause. 

With the right tool, you can keep your supporters and donors informed about an urgent one-time appeal or a time-sensitive fundraising event instantly through communication channels like emails and social media. This allows your donors to step in to contribute when your cause needs it most.

Access Data & Measure Impact

Measure the impact and success of your digital fundraising strategy by accessing donor, contributor, and volunteer data and metrics. Calculate click-through rates and conversion rates to quantify your team’s efforts and check how well your fundraising campaign was executed. You can test, learn, and adjust your approach with KindLink’s fundraising CRM.

Personalisation

Fundraising platforms allow you to segment your donor base and personalise communications based on individual preferences. You can customise ‘Thank you emails’ and automatically send them to your donors once they’ve donated. This small gesture goes a long way in creating a personal connection and increasing the chances of a positive response in the future.

Developing a Digital Fundraising Strategy

As a charity fundraiser, your goal is to create a digital fundraising strategy that maximises your impact. Here’s an overview of the steps to create a digital fundraising strategy.

1. Set a goal: Define the goal you want to achieve, such as a goal amount or number of donors
2. Optimise your donation page: Make it convenient, mobile-friendly, and with relevant information about your mission and organisation. KindLink lets you set up one for free
3. Be active on social media: Know what your target audience is talking about
4. Create and share content: Create visually appealing content and impact stories with photos and videos that your target audience would like to engage with
5. Run and measure: Use a free non-profit CRM like KindLink to measure how your campaign did, the impact it generated, and more

The best digital fundraising campaigns are not complex, they’re simple and focus on the specifics – that is, your cause and your donors. 

With our fundraising page, you don’t need any technical expertise to set up; just register your non-profit for free and proceed to set up a fundraising campaign.

Easy Digital Fundraising for Non-Profits with KindLink

Using digital fundraising tools isn’t just about accepting donations online, it’s about making the most of an online medium to raise awareness, improve reach, boost donor interactions, and increase online income. 

Fundraising is all about highlighting your cause to potential donors and showing them how their contributions and support can drive your mission forward. Digital fundraising allows you to be in the same space as your audience and garner their attention, support, and contributions.

Choosing KindLink as your digital fundraising platform allows you access to a host of core fundraising features for free. It’s a tool that supports big and small charities, ideal if your non-profit is new to raising funds or has a small team with little technical expertise. You can also upgrade to our premium features as you scale.

Sign up your charity or non-profit today to get started on your digital fundraising journey.