What do you need from a fundraising platform?

Technology changes all the time. In the charity sector, we know this better than most. Digital fundraising methods have not just become a nice addition to the fundraising arsenal but the norm. Take QR codes –a few years ago, QR codes were still relatively unknown, but in 2022, people are not only familiar with them in the charity context, they use them regularly elsewhere too.  

The advances in fundraising technology are a great problem for the charity sector to have. With the wealth of great fundraising options out there, organisations can adapt to changing situations (like those thrown up by the pandemic), upcoming digital trends, and advances in technology, all without compromising on the amount they are able to fundraise. 

With the right fundraising platform, charities can use this technology to cater to their donors and provide a seamless supporter experience – which, according to fundraising solutions provider iRaiser, has an impact on the amount they donate to you too. 

In this article, we outline the top things that charities need to consider when looking at new fundraising platforms, including the resources that can show them whether their existing platforms are working in attracting and retaining their donors.  

Think about your needs 

The first thing to do when thinking about which fundraising platform you’d like to use is to think about your needs.  

Do you need multiple fundraising options to work together, for instance, or do you just need one solution for a specific event? Do you want your donation pages to be embedded into your site, rather than hosted on a third-party website?  

Do you need to allow for payments in multiple countries and currencies? Perhaps you need everything to link into one central CRM system so you can better oversee and manage your donor interactions – how can you integrate different platforms, if necessary? More importantly, does your CRM enable multiple people in your team to access it? 

To identify some of the needs you might have missed, look at your data. Look at your attrition rate, for example – how many people are not returning to you once they’ve made their donation? If the number is growing, this shows that perhaps there is something wrong with your supporter experience as it stands.  

You can also ask your supporters directly what they’d like from your fundraising platforms to further support your findings. Free tools like SurveyMonkey or Google Forms can help with this and will aggregate results for you automatically. 

Thinking about what you need does not just mean in terms of fundraising either. You might also need support from your chosen fundraising platform, either in the form of learning resources or training sessions. 

For example, you might be more comfortable with easily accessible learning resources, such as articles and webinars. Fundraising solutions provider iRaiser also has a free Checkout Checkup tool that can assess your donation pages to ensure that it is working correctly, looking well-designed, and that any friction in the supporter experience is reduced to a minimum. 

Think about your user needs 

The next stage of thinking about your fundraising platforms is considering the needs of your supporters and donors. How tech-savvy are they? What payment solutions are they comfortable using, like PayPal or Direct Debit? How many steps is too many when it comes to sending a donation? 

Digital fundraising is all about making it as convenient as possible for your supporters to support you. Think about the audiences you are targeting, as well as those you have. Perhaps you want to reach a younger audience – in which case, digital fundraising is a must.  

Younger audiences (who are largely very generous when it comes to charitable giving) are far more familiar with contactless and cashless technology and will welcome anything that allows them to donate with ease.  

Being able to accept different forms of payment will also help reduce any frustration they may feel, allowing them to donate when they want to, while accepting different currencies means that charities can have a wider reach, regardless of geographical location.  

Once again, look to your current data to identify the donor demographics you need to target more and to understand their behaviour. If younger donors are unsubscribing from your emails, part of your messaging is likely not landing with them. Therefore, you are not meeting their needs.  

Two of your other biggest supporter needs, aside from convenience, are trust and security. Being able to control the next steps of the donation (a retention email, a thank you, etc.) helps build trust with supporters because you can ensure that they are not being pestered – this is much harder to do if donations come through social media, for example.  

Donating directly through a charity’s website has the added benefit of improving brand recognition, with research showing that donors are more likely to remember the cause they’re giving to. Being able to customise your site or fundraising pages, therefore, can help everyone in the long term, with your donors feeling a sense of investment in your cause and charities gaining loyal (hopefully regular) support. 

Think about your budget 

There are many different digital fundraising options out there with many different pay structures. Some will suit smaller organisations, while others will only be viable for larger organisations. Some will have scalable payment structures that will suit all and adapt to the growth of your charity and its needs. 

There are three different types of payment structure. One is a platform fee – this is the amount you pay just for the platform. Secondly, there’s the transaction fee – usually a small percentage of each donation, depending on the number of donations processed. And thirdly, there’s a monthly or yearly subscription fee – this charges for access to their software for a pre-defined period of time.  

How a platform charges the charities it works with varies. Some platforms allow you to pay only for the features you use, while others charge both a small transaction fee (a percentage of each donation, for example) and a fee for their software. With so many different options, it is best to do thorough research on pricing at the beginning of your journey, eliminating the chance of any hidden costs later down the line. 

There is also data you can look at internally to help you make an informed decision as to what is a reasonable cost for the fundraising platform you choose. You might want to consider, for example, cost per donor – how much is currently costing you to attract each donor? Compare that to the amount they are spending, and what you’re spending it on, and you can reasonably estimate whether you need to change your approach and how much doing so should cost.  

You can also compare your own experience to the rest of the charity sector using resources like the Global Giving Benchmark report from iRaiser, which noted that the average online donation for single gifts in 2021 was £53. It also revealed that average gifts through credit card tend to be higher than PayPal, Apple Pay, or Google Pay, and that mobile giving is big in the UK in volume but often results in a lower donation.  

This information allows you to think again about audience behaviour when choosing your new fundraising platform.

You should ensure that the platform you choose to use is secure, trustworthy, and flexible to the needs of you and the people using your tech. These needs will change over time, so the ability to roll with those changes is vital when it comes to fundraising.  

Offering lots of different options is putting your best fundraising foot forward for you and your supporters. Remember: you’re not just building a charity checkout, you’re offering an experience.