Fast-track your way to becoming a digital fundraiser

It’s been an interesting year for fundraising following the huge changes that have hit every traditional avenue. Physical events became almost entirely virtual, the tin bucket gave way to various cashless technologies, and email marketing and social media have become a key way to communicate and engage with supporters.

Post-lockdown life is on the horizon, with the success of the vaccine rollout and declining infection rates. But fundraising will not return to the old normal now that we know how impactful the digital route can be. As with many other post-lockdown operations, the future is digital.

Charities will eventually be able to include the best from both worlds: digital fundraising can encompass the authenticity of in-person with the ease and simplicity of the virtual by creating engaging and personalised experiences. It can adapt old ways of working to meet current digital expectations.

That means exploring new fundraising opportunities like gaming and virtual reality, to name but a few. And that means websites, email marketing, and social media are essential elements of every charity’s strategy going forward.

The new world is digital-first. And it’s time for charities to embrace it.

Staying ahead of an ever-evolving curve

With the landscape of digital fundraising shifting so quickly, charities can often feel out of touch with the latest changes.

Marketing remains one of the most effective ways to fundraise, with web and digital channels becoming even more important in the past year. Social media is not going away and email matters more than ever.

Innovation and raising excitement remain important for virtual events and other digital fundraising ideas. The days of dull digital fundraising are over, as the attention economy prioritises the weird and wacky and quirky – essentially, the shareable.

None of these trends are particularly new. They are building on common trends of the past, adapted and refined to capture the recent acceleration towards digital.

The digital skills gap within the sector has always been a challenge which is why Salesforce.org have created a seven-day Digital Fundraising Bootcamp to support charity workers on their quest to become digital-first fundraisers – all delivered digitally by email over the course of seven days covering every aspect of digital fundraising. Each email digs deeper into one topic and offers best practice advice to subscribers.

The Digital Fundraising Bootcamp will cover, among many other things:

• Getting to grips with paid search
• Making the most of social media
• Why email still matters
• Activating your online advocates
• Getting creative with digital fundraising

The Bootcamp is part of Salesforce.org’s commitment to the sector and this seven-day email journey aims to teach charity workers how to maximise digital fundraising skills and efforts.

Once you sign up, attendees can expect to learn everything from paid search to creative ways that will help you cut through the noise online.