2020 In Review: Looking Back & Looking Ahead

So that’s it, that’s a wrap on 2020.

This year was unexpected to say the least. The world was met with challenges and turbulence that tested our strength, perseverance, and community bonds. Looking back on this year with reflection, we’d like to shed one small light on things that went well and moments that gave us spirit.

You Rose to the Challenge

In 2020, we watched organizations extend their budgets, services, and/or of-the-moment missions to take care of their communities. Even while events were cancelled and volunteers were temporarily asked to stay home, organization leaders continued working toward the health and safety of their communities.

Facilities turned into food delivery pick up points and screening centers. Virtual volunteering opportunities quickly scaled to a “new normal”, as we all found ways to put ourselves and our resources to good use.

It was an honor to work with you all this year.

Strides Forward Together

Just a few months into the year, the team at VolunteerLocal began following your lead. We retired our preconceived plans for the year and leaned in to honest conversations with clients like you.

As needs changed in 2020, you told us exactly how. New feature requests surged this year as events rescheduled and nonprofit programs reassessed their needs and impacts.

As a result, new features were quickly introduced to our development road map, including: postponed event settings, no-contact check in, volunteer self-reported hours, volunteer qualifications, COVID-19 notices, and more.

We’re committed to continue rising to the occasion with you, building the technology you need to do your job well.


Postponed event settings: Whether your event/program has been cancelled or rescheduled, VolunteerLocal can help you navigate those changes.

If volunteers were already registered for shifts prior to cancelling or rescheduling, head over to: Events -> Your Events -> Event Detail. Scroll to “Volunteer Profile Options”. Enter any text you like to the textbox, in order to inform and remind volunteers of the news. Finally, uncheck the box labeled “Display shift detail and demographic information on the volunteer profile page”. That way, volunteers will no longer see the shifts they had been registered for, so you do not need to remove each volunteer from each shift.

When you’re ready to launch your rescheduled event, setup will be speedy. Simply copy your old event, scheduling it for the new date. You’ll have the option to copy over as many or few details as you like: jobs, shifts, volunteers, confirmation settings, etc.

No-contact check-in: Keep volunteers busy, track their hours, and avoid contact with shared surfaces.

At the start of the year, VolunteerLocal introduced the Check-In Kiosk, which allows volunteers to quickly check themselves in and out on-site.

A few months into the year, we shared techniques to make that process contact-less. First and foremost, if you continue to use a check in kiosk on-site, we recommend disinfecting the surface after each use. As an alternative, you can share the Kiosk URL and code to allow volunteers to check in and out from their own devices. (Checking in and out is also possible by downloading the free mobile app.)

Volunteer Self-Reported Hours: With virtual volunteering on the rise, volunteers may now report their hours via their volunteer profile, anywhere with internet connection.

On the volunteer profile, volunteers may self-report the job they performed, the date, and the hours worked. These self-reported hours are available for admins to review, edit, approve, or deny.

Volunteer Qualifications: This feature ensures that only qualified volunteers are able to view and sign up for certain jobs. Volunteers without those qualifications would not be able to view or sign up for those jobs.

This feature can be used for a variety of purposes, even regardless of the pandemic. However, we began to see organizations using this feature creatively, as a way to categorize volunteers into groups based on their COVID-19 risk factors. (For example: qualifying volunteers based on their age group.) This better protected volunteers from unknowingly signing up for jobs that would put them at higher risk of infection.

COVID-19 Notices: As the months go on and COVID-19 familiarity (or fatigue) sets in, it is important to regularly remind volunteers of organization-wide safety protocols. As a result, we added a new option to the “Disclaimer” feature in VolunteerLocal.

Now, organizations can require volunteers to read and sign the COVID-19 notice every time they sign up for a shift. (Please note: we do not provide the content for this notice, as it will likely be different for each organization.)


The Year Ahead

Although there are likely more surprises in store for us in 2021, surely we will all face them with more readiness than before.

In regard to the technology you use to perform your daily jobs and duties, continue to consider VolunteerLocal as a partner in these efforts. Reach out to us anytime for support, solutioning, or even feature requests.

We’ve got exciting announcements in store for the year ahead, and we can’t wait to share them with you all. If you’d like to be one of the first to know, reach out to us anytime and we’ll add you and your colleagues to our newsletter.

Wishing a happy, healthy New Year from our team to yours. See you all in the New Year.

Warmly,

Isabel & VolunteerLocal Team

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Rebuilding and Reframing for Volunteer Management – Post COVID

As we begin to consider what our new normal will look like, remembering the roots of volunteerism and adapting them the new world is crucial. This evolution is not just essential for the good of our agencies, but for our profession as well.

We must be forward thinking. WE have to be the leaders to promote our programs and prove the value of engaging the support of volunteers.

Our fundamentals are rooted in recruiting, screening, training and the placement of volunteers. Many volunteer managers haven’t stopped their work through COVID-19 but many must reinvent and recreate their programs. Listed below are some tips to getting back to basics as you begin welcoming your volunteers back!

Needs Assessment

The first step is to conduct a needs assessment. There are four points to consider. What are the community needs, the organizational needs, the needs of the volunteer services program and the needs of the volunteers? Where is the sweet spot where those four aspects intersect? Can your volunteers serve these needs virtually or within social distancing guidelines? If not, can you consider an out of the box solution to move your program forward?

Recruiting

Once completing your needs assessment, plan to reassess current volunteer placements. Collaborate with your organization’s staff and leadership to consider all aspects of your organization’s needs and how volunteers can help serve those needs.

Screening and Training

Through this pandemic, we have learned that screening and training can be completed virtually. It isn’t our first choice, but it can be done well. There are great resources to help support the implementation of virtual screening and training, many are free or inexpensive. One such example is the free online webinars offered by the Texas Volunteer Management Conference (https://texasvmc.org).

Placement

Consider the need for facemasks, gloves and social distancing for volunteer placements. Also consider your own agency’s requirement, local and state requirements. Many organizations have successfully created opportunities to continue volunteer involvement while maintaining healthy social distancing practices. Consider current legal requirements, taking temperatures, updating the volunteer handbook and creating a COVID questionnaire and waiver. Solicit support from HR and your peers in the volunteer management community.

Leadership

Create your plan and present the post COVID-19 volunteer management plan to your organization’s leadership team. It is imperative to have buy in from leadership. Now, more than ever, volunteer professionals must insist on having a seat at the table.

As professional volunteer managers, the last thing that we want to see is the decline or elimination of opportunities to serve, opportunities to create advocates, opportunities to move the needle of our missions. Many of us have spent our careers being creative and constantly being problem solvers. We must continue to think out of the box with ways to connect our volunteers to the mission of our organizations.

While so much of this can be overwhelming, this is what we do. We adapt to the needs. The needs of the community haven’t stopped. In many respects, they’ve grown. Who’s hurting, who needs support? It might be our very own volunteers.

Disconnection and social distancing are unnatural to our work. At our core, we are connectors. How do we continue to connect our volunteers to meaningful work and our mission? While many of us have been paralyzed by fear, we cannot and will not give up!

Now, more than ever, we need to work together for the good of our profession and for the sake of those in need. There may be some uncertainty or even a bit of fear with the unknown future of volunteerism. That is precisely why we need to be leaders in our profession. We have the unique opportunity to be trailblazers, to CREATE the new normal for volunteerism. Our agencies and our volunteers are depending on our experience and our vision for the new face of service.

This is where peer support is imperative. Supporting each other professionally has never been more important. Together, we can overcome the challenges facing us. Let’s work TOGETHER to create what WE think the new normal should be for service and volunteerism.


Guest post by Stephanie Canfield, Leadership Community Advocate.

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5 Modern Tools to Improve Your Tech Stack

In 2020, it may feel like there is an abundance of obstacles standing between your nonprofit and accomplishing “the big picture.” A global pandemic, unprecedented economic downturn, a society more distant and divided than ever in recent memory— all challenges when it comes to making a difference.

For modern nonprofits, these challenges are far from insurmountable. With the right tools in your tech stack, you can improve relationship-building, fundraising, and internal operations. That’s where this guide comes into the picture!

At DNL OmniMedia, we help nonprofits discover and implement the software solutions necessary to reach their fundraising, stewardship, and advocacy goals. We’re going to cover five modern tools that your team can implement for more effective fundraising in 2021 and beyond:

  • Mobile Apps
  • Volunteer Management Software
  • Virtual Events Software
  • Grant Management Software
  • Time-Tracking Software

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that incorporating any new technology into your operations requires a careful evaluation and adjustment of your strategy as a whole. This is to ensure that all of your tools— existing and newly added— work cohesively together to reach your nonprofit’s fundraising and advocacy goals.

Nonprofit digital strategy isn’t the topic of this post, so we’re not going to dive into the details here. But, you can check out the DNL OmniMedia guide to building a nonprofit digital strategy to make sure you’re incorporating new tools intentionally and according to an effective strategic plan.

With that, let’s explore a few modern tools that can improve your nonprofit’s tech stack.

Mobile Apps

Think about the ways in which you interact with the outside world, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Browsing the internet, connecting via social media, and even video chatting— all of these methods of connecting are now handled through mobile phones.

At this point, 96% of Americans own a mobile phone, and 81% of Americans own a smartphone. It makes sense that interactions with the nonprofit sector are moving toward mobile accessibility as well! The following graphic from this guide about nonprofit apps shows a few interesting statistics about people’s interactions with mobile phones:

In particular, we want to highlight that 1 in 4 donors use smartphones to discover new nonprofits. If you’re not interacting with supporters on their mobile phones, you may be missing out!

Nonprofit mobile apps are an impactful tool that can be used to improve your tech stack, opening a new frontier of donor, volunteer, and advocate interactions. There are a variety of apps created specifically for nonprofits, including:

  • Peer-to-peer fundraising apps
  • Advocacy apps
  • Crowdfunding apps
  • Auction apps
  • Board management apps
  • Member management apps
  • Volunteer management apps

Beyond providing another outlet for engagement, mobile apps also empower you to connect with supporters who you may not have otherwise. After all, 1 in 5 Americans is a smartphone-only internet user— this means that the only way you’re going to connect with them on the internet is through their mobile phones!

Volunteer Management Software

Effective volunteer management is crucial to continue growing your volunteer program over time. However, with an increased need for volunteer assistance and a community that’s more physically distant than ever, an analog method of volunteer management won’t cut it anymore.

This is where volunteer management software comes into play. With this, you can automate key management tasks and connect with supporters near and far.

To choose an effective volunteer management software solution, seek features such as:

  • Intuitive interface for self-scheduling
  • Effective data management and custom reports
  • On-site check-in to manage in-person volunteers
  • Marketing tools such as social media sharing
  • Communication tools such as SMS messaging

But, how can you find the perfect volunteer management software for your organization? Prioritizing user-friendliness, scalability, and software support are great tips to start. For more tips to help find your perfect VMS solution, check out this blog post.

Virtual Events Software

This year has brought with it many challenges for the nonprofit sector. Some challenges, such as the economic downturn, can’t be overcome with technology alone. However, there is one challenge that you can solve with the incorporation of new software— the mass cancellation of events.

With the right virtual events software, you can get creative with online events to avoid canceling key fundraisers. There are a few different forms this could take:

  • Virtual Auction Software: With the right auction software, you can list items, live stream the auction event, collect bids, and facilitate guest checkout.
  • Virtual Conference Software: Conferences are exhaustive events, virtual or not. A dedicated virtual conference software is key to manage the many panels, speakers, and networking activities included in this type of experience.
  • Social Networks: Did you know that Facebook can be used to host virtual events? With the platform’s live-streaming and live donate tools, you can stream an experience and collect donations for the duration.
  • Video Conferencing Software: For simpler events, you may be able to utilize video conferencing software (such as Zoom) to conduct your experience. This would need to be partnered with an effective online donation tool for fundraising events.

The use of virtual events is hardly new— in fact, national nonprofits have been using virtual means to conduct their peer-to-peer fundraising events for quite some time now. However, the expansion of virtual events for the primary method of gathering together is unique to 2020. We recommend exploring the many possibilities for virtual fundraising events as you begin planning your 2021 calendar. To get started, check out this comprehensive GoodUnited guide!

Grant Management Software

This year, many nonprofits discovered the value of diversifying their revenue streams to combat the financial challenges caused by COVID-19. For some, pursuing grant funding was the key to staying afloat during the crisis. However, there’s no denying that grants are challenging to secure— even during times of economic prosperity.

Grant management software can be a game-changer when it comes to giving your proposals a competitive advantage. This software is created to help your team effectively manage grants from start to finish, or from the initial search and application process through the final implementation tasks.

Of course, not every grant management software solution is equal. We recommend seeking features such as:

  • Integrations with key databases, such as your nonprofit’s CRM
  • Multi-user access for team collaboration
  • Accounting and reporting capabilities for transparency
  • Grant tracking calendar to monitor progress and upcoming deadlines
  • Project management features to keep your team on track

Grant management is a highly customized process. Not only will each nonprofit have its own strategy, but each grant will as well! This is why we recommend working with a nonprofit consultant to create your grant management strategy. These partners can review your nonprofit’s fundraising strategy holistically to effectively incorporate grants. Then, they can help you customize your management software to carry out the most effective and efficient plan.

Time-Tracking Software

Last, but certainly not least, is a technology that’s already popular in the for-profit sector: time-tracking software.

Essentially, this is software that tracks your staff’s time to better understand the work they do on a day-to-day basis. But, why should your nonprofit start tracking time? Here are a few benefits it can provide:

  • Improved Staffing: You’ll understand exactly what your staff is spending time on and where you need to increase (or decrease!) time for various activities to make efficient use of your paid employees.
  • Increased Funding: You can be more transparent with funders and tell them exactly what their donations will go toward. This can be invaluable to raise future donations.
  • Simplified Audits: Audits are a common pain point for nonprofits when they are required to report on their expenses as they relate to specific programs. Time tracking handles some of that lift ahead of time, rather than collecting this information retroactively.
  • Better Program Management: You will understand the tasks that go into different programs and the overall cost of those programs. With this, you can better plan for future programming.

Additionally, these benefits extend beyond your staff as you can track volunteer time as well! By doing so, you can provide rewards to volunteers that have given a certain number of hours. And, you can use that data to fulfill potential volunteer grant requirements.


In summary, new nonprofit technology can drastically improve your nonprofit’s operations— from supporter engagement, to events capabilities, to internal operations. Technology can be a game-changer when it comes to reaching your nonprofit’s greatest goals. However, it’s not as simple as purchasing a new software license.

To truly have success with the platforms described above and other nonprofit tech solutions, consider working with a nonprofit tech consultant (such as the team at DNL OmniMedia!). This partner will ensure you have a holistic strategy to reach your goals, for which all of your solutions must work in tandem.


About the Author: Carl Diesing

Carl co-founded DNL OmniMedia in 2006 and has grown the team to accommodate clients with on-going web development projects. Together DNL OmniMedia has worked with over 100 organizations to assist them with accomplishing their online goals. As Managing Director of DNL OmniMedia, Carl works with nonprofits and their technology to foster fundraising, create awareness, cure disease, and solve social issues. Carl lives in the Hudson Valley with his wife Sarah and their two children Charlie and Evelyn.

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3 Steps to Begin Planning Your Capital Campaign

Capital campaigns are intensive, game-changing undertakings for nonprofit organizations. These major campaigns raise significant amounts of funding for specific expansion projects, like constructing new facilities, investing in new equipment, or creating an endowment fund. As major investments in your organization’s ability to grow, these campaigns require tons of strategic planning to be pulled off successfully.

At the Capital Campaign Toolkit, we believe that planning is doing. Simply put, this means that the early planning stage of your campaign should accomplish more than just outlining the steps you’ll follow later. Instead, effective capital campaign planning should be a more active process, one that begins engaging the board members and key donors who’ll be integral to your overall success.

Let’s discuss three steps you can take now—before outlining specific fundraising tasks, writing letters to donors, or diving into the world of virtual galas—to give your capital campaign a strong footing from the get-go.

The first three steps you should take when planning your campaign are:

  1. Clearly define your campaign’s purpose.
  2. Plan with a focus on your top donors from the start.
  3. Actively speak with your key donors.

We’ve helped equip countless nonprofit development teams with all of the tools and support they need to conduct a successful capital campaign, and we’ve found that one of the best ways to set up any campaign for success is to make the most of the planning process. Let’s dive in.

1. Clearly define your campaign’s purpose.

Capital campaigns aren’t dreamt up in a day. They’re massive fundraising efforts that go above and beyond any other campaign, far surpassing your annual fund in dollars raised.

Capital campaigns are driven by a very specific need or project that require an infusion of resources to build capacity. The identification of those needs often grows out of a strategic or long-range plan that spells out what it will take for the organization to reach the next level of operation. 

This means that the first step in planning your capital campaign should be to specifically define what you’re raising funds for. To convince people to rally behind your organization and give generous contributions, you must clearly articulate why you’re seeking their support and what difference their support will make. The purpose of a capital campaign will be composed of two parts:

  • Objective: This is what you’re raising funds for. So, for a nonprofit organization that provides after-school programming for students, this might be constructing a new gym or art room.
  • Goal: This is the specific financial amount you need to raise in order to complete your objective, like raising $10 million to construct the new gym.

When setting this goal, work with your board from the start. This early collaboration serves two purposes:

  1. It builds excitement across your board and obtains their buy-in to the process, getting them invested in the campaign and ready to contribute when the time comes.
  2. It gives you additional perspectives to consider, allowing you to set an objective and goal that’s informed by your board’s knowledge of your nonprofit and current fundraising capacity.

Of course, your board will need to approve any major fundraising efforts and campaign spending anyway, so don’t overlook this step. Take this first task a step further by asking your board to assist with crafting your case for support or case statement—a document that clearly communicates why you’re raising funds, how you’re going to use those funds to meet your objective, and why prospective donors should give. 

When developing a case statement, we recommend conducting a “Features and Benefits” exercise with your board to discover the features of your campaign (what your campaign will fund) and the benefits of each feature. For example, a soup kitchen raising funds to build a new eating hall would list their new building as a key feature of their campaign. Its benefits would be the many more constituents that the organization would be able to feed. 

Working with your board members in the early planning phase of your campaign will build the trust you will need for them to approve the campaign. So be sure to give them an active hand in shaping your campaign and laying the groundwork for a powerful case for support. Here are some tips to help you improve communications with your board.

2. Plan with a focus on your top donors from the start.

Once you’ve identified what you want to accomplish with your campaign—your objective and working goal—then you can begin planning with a focus on your top donors.

Capital campaigns are top-heavy by nature. You should plan to raise at least half of your total campaign gifts from the top 10 donations during the initial quiet phase of your campaign. Keep this in mind from the start of your campaign and begin identifying who those key donors are once your plans start taking shape.

The standard way to keep your efforts donor-centric is to anchor your plan with a gift range chart. This guiding document will be an invaluable resource throughout the entire duration of your campaign. When examining prospects in your donor database and beyond to identify potential contributors, consider the following:

  • Who has the financial capacity to make multi-thousand to million-dollar gifts?
  • Who has a strong existing relationship with your organization and cause?

Focus the majority of your cultivation and solicitation efforts on donors with this winning combination of capacity and inclination to give.

A quick tip to make sure you’re planning with a spotlight on these critical supporters: Block out at least two hours per week during your campaign to personally meet with or talk with major donor prospects.  

This doesn’t mean that you’re going to solicit gifts each week but rather that you’ll plan from the start to intentionally focus on building relationships with your top donors. That will generate buy-in from prospects and strengthen their attachment to your cause. Successfully soliciting a large gift takes time and persistence.

3. Actively speak with your key donors.

You’ve planned to meet with prospects for at least two hours each week—excellent! Begin these conversations with your key donors by interviewing them as part of your feasibility study. 

A feasibility study is an important early step in any capital campaign, and it involves discussing your plans with key stakeholders to gauge their thoughts on your goals and interest in potentially giving. If feasibility studies are a new concept for your organization, check out our complete guide for an overview.

An effective feasibility study will aim to answer a few key questions. Do your key stakeholders and prospects believe your nonprofit is prepared for a campaign of this magnitude? Do they have advice that you can use to drive your campaign to success? These answers will be extremely useful for shaping your strategies as your campaign plans come into sharper focus.

If you’ve encountered feasibility studies before, you might think that nonprofits should only ever bring in third-party consultants to conduct them. However, we encourage you to consider speaking with your key donors yourself.

Remember, planning is doing. While a feasibility study is seen as part of the broader planning phase of your campaign, these conversations are invaluable opportunities for you to begin actively building relationships with the donors who could potentially make or break your success. Don’t wait to start building and strengthening those relationships!

Ask your prospects and stakeholders overarching questions about what they think of your organization, leadership, and case for support. This will give you insight into your campaign’s feasibility, as well as signal to the donor that you value their views. You may find that they believe that you’re well prepared, or you may find that they believe you need to hit the books to better prepare for the endeavor. Either way, seeking their advice will let them know that you respect and value their perspectives.

After you’ve already introduced your campaign and gauged their interest, take this opportunity to begin directly asking prospects about potential involvement. Try questions like:

  • Among your philanthropic priorities, where is our organization?
  • Do you see yourself making a gift to the campaign when the time is right? 
  • Would you consider volunteering for the campaign

With these questions, you can better understand your prospects’ expectations of your campaign and their involvement in it. These insights will immediately benefit your cultivation efforts, helping you quickly get a sense of where to focus attention. You may even secure early gift commitments from your most dedicated supporters!

Feasibility studies are a critical part of any capital campaign, but don’t assume that the entire process will have to be completely out of your hands. These interviews and discussions are your first major chance to begin developing the relationships that will drive your campaign to success, so take an active approach. There are resources available (such as our Guided Feasibility Study) to help your team select donors, train to conduct the interviews, and prepare reports for your board.


Planning a capital campaign is a months-long process. After all, you’re raising more funds than your nonprofit likely ever has before and mapping out years of stewardship and fundraising strategies to reach what is often a multi-million-dollar goal.
However, you don’t have to wait until the planning process is complete to begin acting on those plans. By taking an active, intentional approach and collaborating with key stakeholders early, you can begin building valuable relationships that will fuel your campaign down the line. Wishing you a hugely successful campaign!


About the Author: Andrea Kihlstedt

Andrea Kihlstedt, Campaign Expert & Co-Founder, is the author of Capital Campaigns: Strategies that Work, now in its 4th edition, as well as How to Raise $1 Million (or More) in 10 Bite Sized Steps, in addition to several other fundraising books. She has been leading successful capital campaigns for over 30 years.

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4 Tools to Boost Your Next Crowdfunding Campaign

In the midst of a global pandemic, it’s easy to get discouraged. Most of the world is stuck at home, and organizations are struggling to engage prospects and secure sufficient funding while keeping a safe social distance. Many donors are facing major economic hardship due to staff furloughs and for many nonprofits, the future is wildly uncertain.

If one thing’s for sure, it’s that nonprofits have to get creative if they want to keep serving their communities and successfully come out of the other side of this pandemic. After all, what sets successful nonprofit professionals apart is their determination in the face of adversity.

Crowdfunding is one of the most popular ways to reach today’s donors, and for good reason! These campaigns allow prospects to continue giving to your cause from the comfort of their own homes without putting their health at risk. Crowdfunding offers organizations like yours refuge in economically uncertain times, but only if you take the vital steps to set your campaign up for success.

As you ramp up planning for your next crowdfunding campaign, take every step possible to make the most of your fundraiser. Incorporate these four tools to take your efforts to the next level:

  1. An Effective Platform
  2. Photos and Videos
  3. Social Media
  4. Matching Gift Tools

It’s natural to feel hesitant about launching a fundraiser during the pandemic. After all, you don’t want to seem insensitive to supporters who may be facing tough financial circumstances right now. But crowdfunding can offer much-needed economic stability in challenging times. Many prospects are willing to step up to the plate; you just have to ask. 

Let’s dive into the top four tools that will help your crowdfunding campaign reach (and hopefully succeed!) its fundraising goals.

Crowdfunding Tool #1: An Effective Platform

A vital first step to any crowdfunding campaign is to select a platform. Otherwise, you won’t be able to share your story, promote the fundraiser, and collect supporters’ generous donations.

Not all fundraising platforms are created equal. If you want to maximize your revenue, you need to take the time to locate a crowdfunding website that suits your organization’s needs and is backed by sufficient tools. As you explore your options, encourage your team to keep an eye peeled for these core features:

  • Customization and visual appeal. Ensure your platform enables you to add your personal story and customize the visual appearance of your crowdfunding page. You should be able to incorporate your nonprofit’s color scheme, logo, and other familiar branding elements in order to make your campaign appear trustworthy to donors.
  • Mobile accessibility. Setting your campaign up for success means making it available to as many prospects as possible. With an ever-growing dependence on mobile technology, this means ensuring that your campaign is available on mobile devices. That way, anyone can absorb your story and donate when motivation strikes — no matter if they’re using a computer, tablet, or smartphone.
  • Secure payment processing. Ensure your platform comes equipped with safe payment processing tools. Otherwise, you risk deterring donors if the platform appears untrustworthy. You should be able to access your account and immediately accept donations. Be wary of how long the processing period is as well. Ideally, you should be able to withdraw donations within a week.

While there are plenty of features that can increase success, these three serve as a fantastic foundation for kickstarting your search. Once you’re equipped with a sufficient platform, you’ll be able to move forward with planning and executing your campaign.

Crowdfunding Tool #2: Photos and Videos

Multimedia has the power to supercharge your crowdfunding campaigns by helping prospects connect to your cause. In fact, research has found that campaigns with personal videos raise 105% more than those without them. This is because it adds a relatable face to your cause and keeps users on your campaign page for longer, ultimately leading them to donate. 

Effective videos and images get prospects invested in your campaign because they can physically see what they’re financing, rather than just reading about their potential impact. 

When creating your promotional materials, develop high-quality images and videos that resonate with prospects by keeping these two tips in mind:

  • Tell a story. Images and videos put your organization in a unique position to tell its story beyond what words can. Visual storytelling has the power to connect with prospects on an emotional level and motivate them to donate, so put a face to your campaign by sharing videos and pictures from your staff, board members, volunteers, and those impacted by your work.
  • Get the video length right. Go for short and impactful. As a general rule of thumb, keep your videos around 2.5 to 3 minutes. With short attention spans and plenty of other information to distract users, people tend to lose attentiveness and click away, so this provides enough time to get your message across without losing their interest. 

Fundly’s guide to crowdfunding explains that a crowdfunding campaign can’t survive on just words alone. You should create a schedule and post an image or video to social media and other marketing outlets either once a week or every few days. 

Making consistent, repeated asks in a multimedia manner helps to bring your cause to life, which can push prospects who are on the fence toward donating to your cause. Take sufficient time selecting emotionally-charged photos and creating impactful videos that accurately depict your cause. In the end, this extra effort will show in your campaign results.

Crowdfunding Tool #3: Social Media

Social media’s impact on the nonprofit community is undeniable, and crowdfunding is a prime example of its potential. In fact, the majority of crowdfunding donations tend to come from social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, so you’ll need to take the time to develop a comprehensive social media strategy in order to connect with your younger generation of supporters.

As described in Crowd101’s guide to crowdfunding, you can harness the power of social media by incorporating the following tips:

  • Embed your campaign directly onto your social media posts. The more convenient it is to donate, the more donations your campaign will receive. Embedding your campaign simplifies the donation process for anyone who stumbles across your profiles, so ensure your platform offers integrations like this.
  • Update multiple social media pages. Sharing your campaign across multiple platforms increases its visibility. While it’s time-consuming to send social media blasts manually, some platforms empower you to automatically update every platform at once or schedule posts for the future.

What’s more, you should encourage followers to share your campaign online, even if they’re unable to donate themselves. Social shares ultimately expand your crowdfunding campaign’s visibility by getting it in front of more prospects. Plus, this allows those who are unable to give to contribute to your campaign and feel like they’re making a difference.

Overall, you’ll want to develop your social media strategy and solidify a schedule before launching your campaign so you know exactly what needs to be posted and when. In turn, you’ll maximize your social impressions and donations.

Crowdfunding Tool #4: Matching Gift Tools

For nonprofits, matching gifts represent an incredible source of untapped potential. In fact, matching gift research indicates that 84% of donors are more likely to donate if their employer offers one of these programs. Plus, 1 in 3 surveyed donors indicates a propensity to make a larger gift if matching will be applied. 

In other words, these programs have the power to substantially boost your fundraising efforts, so long as you take the time to effectively promote them.

That being said, it’s a smart move to incorporate matching gifts into your campaign materials. First, iterate the availability of these programs, spelling out what they are and how they work. Then, take it a step further by telling them how to research their eligibility. Your best bet is to share access to a matching gift database where they can easily type in their employers’ names and be greeted with all available information regarding their program (e.g. eligibility requirements, forms, etc.).

Be sure to share this information in your announcement posts and your follow-up messaging to make as many people aware as possible. When donors have the potential to multiply their contributions without reaching back into their pockets, they’re very likely to do so. By making donors aware of these opportunities, you’ll increase the chance that you’ll get this bonus funding from your supporters (and maybe some initial donations that you wouldn’t otherwise receive).


So long as you devote sufficient time and effort, crowdfunding campaigns have the potential to substantially increase your funds and maximize your reach online. Not only do these campaigns enable you to engage your community in times of crisis, but they’re also highly effective for reaching larger audiences under normal circumstances.

In any case, make sure you start with an effective crowdfunding platform that prioritizes the donor experience and makes it easy to fully customize your campaign. Then, expand your efforts to adhere to best practices, such as incorporating multimedia, sharing your campaign on social media, and promoting matching gifts. In turn, you’ll create a highly-impactful campaign that stands out to supporters and garners donations. Good luck! 


About the Author: Lomesh Shah

As CEO of Fundly, Lomesh spends much of his time immersed in the nonprofit industry both as an industry leader, speaker, and in service to several organizations as a board member and volunteer. Outside of the industry, Lomesh is a technology junkie and will give anyone willing to listen an assessment of the latest trends in anything from espresso makers and mobile gadgets to electric cars and wind power.

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