Fundraising

Capital Campaign Marketing 101: Crash Course for Nonprofits

Andrea Kihlstedt

Every ten years or so, organizations often find themselves needing to make significant investments that allow them to grow their fundraising capacity and operate more effectively. Especially amid today’s challenges, the ability to serve more constituents and reliably raise support efficiently could be game-changing for your nonprofit’s mission.

For many nonprofits, capital campaigns are the answer. These major undertakings are complex, intensive, and high-stakes, but the payoff from a well-planned and -executed capital campaign can be immense.

One of the most critical aspects of capital campaigns is relationship-building. Connecting with donors, volunteers, and partners in meaningful ways is essential for success at every stage of your campaign. This means that communication, messaging, and marketing have extremely important roles to play at different points in your strategy.

For instance, once you’ve completed a capital campaign feasibility study and have outlined concrete plans, you’ll need to spend the majority of your campaign focusing heavily on personalized outreach to your prospective major donors. However, broader marketing strategies will be essential in the later kickoff and public stages of your campaign. 

If your organization has never conducted a capital campaign before, it can be difficult to know exactly how these marketing strategies should differ from your typical approach when promoting fundraising campaigns and events. We’ve got you covered with this crash course. We’ll discuss these essentials:

  • The Team
  • The Timeline
  • The Materials
  • The Tools

For the best results (and fewest headaches), these elements all need careful attention long before your campaign reaches its public stage. Having a clear understanding of what you’ll need ahead of time will help ensure you’re ready to connect with your broader community and show them how their help will take your campaign over the finish line.

The Team

As you get started planning a campaign, go ahead and form a dedicated marketing committee. This team should consist of board members, staff, and volunteers. Although many of your broader marketing efforts won’t come into play until the last stages of your campaign, your team will need ample time to prepare. 

Clearly designate what this committee’s responsibilities will be, and delegate tasks to specific individuals whenever possible. Outline in advance the different points at which they’ll need to work closely with other campaign teams, like getting sign-off from the steering committee on major strategic decisions or collaborating with the kickoff committee to promote your virtual kickoff event. 

With these guidelines in place, you’ll then need to actively prepare and equip your marketing team with the right tools and strategies for the job. For example, consider these core areas where they’ll need initial guidance and support:

  • Templates and style guides. We’ll walk through specific types of marketing materials you’ll need below, but it pays to put some thought into them early in the process. This gives you plenty of time to refine the templates, visual branding, and core messaging of your public phase marketing long before it’s time to roll them out.
  • Tech guidance. Make sure your marketing team is familiar with the different tools they’ll need to promote your campaign effectively. For instance, does everyone (or at least one point person) know how to create segmented mailing lists in your CRM? Think about the tech-related tasks on their plate and provide training and documentation as needed.
  • Meeting etiquette and cadences. How exactly will your different teams and committees interact? Set some standards early about meeting etiquette, drafting agendas, and follow-up processes. Then, clearly document and communicate these protocols to your various teams to start them off on the right foot.

Capital campaigns are complicated and long (often lasting upwards of two years), so it definitely pays to take an organized approach. Although many of your marketing efforts won’t ramp up until your campaign’s later phases, your marketing team will still need time to refine their strategies and prepare relevant materials. Give them a head start by clearly outlining their responsibilities and providing additional guidance! 

The Timeline

With your marketing committee formed and initial guidelines and responsibilities in place, you’ll then need to ensure they actually understand the bigger picture of your campaign. 

If this is your organization’s first capital campaign, it’ll be useful to start with the basics. This Capital Campaign Toolkit guide walks through the seven core phases of successful campaigns:

  1. Pre-campaign planning
  2. The feasibility study
  3. Campaign planning
  4. The quiet phase
  5. Kick-off 
  6. The public phase
  7. Post-campaign activities

Once everyone has a solid grasp on the overall trajectory of your campaign and its timeline, it’ll be helpful to put some thought into the exact roles that each committee or team will play during the different stages. For your marketing team, these roles might be broken down like this:

  • Planning Phase – Preparing marketing materials and outlining marketing strategies
  • Public Phase – Creating and sharing relevant materials needed for discussions with prospects, including the campaign’s website or project renderings
  • Kick-Off – Promoting your campaign’s kick-off festivities to a broader audience of smaller donors and the community as a whole
  • Public Phase – Using the prepared materials to market your campaign to the entire community using social media, email, your website, and any other relevant outlets that are part of your overarching digital strategy

This is a fairly basic example, but the main idea is that more preparation and clearly outlined guidance are always better than less. Try taking an extremely detailed approach, listing out the specific activities, milestones, and KPI goals that need to be accomplished at each stage. This level of detail will give your marketing team solid footing and a concrete plan of action to continually refer to and refine as needed.

The Materials

As mentioned above, you’ll need a wide variety of marketing materials ready to roll out at different stages of your capital campaign. Preparing many of them in advance is definitely a smart move and can prevent backlogs and logistical confusion between teams once the campaign is fully underway.  

Common types of marketing collateral that you’ll need during a capital campaign include:

  • A case for support document. While your actual case for support is a much broader concept than a single brochure, having a visually-appealing document that distills your argument into its essentials can be very helpful. This Capital Campaign Toolkit overview walks through the critical questions that your own case for support must answer before it can be translated into a brochure or packet. 
  • Campaign logo and style guide. Your capital campaign will likely have its own unique brand and theme separate from your nonprofit’s main brand. Start gathering these resources and guidelines in one central location for easy reference during the campaign.
  • Donor discussion guide. This resource likely won’t be donor-facing, but giving your development team an organized document that details your campaign’s case for support, goals, and relevant contextual details can be invaluable during their conversations with prospects.
  • Renderings and other design collateral. If your capital campaign is funding a physical project, like a new building or renovations, professional renderings will show your prospects and the broader community exactly what their support is going towards.
  • A dedicated campaign website. Create a microsite (or even just a dedicated page on your main website) to host all relevant materials for your capital campaign. This can be an extremely effective way to anchor all of your digital marketing strategies and gives you a central location to point supporters towards during the public phase.
  • Email and social media templates. Having ready-made templates for announcements, event invitations, and fundraising appeals can save your team a ton of time during the broader last stages of your campaign. Create a library of these resources in advance, and be sure to link them to the most appropriate landing pages on your campaign’s site.
  • Training materials for volunteers. Chances are some (if not most) of your team will be working on a capital campaign for the very first time. If you’re recruiting dedicated volunteers to help with any aspects of your campaign, you’ll need to set them up for success. Although not directly related to marketing, you should still take the time to gather or create relevant training materials as needed.

Compiling and creating materials like these before you need them will be a smart move. Take time during the campaign planning process to outline the types of marketing and communication resources that you’ll want, and have your marketing committee start crafting them right away.

Pro tip: It’s a common misconception that capital campaigns need to rely on glossy brochures from the very start. You’ll definitely want to prepare these types of materials in advance to ensure you’ll have them on hand when the time comes. However, don’t start heavily using them until the later stages of your campaign. Your conversations with prospective major donors should be highly personal and one-on-one, not handled by a brochure alone!

The Tools

We’ve already touched on the importance of technology and web design for modern capital campaigns, but it’s worth diving into more deeply. In today’s digital age, a variety of tech tools are needed for effectively marketing a capital campaign during its public phase. These include:

  • A dedicated website builder tool, also called a content management system (CMS). Your organization likely already uses a professional-grade CMS to manage its main website, so see how easily you can create new campaign pages or microsites.
  • A database or constituent relationship management (CRM) platform to receive incoming engagement data and generate segmented mailing lists. Your database will also be an essential tool for your development or fundraising team, so make sure it’s in good shape before the campaign begins.
  • Email design and scheduling tools for streamlining your email marketing efforts. Free platforms like Mailchimp are a popular choice for smaller organizations, but your CRM may also include built-in email tools.
  • Social media profiles to promote your campaign to the public and direct readers towards your campaign’s main page or site. If you don’t yet have dedicated profiles for your nonprofit on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, now is the time to set them up!
  • Design software for creating digital and physical marketing materials. The Adobe suite of design tools is a reliable choice, but there are other free options online that may work for your organization, as well.
  • Google Grants for free advertising to promote your mission and campaign. Just be sure to study up on these opportunities and then apply for them well in advance of your campaign’s public phase.

Even beyond marketing tools, you’ll need to ensure your nonprofit is well-equipped to handle various aspects of your capital campaign in an organized way. For example, explore prospect research tools and volunteer management software if you don’t yet have reliable systems in place. 

Revenue-boosting tools like corporate philanthropy databases can be a great idea as well! The right options can help you secure matching gifts for individual donations and volunteered time, laying the foundation for larger corporate sponsorships in the future. Plus, you may even choose to promote matching gift opportunities as part of your public phase marketing. In that case, giving donors an easy way to check their eligibility will be essential.

Although broad marketing efforts won’t come into play until the later stages of your capital campaign, it definitely pays to be prepared. An organized team, coherent timeline, library of marketing collateral, and the right tools for the job will all be critical pieces of the puzzle when it’s time to start spreading the word about your campaign to the larger community.

Step-by-Step Campaign Checklist & Guide

This intuitive guide breaks down each step of your campaign, and the timeline allows you to visualize your whole campaign from start to finish! Download this free campaign checklist now!

Amy Eisenstein, ACFRE, and Andrea Kihlstedt are co-founders of the Capital Campaign Toolkit, a virtual support system for nonprofit leaders to run successful campaigns. The Toolkit provides all the tools, templates, and guidance you need — without breaking the bank.

About the Author: Andrea Kihlstedt

Andrea Kihlstedt is a Co-Founder of the Capital Campaign Toolkit.  She 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 other books. Andrea has been leading successful capital campaigns for more than 30 years. To learn how the Capital Campaign Toolkit can support you through a capital campaign, visit capitalcampaigntoolkit.com. 

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Boosting Online Conversions: Tips for a Donor-Centric Site

Guest Blogger

At the same time that in-person fundraising efforts were put on hold, the need for donations grew. Further, as new generations gain giving power, online giving and digital connection are becoming key outlets for supporting nonprofits. Because of this, your nonprofit’s website has stepped into the limelight as a primary channel for collecting donations. 

This is where the conversion rate of your website comes into play. Conversion rate describes the percentage of website visitors who complete a desired action, whether making a donation, signing up for an email list, or another type of online engagement. To optimize your site and bring in more donations, it’s important to track and understand how certain elements of your website can impact your conversion rate.

In one 2019 study, only .17% of website visitors made donations. If your nonprofit’s website conversions stayed at this less-than-one-percent rate in 2020, you may have felt the impact on your bottom line.

However, there are a few impactful changes that you can make to your website to create a stronger donor experience and boost conversions. We’re going to cover these updates in the following categories:

  • Design Elements
  • Call-to-Action (CTA) Strategies
  • Technical Streamlining

At Cornershop Creative, we’re experts in nonprofit web design and development. While working with organizations just like yours, we’ve seen the difference that effective design can have on conversion rates and nonprofits’ abilities to grow their missions over time. Let’s dive in.

Design Elements

A bland, dated website will do little to motivate site visitors to donate to your cause. As you can see in this Cornershop Creative guide to the best nonprofit websites, your site’s overall design should be fresh, attractive, and motivating to inspire site visitors to give.

Balance informational copy with visually appealing elements, such as impactful imagery of donations at work, video testimonials of volunteers, modern typography, and subtle animation. This will draw users in, keep your nonprofit’s “big picture” mission front-and-center, and push them closer to conversion. But, be mindful not to overdo it, as you don’t want to overwhelm users and distract from the rich informational content about your cause.

Beyond being attractive and motivating, the overall design of your website should be straightforward and simple to follow. Your website’s main navigation menu should follow an intuitive content hierarchy, ensuring donors can find the most pressing pages (such as your donation form) with ease. 

Last, but certainly not least, all of your site elements should be mobile responsive. This means that regardless of the screen size (mobile phone, tablet, desktop monitor), the page elements should adapt to be clearly displayed. This doesn’t mean simply resizing to fit smaller screens but actively transforming. For example, less essential elements (such as a sidebar navigation menu) may be disabled altogether on smaller screens to preserve space for more essential elements.

Designing an effective donation form

Beyond the design of your website overall, we’d be remiss if we didn’t discuss the actual form through which your site visitors donate— your online donation form. This form needs to balance the needs of your organization and its donors, collecting the right amount of information without creating an inconvenient giving process.

The design of your donation form should prioritize user experience (UX), providing both a streamlined and secure giving experience. Follow these best practices:

  • Set suggested donation amounts. Determine your average online donation amount and use that information to provide convenient suggestions to web donors. Use a tiered model to set suggested amounts. So, if your average donation is $25:
    • One tier that’s slightly lower, at $20.
    • One tier that’s slightly higher, at $30.
    • One tier that’s even higher, but still reasonable based on the data you’ve gathered, at $50.
    • One tier that’s well above average, at $100, with the goal of encouraging donors to give more than they would normally.
  • Use multi-step donation forms. Essentially, multi-step forms visually simplify your online donation form by breaking the process out into click-through stages. It’s a more sleek, modern design and asks donors to answer one to two questions per step, rather than including multiple questions on a single form page. Check out the example below to see what we mean:
  • Directly embed the donation form. Linking donors out to a third-party page to process their donation can lead to distrust in your online giving procedures. Just as you want your donation form to be integrated with your donor database for easy access to data, your supporters want to give to your organization directly on your website.
  • Streamline donation information. One in four donors gives via a mobile device. Streamline the giving process for smartphone and desktop supporters alike by limiting the number of fields required on your donation form, prioritizing essential contact and payment information.

And, if you’re unsure of whether you’ve designed an effective form, A/B test your donation page. A/B testing involves providing two different versions of your form to online donors and seeing which has the more positive response. You can test and fine-tune elements like:

  • The wording of your fundraising ask
  • Suggested donation amounts
  • Number of required fields
  • Images or other visuals included
  • Multi-step form or one-page form

But remember, you should only alter one element at a time to understand which elements are truly having an impact. If you’re changing more than one, it will be challenging to discern which is the deciding factor for donors.

Call-to-Action (CTA) Strategies

CTAs, or calls-to-action, are elements that encourage visitors to take a specific action, such as making a donation, signing up for volunteer opportunities, or contacting their local political representatives. In the case of increasing online donations, the goal of your CTAs is to encourage donors to give and give them a clear way to do so (like by linking directly to your donation form).

CTAs should be clear, concise, and attention-grabbing. Here are a few strategies we’ve found that can shine a clear spotlight on your giving opportunities:

  • Eye-catching donation buttons. Donors should always be a click away from giving opportunities on your website. Across your website, such as on your homepage, blog, and About Us page, include bold “Donate Now!” buttons. 
  • Lightboxes. A lightbox is an attention-grabbing pop-up that greets web visitors once they take a specific step on your website, such as navigating to your homepage or submitting a donation. These boxes should be visually appealing, use impactful imagery, and present straightforward next steps. Consider this CTA strategy on your homepage to direct prospective donors to your giving form, and on your donation page after a gift has been secured to encourage upgrading to a recurring gift. Check out the example below, pulled from Cornershop Creative’s guide to digital fundraising:

This lightbox stands out due to a few best practices, including an eye-catching, vibrant image and straightforward next steps.

  • Links in multichannel communications. Whether you’re using social media, email, texting, or even direct mail to reach supporters, include links (or printed URLs) directing them to your website. Note that readers can learn about your nonprofit and make secure donations through the site so that opportunity isn’t overlooked.

Giving through your donation form is the final step for a site visitor— or is it? Securing that first donation is a breeze compared to securing the second one, often referred to as the “Golden Donation.” In fact, only 19% of donors give again after their first gift, but 63% of those who make it to the golden donation continue to give repeatedly over the long run.

Create a donor-centric website with features that engage the donor long after they hit “submit.” Outline clear next steps for your donors to follow post-donation, whether in a lightbox confirmation pop-up or an automated confirmation email. Each of the following tactics can help your website turn a one-time donor into a long-term supporter:

  • Joining your email list to stay in-the-know with upcoming events and campaigns.
  • Upgrading the one-time donation to a sustaining, recurring gift.
  • Telling a friend (through social media) about the gift.
  • Reviewing other engagement opportunities, such as volunteer and advocacy efforts, located on other pages on your site.

Or, you could use this opportunity to deploy one of the strategies for smarter fundraising while working from home— corporate philanthropy. Encourage donors to research their eligibility for matching gift programs in which employers will financially match donations made by employees. Bonus points here if you have a dedicated matching gift database embedded on your website so that donors can search their eligibility with ease!

With CTA language outlining clear next steps post-donation, your website becomes an engagement-generating machine. 

Technical Streamlining

Technical streamlining refers to the behind-the-scenes updates that make your website operate in a more efficient manner. For example, rather than thinking only about the images that site visitors see, you should pay just as much attention to how fast those images load on visitors’ browsers.

Optimize the following technical elements to provide an inclusive, trustworthy, and efficient experience for all of your site’s visitors:

  • Accessibility. Your website should be compliant with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) to ensure that all visitors, regardless of ability, can engage with the site. A few highlights include providing alternative text for multimedia elements, including alt-text in all form fields, and following a logical content hierarchy. These considerations empower site visitors using screen readers to access your site with ease.
  • Security. Your website should have a secure HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) certificate. Most modern web hosts offer a free SSL certificate, but your site should actively enforce SSL— meaning visitors cannot access the insecure version. Additionally, you should work with a payment processor that ensures your data is encrypted and safe. Generally, if you’re working with a third-party, nonprofit-specific provider (think: EveryAction, Blackbaud, SalsaLabs, etc.), then you’re good to go. 
  • Page load speed. Your donors are looking for instantaneous information, not a 10-second wait time for the page to load. Use a tool (like GTMetrix or Google’s PageSpeed Insights) to measure how long your website takes to load and then take direct action to speed up the process. Pay attention to multimedia elements, such as images, to ensure the files are sized optimally for quick loading. Check that your web pages are caching effectively, which can reduce the work for your web host by loading cached versions of static pages. Finally, ensure your web host is prepared for spikes in traffic to your site and able to allocate resources effectively.

Technical streamlining of your website shouldn’t be a one-and-done effort. Conduct ongoing maintenance checks of your site to resolve any small issues before they snowball into big challenges. Something as straightforward as resolving broken links and optimizing design segments can go a long way toward providing a streamlined experience for potential donors. If your organization has an outdated website or you’re unsure of any of the concepts discussed above, you’ll likely benefit from working with a tech professional.

Streamlining the technical aspects of your website can have benefits beyond increasing donation conversions. For example, according to this Charity Engine guide, your website can be an impactful player in your multichannel marketing strategy. However, that’s only if it’s relevant, navigable, and accessible to all.

In conclusion, your website’s design, CTA strategies, and technical elements all play central roles in determining your ability to convert visitors into donors. So, what should your team’s next steps be to give it the best chance of success?

  1. Evaluate your website using these recommendations to discover gaps in its performance.
  2. Do additional research or consider working with a consultant to bring each element of your website up to standard.
  3. Maintain your website over time, rather than conducting annual one-time tune-ups.

Taking a proactive approach to using and maintaining your website will prevent a poor conversion rate from affecting your bottom line. Good luck!

Guest Author: Ira Horowitz

With 15 years’ experience, Ira is an expert in nonprofit online communications and online fundraising. His work has resulted in increased funds and resounding supporter engagement for hundreds of organizations.

Ira oversees our project management team and works with clients to provide our clients with the best possible final product. He also manages all of our strategic engagements and helps guide nonprofits to determine their long-term strategy goals for online communications.

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Youth Group Fundraisers: 4 Simple Ideas to Maximize Success

Guest Blogger

A church youth group is a powerful way for your church’s teens to find mentors, establish self-confidence and social awareness, and become more deeply rooted in their faith. 

To unlock these social, interpersonal, and moral benefits, youth groups can engage in all kinds of activities, from volunteering and Bible studies to purely social gatherings. However, some of the most enriching programming like camps and mission trips can be expensive. 

While some members may be able to pay for these activities with help from their parents, you want to ensure everyone in your group has an equal opportunity to participate regardless of socioeconomic status.

By holding a youth group fundraiser, you can expand opportunities to more teens while also demonstrating the importance of a strong work ethic.

Creating the right fundraising strategy for your youth group may feel challenging, but we’re here to help. At ABC Fundraising, we’ve helped more than 10,000 churches across the country to raise millions of dollars in support of their work. With this experience, we’ve seen firsthand the tactics youth groups are using to fundraise successfully.


Consider one of the following fundraiser recommendations to generate needed revenue for your youth ministry: 

  1. Sell branded merchandise.
  2. Hold a “yard” sale.
  3. Host a 5k or walk-a-thon.
  4. Sell gourmet food items.

By implementing one (or more!) of these ideas, your youth group will be able to secure the necessary funds for your next trip—and have fun while doing so. Let’s dive in. 

1. Sell branded merchandise.

With a branded merchandise fundraiser, you can design an item with your church’s (or youth group’s) own logo. Or, you can customize it even further with a meaningful bible verse or ministry slogan.

The premise is simple: you partner with a vendor to design the item; gather orders from your congregation, community, friends, and family; then place a bulk order with the vendor. You’ll only pay a wholesale price for the product, leaving the difference from the resale as profit for your group. 

A few common examples of branded product fundraisers include:

  • Travel mugs
  • T-shirts
  • Flip flops
  • Keychains
  • Water bottles

And these are just a few ideas—the options are practically endless. For the easiest approach, try to find a vendor that won’t charge you upfront for the products. That way, you’ll only need to pay for what has already been sold, eliminating any financial risk.

One branded product that’s perfect for our current circumstances of social distancing is a custom face mask. To see what this looks like in practice, check out this example from a recent ABC Fundraising custom face mask fundraiser:

In addition to the obvious monetary benefits, a branded product fundraiser is also advantageous because it can raise awareness for your church. Each person who uses or wears your item is essentially providing free advertising!

2. Hold a “yard” sale.

With this fundraising idea, you’ll hold a rummage sale in your church’s parking lot or green space. It doesn’t have to be a conventional yard to make a great yard sale!

To do this, seek donations of gently used items from your community. Some desirable categories include clothing, shoes, books, kitchen items, furniture, or even handmade products like quilts or knitted hats. Many of your members’ families will be glad for the motivation to clear out a crowded attic or disorganized garage space.

Then, once you’ve gathered all the items, pick a sunny weekend day to hold your sale. Try to set the items up in an organized and visually appealing way to make it easier for potential buyers to find interesting items.

As you set prices for the items, keep in mind that the profits are going towards a good cause. In other words, don’t be afraid to charge a little extra than you might normally see at a typical garage sale. Members of your congregation will still be thrilled to find some new treasures while supporting your group.

Finally, be sure to advertise your yard sale far and wide. Promote your sale in your church announcements, on bulletin boards, or on social media. 

Hopefully, you’ll get enough traffic to sell all of your items. If not, you can donate the leftovers to a local thrift store. If you happen to have a surplus of used sneakers at the end of your sale, this guide can help you repurpose running shoes to earn even more money.

3. Host a 5k or walk-a-thon event.

A 5k, walk-a-thon, or similar race event can help your youth group raise funding while promoting a healthy lifestyle. This can be a good fit for youth of all ages and interests, but it works particularly well for teens who have a competitive spirit.

For a charity race like this to be successful, you’ll need active participation and enthusiasm from both participants and supporters. When everyone is on board, you’ll be well-equipped to reach your fundraising goals.

On that note, how do you actually raise money with a race or walk-a-thon? There are two main options:

  1. Charge a registration fee for participating in the race, then put the proceeds towards your youth ministry.
  2. Ask your members to raise pledges in a peer-to-peer style fundraiser. As described in the 99Pledges guide to walk-a-thon fundraisers, Each participant will share the fundraiser with friends and family, asking for donations that correspond with the distance of the race. Once the race is over, you’ll collect the donations.

Either of these options can help you raise the money you need for your next mission trip or other youth group activity. 

If it’s not feasible or safe to hold your race in-person, this fundraiser can easily be made into a virtual event. All of the fundraising elements will be the same, but instead of gathering in one location to run or walk, participants will join from their own neighborhoods and log their progress online. 

4. Sell gourmet food items.

One of the most popular fundraising ideas for churches and youth groups is to sell a tasty food item. Your community members will be able to satisfy their sweet tooth while also helping your group reach its fundraising goal. 

For an upscale approach, consider partnering with a product fundraising provider to sell gourmet food items. A few in-demand ideas include:

  • Popcorn
  • Cookie dough
  • Cheesecake
  • Snack mixes
  • Auntie Anne’s pretzels
  • Chocolate bars

There are many food fundraiser items on the market, so you should be able to find something that aligns with the tastes, preferences, and budget of your congregation. If buyers end up finding a new favorite, they may even beg you to bring the fundraiser back as an annual event!

Alternatively, you can opt for a homemade route and do a traditional bake sale. If you go this way, make sure each product is well-packaged and displays allergen information to keep everyone safe. 

Your youth ministry depends on the generosity of your congregation to run important programming and engage teens. With these fundraising ideas, you’ll have the money you need to cultivate a strong community and give members new opportunities to explore and commit to their faith. Best of luck!

About the author: Debbie Salat

Debbie Salat is the director of fundraising activities and product development at ABC Fundraising(r) – Debbie joined ABC Fundraising(r) in 2010 and is responsible for launching over 6500 fundraising campaigns for schools, churches, youth sports teams and non-profit organizations all across the USA. With over 20 years of fundraising experience, Debbie knows the path to success for fundraisers which she shares with groups on a daily basis so they can achieve their fundraising goals.

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Poor Donation Forms Losing You Revenue? 7 Changes to Make

Guest Blogger

Online donation forms don’t just offer a convenient avenue for donors to support your mission. These pages anchor your nonprofit’s entire online fundraising presence. Donation forms are used in all online fundraising drives, from crowdfunding and peer-to-peer campaigns to annual events like Giving Tuesday. In other words, they’re one of the most utilized points of connection between your nonprofit and your supporters. 

As technological advances and social-distancing restrictions force nonprofits to find ways to connect with supporters using modern tech tools, you can’t afford to have a messy, confusing, or poorly-designed giving page. Streamlining and optimizing your donation forms attracts more supporters to your cause and encourages donors to give more, increasing your online fundraising revenue. 

At Donately, we’ve helped plenty of nonprofits improve their online fundraising strategies using our dedicated donation pages. We’ve identified several improvements to make to your organization’s online giving page, so you can maximize your revenue. To optimize your donation forms, be sure to: 

  1. Share your story.
  2. Optimize your forms for all devices.
  3. Improve user accessibility.
  4. Adhere to your organization’s branding and style guidelines.
  5. Add suggested donation amounts.
  6. Include recurring giving options.
  7. Reassure donors with a secure giving process.

With just a few relatively simple adjustments, your digital donation forms can be transformed to drive your organization’s online fundraising. To help make these adjustments, be sure to start with an online donation platform that makes it easy to create a well-designed donation page, even without any coding experience. Let’s jump right in!

1. Share your story.

The heart of your nonprofit is your mission’s story. Since your donation form is one of the most visible donor-facing aspects of your online fundraising strategy, be sure to share your organization’s story in a concise yet powerful way to appeal to both long-term and casual supporters alike. 

Work with your team to construct a compelling description of your nonprofit’s mission that captures the essence of your organization, commands reader attention, and motivates supporters to give. Place this summary alongside or above your donation form fields to catch readers’ attention as soon as they click your form. 

The best nonprofit donation forms capture the attention of not only dedicated donors and volunteers but also those donors who encounter your site via a peer-to-peer or social media crowdfunding campaign. They might not have as much information on your organization’s purpose and work, so your donation page can be an effective gateway to get more people on board with your cause. 

2. Optimize your forms for all screens. 

These days, supporters aren’t just reaching your nonprofit’s website on their desktop computers. They’re using phones, tablets, and other devices to browse the internet and their social media feeds. In fact, according to Double the Donation’s nonprofit fundraising statistics page, half of last year’s nonprofit website traffic came from people using a mobile device or tablet. 

Therefore, you must take critical steps to optimize your organization’s donation forms with formatting that’s responsive to all digital screens. Plenty of donation page platforms allow you to view how your page will look across desktop, mobile, and tablet screens. Take a look at these different versions to ensure everything looks normal and that the formatting is correct for each screen. 

When you optimize your donation forms for all screens, you’ll improve:

  • Responsiveness. Your donation page will be responsive and automatically adjust to fit mobile, tablet, and laptop screens. This allows you to avoid any frustration from your supporters when they attempt to navigate your donation forms. Otherwise, their frustration could lead to less support for your mission. 
  • Convenience. When donors can quickly give to your cause from their favorite devices, it enhances the convenience of your donation forms and ensures donors won’t abandon the form because they can’t read it or because the formatting is wonky on their device. 
  • Shareability. In addition to donating, you want to make it as easy as possible for supporters to share your donation pages as well. Optimizing donation pages so they can be shared on any screen and any digital platform (such as social media and email) ensures supporters can easily spread the word about your mission.

Today’s donors are increasingly on-the-go and will appreciate being able to support your cause from wherever they are. By taking the necessary steps to optimize your forms, you’ll also ensure you aren’t excluding anyone who wants to give to your organization online, which boosts digital fundraising revenue. 

3. Improve user accessibility.

Not only is it important to improve your donation form’s responsiveness to ensure people using any device can read your page, but it’s also important to improve accessibility all-around. That way, people of any ability can access and use your donation forms. 

Improving the accessibility of your online donation forms and pages ensures your website is inclusive and can be used by everyone. To boost the accessibility of your donation forms and ensure your website complies with the specifications of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), there are a few design improvements you can make right now if you haven’t already:

  • Give the page a clear title, and ensure form fields include proper instructions or labels.
  • Provide alternative text options for any images on your donation page so those using screen readers can understand what’s being displayed.
  • Avoid low-contrast color palettes that make it difficult or impossible for users with visual impairments to interpret your page.
  • Organize your page logically using a hierarchical structure with heading tags.

This is just a brief overview of everything that goes into website and web page accessibility, so be sure to check out DNL OmniMedia’s overview of nonprofit web accessibility for more information. According to the guide, “the single biggest benefit of creating a compliant website is that accessibility and usability go hand in hand.” In the process of creating a more inclusive website, you improve the user experience for all supporters by making your website easier to navigate and interact with. 

The more you focus on inclusiveness and accessibility, the more people will be able to interact with your forms, and the more useful your forms will be for soliciting online donations. 

4. Adhere to your organization’s branding and style guidelines.

Your volunteers and other long-time supporters are already familiar with your organization’s brand specifics such as your logo, font styles, and colors. Use this familiarity to your advantage by designing your online donation page with your nonprofit’s brand guidelines in mind. 

This reassures supporters that their donations are going to the right place. Plus, it creates a uniform, professional page to draw in a wider audience. Casual supporters or people who encounter your site on their social media feeds will be more likely to interact with your donation page if it’s streamlined and polished. 

When creating your donation page, make sure that: 

  • Your page uses the same font styles as your marketing materials or other communications. 
  • Your introductory paragraph includes eye-catching, useful images or graphics that illuminate your mission and use your organization’s brand colors. 
  • Any copy is written in your organization’s tone/voice. 

Paying attention to these details ensures your page is primed to appeal to both long-time supporters and those who randomly encounter your page in the course of their internet browsing. 

To maximize your donation page for online fundraising success, there are a few simple tips and tricks that influence donors to give more. One tip is to add suggested donation amounts to your online form. 

5. Add suggested donation amounts.

According to Donately’s online fundraising guide, including suggested donation amounts within your donation page form fields streamlines the process for donors and boosts fundraising support.  

Without suggested donation amounts, supporters won’t have a good idea of what kinds of donations you’re looking for, which can lead to a wide range of donations that mostly fall on the lower end. It also can discourage supporters from giving in larger amounts. On the other hand, adding a few pre-filled suggestions to your form encourages donors to give in those exact amounts. 

Be sure to also include a custom donation field so you don’t discourage those who can’t give as much right now or those who’d like to make an even larger donation. These small changes to your forms speed up the giving process for donors, encouraging them to stick around and follow through with their donation.

For example, you could allow supporters to choose a donation amount of $25, $50, $250, or $1,000. Here’s what your form could look like (image to the right):

6. Include recurring giving options.

Another way to maximize the impact of your donation page is to make it easy and convenient for donors to sign up for your monthly giving program. Recurring gifts provide your organization with a more reliable revenue stream and give donors more flexibility in how they choose to give to your organization. 

Use your donation form as a jumping-off point to introduce donors to the program and encourage them to get involved. Create a section on your form that allows donors to turn their one-time donation into a monthly, quarterly, or yearly donation. Don’t forget to include a brief description of your monthly donation program, including information on what the donations go toward (whether it’s a specific program, project, or your organization as a whole). 

Be sure to also provide supporters with a way to manage and update their monthly donations themselves to save your staff time and effort. In turn, you’ll strengthen your relationship with supporters by making it as easy as possible for them to deepen their commitment through your monthly giving program. 

7. Reassure donors with a secure giving process.

According to this page of fundraising statistics, 63% of donors in the U.S. and Canada prefer making an online donation using a credit or debit card. That means you must facilitate a secure process for donors to input their payment information and reassure them that their information will remain safe. 

To help in this process, invest in dedicated nonprofit payment processing tools that streamline the process on your end and protect donors’ information. Find a system that:

  • Offers flexible payment processing options.
  • Handles data securely and generates reports for your staff to review.
  • Is simple to start up and operate. 

Your payment processor will protect donors’ credit and debit card information via a payment gateway. Donation processing tools can optimize these donor-facing aspects of your fundraising process to ensure your donation form is equipped to facilitate a greater fundraising effort. 

Don’t let a poor donation form slow down your fundraising efforts. Bring better fundraising practices into this year with an effective donation page that drives revenue to your nonprofit and ultimately enables you to help more people through your organization’s work. And remember, a strong giving form starts with the right technology and a dedicated platform to take your online fundraising efforts to the next level. Good luck!

About the Author: Andrew Berry

Andrew is the head of marketing and customer success for Donately. After getting involved with nonprofits at a young age, he discovered a passion for helping the organizations that are making the world a better place. Knowing how vital online fundraising has become, his goal is to help nonprofits raise more money online each year! In his spare time, you will find him cooking up dinner, playing with his dog or cheering on Boston sports teams.

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4 Things Nonprofits Need to Know About the Google Grant

Guest Blogger

Many nonprofits are intimidated by the process of getting and maintaining the Google Ad Grant, which provides $10,000 of Google Ad money to the benefit of your nonprofit organization. However, acquiring the Grant is simple enough, and to maintain the grant, your organization must only meet Google’s basic requirements. However, to make the most of the grant, you’ll need some more information. 

As an agency that specializes in the Google Ad Grant and its management, Nonprofit Megaphone has expertise useful for any nonprofit. Our clients are diverse, representing all kinds of missions from across the country. 

Based on our wide range of experience, we’ve identified the top ways in which any nonprofit can use the Google Ad Grant successfully. Whether you’re an animal advocacy organization or a food bank, consider using the Ad Grant to expand your reach and build your organization for future success. Keep the following tips about the Grant: 

  1. Keyword Research Is Essential
  2. Clicks Are The Main Goal
  3. It Requires Maintenance
  4. Suspension Is Possible, But Reversible

Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about the Grant! Let’s dive in. 

Keyword Research Is Essential 

Much of the Google Ads infrastructure is governed by keywords. Ads will only appear if they’re attached to relevant keywords that people are searching for. Therefore, one of the most important aspects of Google Grant management is keyword research.

The first thing you’ll need in order to do keyword research are the right tools. Since so many organizations are working in digital space, there are now a plethora of free and paid tools you can use. At Nonprofit Megaphone, we often use sites like Spyfu and Moz to determine what people are searching for and how. In addition, sites like Answer The Public help spur your creativity and inform how keywords fit within various search queries.

As you’ll learn once you begin your Grant management, not all keywords are equal. Some will perform much better than others. Part of Grant management is modifying your ads so that only the successful keywords are used. Too many impotent keywords will drag down your statistics and threaten your compliance. Keep track of your data and analytics in order to stay compliant.

Finally, when you’ve found keywords that work well, it’s important to integrate those keywords into the ads and the ad copy. This ensures that both the searcher and Google know that the ad is relevant to the search.

Clicks Are The Main Goal

By running ads on Google, your organization will be able to reach a whole new audience. However, this won’t translate into anything meaningful if that audience doesn’t engage with your organization in any way. Therefore, one of your early goals with the Google Ad Grant is to generate clicks. Clicks are a basic metric that demonstrate whether your advertisements are successfully drawing people to your website. Further, clicks are integral to ensuring that you are compliant with the Google Ad Grant standards.

Google requires that all accounts maintain at least a 5% Click Through Rate (CTR). CTR is a metric calculated by the number of clicks divided by the number of times the ad appears. So, if your ad appears 100 times on searches, you’ll need at least 5 people to click on the ad in order to remain compliant. Doing this is one of the keys to proper grant management. In general, a good CTR is maintained by managing your keywords and ensuring that they are relevant to the queries that users are making in Google.

It Requires Maintenance 

One of the reasons why many nonprofits choose to outsource their Google Ad Grant management to an outside agency is because of the maintenance. Maintaining Google’s minimum standards isn’t complicated, but it does require that one person or team diligently manage and keep track of the organization’s Google Ads account. Regular maintenance is required to stay compliant, but also to achieve the goals you want with the Ad Grant. 

There are few strategies that don’t require at least some maintenance, and any organization will benefit from responding to the data in their Google Ads account. Whether you’re simply trying to stay compliant or achieve ambitious goals, here are some essential facts about account maintenance:

  • Login Requirements. One of Google’s simplest compliance standards is the login requirement. Google requires that you log into your account at least once a month. This is done to ensure that your organization is using the Google Ad Grant in a minimally-effective way. After all, if your account is dusty and floundering, Google may decide that their grant funds are better utilized with another organization. As such, ensure that whoever is in charge of your Google Grant management is taking some time once a month to log in and do some maintenance. 
  • Tracking. Tracking involves using the various data points within the Google Ads interface to make informed decisions. Using tools like Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager, you can directly link aspects of your website to your Google Ads. The most important metric to track are conversions, which largely determine the success or failure of an ad. A conversion is an important action that a user takes on your website. As long as it’s not trivial, you’re free to make a conversion out of nearly anything on your website. Most often, highly sought after conversions include donations, newsletter sign-ups, and video plays. With conversion tracking, you can regularly see which ads are performing well and which need to be modified.
  • Tweaking. Tweaking is a general term that describes the process of responding to the data you’ve collected and making changes in order to improve the performance of your Google Ads account. Regular tweaking involves things like removing or pausing low-quality keywords. This ensures that your keywords are always relevant to your ads. Further, too many low-quality keywords will affect your CTR and your overall compliance. Tweaking also involves making changes to improve your ads, swapping out words, trying new things, and evaluating trends.
  • A/B Testing. Related to tweaking is the concept of A/B testing. This approach gives you a proven way to evaluate whether your ads are working or not. A/B testing is the process of creating two similar ads for the same page and keywords and evaluating their performance. If one clearly outperforms the other, then you’ve learned valuable information about that ad. You can then tweak the underperforming counterpart and see if it performs better over time. This aspect of maintenance requires diligence and attention to detail, but is part of what sets expert managers apart from amateurs.

Suspension Is Possible, But Reversible 

While employing these tips will help your organization avoid having its Grant suspended, it still may happen to you. Many organizations don’t have the time or resources to commit to the Google Ad Grant which can lead to a temporary or long-term suspension. Whether it’s a slight lapse or a revival, suspension is reversible and easier than applying in the first place.

Reversing suspension first involves identifying which policies were violated. Perhaps your CTR was too low. In that case, you’ll need to go back into your account and do some maintenance. Once you think the problem has been addressed, you’re free to petition Google for reinstatement. Just make sure you learn from your mistakes and integrate your knowledge into your new maintenance routine!

Getting the Google Ad Grant is a fantastic opportunity for any nonprofit organization that wants to jumpstart their digital marketing efforts. While acquiring it can be a time-consuming process, it’s important to remember to utilize it effectively. Maintaining compliance is easy enough with routine maintenance, and even a monthly management plan can help you achieve some of your organization’s goals.

Consider all of the effort your nonprofit puts into its web presence. Having a top-notch website is important and will help nearly anything you do online. But having great web content doesn’t reap any benefits if no one sees it. Using the Google Ad Grant is a great way to affordably share your organization with a wider audience.

Beyond pure exposure, resourceful organizations can use the Ad Grant to jumpstart their programs. Whether you want to drive donations, get volunteers, or increase attendance at your event, the Google Ad Grant has a part to play in reaching your goals successfully.

About the author: Grant Hensel

Grant Hensel is the CEO of Nonprofit Megaphone, an agency focused 100% on Google Grant Management for nonprofits. NPM is honored to manage the Google Grant for 370+ leading nonprofits worldwide and to be an inaugural member of the Google Ad Grant Certified Professionals community.

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3 Steps to Begin Planning Your Capital Campaign

Andrea Kihlstedt

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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