Insights
We’ve put together a master list of the great new ways charities can drive donations with digital
Many UK charities have branched out from traditional on-the-ground and face-to-face fundraising approaches and are embracing digital. Increasingly, fundraising momentum depends on the reach and speed of digital. Here are just a few of the new avenues that digital has opened up for charity fundraising, looking back on some of the great stories we’ve covered over the past few years on Charity Digital News.
Text message/SMS is still an extremely fast and convenient way to donate, especially for live events and physical advertising campaigns.
The growth of contactless card payments has inevitably carried over to the charity sector. Contactless donation boxes, donation stations in shops and as part of advertising campaigns or at fundraising events have all made use of this growing trend.
The connective power of crowdfunding brings individual and corporate givers together for a common cause. For charities, a selection of the best, low-cost crowd funding platforms includes Crowdfunder, JustGiving, Chuffed, and Ethex.
Global campaigns like ALS’ Global Ice Bucket Challenge, Movember and #nomakeupselfie have raised not only profiles, but funds. In the UK, #nomakeupselfie raised £8 million in six days for Cancer Research UK.
Facebook Messenger is a unique and free way to interact with potential donors and advocates for your cause on a personal, one on one basis. Greenpeace, for example, has been using Facebook Messenger app as a channel to connect with donors around their campaigns and encourage regular donations.
Instagram can be a fantastic channel for fundraising. For example, charities can enhance their donation reach by attaching the Instagram button to their Stories. Some of the first charities to take up the new Instagram Stories includes WWF, and Mind Charity.
The limited number of characters available on Twitter doesn’t stop charities from maximising the digital space.
Gaining in popularity and speed of donation driving, platforms like Twitch have captured the younger crowd. Demonstrating the power of the platform, champion gamer H.bomberguy played for 57 hours to raise $340,000 for UK charity Mermaids.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are growing in popularity as ways for charities to securely manage philanthropy. First in use by the RNLI, other charities like Breast Cancer Support, and HHUGS have followed suit, potentially allowing them to gain from any upside movement in Bitcoin value.
Join us on the 11th of April for our webinar with Dell we will explore how AI is already impacting people and communities, the meanings of AI safety and AI literacy, and how charitable organisations can take action on digital and AI inclusion.