Leverage Technology for Donation Forms (Trends and Statistics 2024)

Erin Booker

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September 6, 2024

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4 minutes

Nonprofit Trends

The Giving Experience

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Hey there, nonprofit friends! We're back with more information about nonprofit donation forms—all the ways you can make them better, all the fundraising tools that will help donors give and give and give, and all the tricks that make your job of making the world better... easier.

Tech trends for donation forms

When it comes to technology, trends come fast and furious and they fade frequently, as you likely know. Including the recent AI frenzy, trends help us make the best use of our existing resources and current societal situation in a variety of fundraising areas.

For example, in 2022/2023, hybrid events were everywhere, and while they're kinda on the outs, those in the know know that tying peer-to-peer into hybrid event strategy increases new potential donor web traffic in addition to donations, making this a trend to hang onto.

And 2024's trend is all about intimate in-person gatherings. Funraise's Fundraising Strategists said,

"Not only are they more cost-efficient, but smaller events can have a greater range of uses: cultivation, board expansion, peer-to-peer fundraising, funding for more focused initiatives, or, yes, general fundraising. Their intimate nature lends itself to urgency, personalization, and deeper relationship building, as well as giving donors a way to feel even more included in your cause."

This is a perfect example of a fundraising strategy shifting in its implementation to accommodate current tides and trends—and when the pendulum swings back, we may see a return to large in-person events.

Benefits of tapping into tech trends

The three major winners when it comes to tech trends are you, your donors, and your constituents. You're a winner because your job is much easier, faster, and secure. Your donors because their giving experience is easier, faster, more secure, and a whole lot more fun. And your constituents because there is more donation revenue available for programming and operations, which makes their journeys easier.

Costs of not taking advantage of fundraising technology

The cost of not taking advantage of the fundraising technology at your fingertips is called "opportunity cost". So what, actually, does "opportunity cost" mean? It's the actual financial gain you miss out on when you don't take action, and it's just as real as the literal money you paid for the thing you did do.

To explain a little further, here's an example of opportunity cost from Funraise's CRO, Jenny Flack:

You keep doing what you’re doing today, keep your costs low at $5K and generate $100K in donations. Net: $95K.

Let’s take it further. You have the option to invest another $5K in more powerful tools and generate an additional $100K. But you don’t. Because you think, “I simply can’t double my spend. I’m spending $5K on fundraising technology, my board would flog me if I told them I want to spend twice that.” You walk away from the $100K and pat yourself on the back because you stayed on budget!

Guess what: You just cost your charitable organization $95K. Let that sink in. You cost your beloved social impact organization, which you are working your ass off to fund, ninety-five thousand real dollars.

All when you could have just listened to your friendly neighborhood fundraising software specialist at Funraise. tsk.

AppealAI

What it is

AppealAI is artificial intelligence for nonprofit fundraising. Made by Funraise by nonprofit experts, AppealAI was the first artificial intelligence tool built just for nonprofiteers. In platform, AppealAI personalizes communications and with smart asks using machine learning, generates compelling P2P fundraiser appeal text, and predicts fraudulent charges and identifies fraud bots.

There's also a free-for-all version of AppealAI that generates custom emails and social media content based on your mission, campaign, and impact.

How to use it

To use AppealAI, choose Funraise as your nonprofit software! As you build your donation form, implement the artificial intelligence tools to create asks based on donor behavior, presenting your donors with a donation form that's as intuitive as it gets.

Benefits

Besides bringing in more fundraising revenue, AppealAI secures your online donation forms and responds to your donors' signals, for a user experience that helps donors focus on their value instead of wondering about the legitimacy of your org or mission.

Fundraising Intelligence

What it is

Fundraising Intelligence is a suite of fundraising reporting and data tools that give you insight into the success (or lack of ) that your campaign websites, donation pages, and online donating forms are seeing. Imagine seeing your data's path rather than having to decipher a bunch of numbers. And then having those data visualizations emailed to you automatically, mmmm.

How to use it

The first step, as usual, is choosing Funraise. Next is deciding which data matters most for achieving your goals. Funraise has the skinny on navigating Fundraising Intelligence.

Benefits

The benefits of Fundraising Intelligence, aside from making your brain feel like a smartypants supermodel, is that you can set, manage, and achieve your fundraising goals with certainty, and make changes to your strategy at just the right moment.

Security

What it is

Security is serious. We frequently joke around in an attempt to make fundraising software and strategy friendly and accessible, but especially in this day and age of hackers, scammers, and fraudsters, not to mention misinformation, your donors' safety and your org's security is our highest priority.

So that's one of the ways we define "security": Your security is our #1 priority.

How to use it

You don't have to do a darn thing other than be a Funraise customer. Or donate to a Funraise customer. We've got your back.

Benefits

Ensuring data privacy and security not only provides your donors with peace of mind, encouraging them to give more and more frequently, it also encourages them to share their payment details or even access to bank accounts as a way to become monthly donors and commit to recurring monthly donations.

Integrations

What it is

Every nonprofit organization is different. Every mission is unique and constituent and programming needs are special. So we know that while Funraise really is an all-in-one online fundraising platform, your charity may need to hook Funraise up to additional tools.

Lucky for you, Funraise offers all kinds of integrations!

Databases

Already working with a CRM and don't want to move over, but need Funraise's friendly fundraising software? Connect your Salesforce, Daxko, Virtuous, HubSpot or other database account.

Marketing

Using Mailchimp, Constant Contact, or Klaviyo? We've got an integration for you!

Social fundraising

All your favorite social networks that offer fundraising are on this list of revenue-boosting integrations: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitch, to name a few.

Payments

Alllll the payment methods—money and assets and digital wallets galore—are offered as integrations with Funraise: Stripe, PayPal and Venmo, bitpay, Apple Pay, and DonateStock.

Benefits

Integrating with CRM and donor management systems may seem like it's just more technology, but hooking it all up allows every tool to work at its maximum efficiency.

Social media

What it is

We've already talked about social fundraising integrations, but there are other ways to take advantage of social media when it comes to the donation experience. Allow peer-to-peer fundraisers to create Facebook fundraiser social media posts for their birthdays, for example, or in conjunction with a specific campaign of yours.

Benefits

The benefit of allowing P2P fundraisers to fundraise on your behalf using social media platforms really can't be overstated. Not only does it increase donations, this strategy also increases brand awareness and gives your cause the gravitas of your fundraisers' social proof.

Mobile phone with donation form and donation charts floating around the phone.

Woman looking at fundraising chart with button to book a call.

Yellow shapes in background with donation form in front with stylized text, build an intelligence giving experience.

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Reports and statistics

This is a little bit of a deviation from the rest of the article, but we could use a tiny break, right? So let's talk about Funraise's donation form success in nonprofit statistics!

Nonprofits using Funraise grew online revenue 73% on average—3x the industry standard.

But that's not all 💣

Organizations using Funraise grow recurring revenue by 52% annually.
P2P fundraisers on Funraise raise 2x more than the industry's top peer-to-peer gift programs.
Funraise's donation form has a conversion rate of 50%.

💥 Boom.💥

Mobile giving and apps

If we're talking technology and how it affects your donation forms and giving experience, we've got to talk about mobile giving and smartphone applications.

Over 50% of your nonprofit's web traffic comes from mobile.

And when 63% of donations are made online with a credit or debit card, who's going to end up benefitting from amazing digital fundraising experiences—experiences that include app-based donation management?

(Hint: your nonprofit's the one that's going to benefit, that's who.)

Let us put it this way...

Donors use their phones for lots of financial services, like banking and buying. Why not giving?
Donors use their phones to check in to ticketed events and flights. Why not fundraising events?
Donors use their phones for work. Emails, calls, texts, document signing... the list goes on. Why not donation management?

With Funraise's donor portal app, your donors can manage their donations, access receipts, pull their own yearly donation summaries—and we've got even more amenities on the way.

Think about it: your donors expect convenience, transparency, and freedom. You have an opportunity to give them all of that AND save yourself some time and energy.

Embedded vs Popup

Question: “Can a better donation form improve conversions?”

Action Against Hunger answered this very question after experimenting with Funraise's unique pop-up donation forms and increasing conversion rates.

AAH's Answer: “The results proved to be pretty amazing for us.”

The social impact organization took a scientific approach to improving donation conversions, putting the online forms at donors' beck and call—but AAH wasn't prepared for their astounding outcome.

Action Against Hunger pitted embedded forms against pop-up forms on their site, and saw a significant difference. But your organization may benefit from embedded forms on dedicated fundraising campaign sites. This is the beauty of technology—you can experiment to your heart's content and make changes with a quickness.

Donors Cover Fees

After years of innovating features that help social impact organizations cover payment processing fees, Funraise's Donors Cover Fees model has brought success to nonprofits with a method that covers both the cost of the software as well as the cost associated with payment processing.

Here's what just two years of Donors Cover Fees data looks like:

$8,000,000+ generated to cover fees
$3,500,000 of processing fee coverage
100% platform fee coverage
1.5% average effective total payment cost
~90% of donors cover fees

But the Donors Cover Fees model delivers more than just money; this donor experience delivers impact.

Tech trends in donation forms FAQ

How does AI help nonprofits retain donors?

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the way nonprofits engage with and retain donors, making it easier for organizations to build long-lasting donor relationships and foster loyalty. In addition, donation forms with AI make it easy to prioritize recurring subscriptions and upsells, which is a solid way to build donor retention.

How can AI impact your fundraising?

AI can significantly impact fundraising efforts by enhancing donor engagement, optimizing donation processes, and providing actionable insights. Several ways AI is transforming the fundraising landscape are through personalized donor communication, predictive analytics, automated fundraising campaigns, enhanced donor retention, and a streamlined donation process.

How can nonprofits make donation forms?

Nonprofits make donation forms by choosing fundraising software (Funraise) and engaging with the fundraising tool to connect a payment processor, including branding and linking to their nonprofit website, a campaign site, or a donation page. Giving forms can be embedded or popup, and nonprofits can choose from a variety of donation amounts, gift option for donors, and follow-up procedures.

How can I create a donation platform?

Why would you want to create a donation platform when you have the easiest fundraising platform in the galaxy at your fingertips? Funraise's giving forms are customizable, full of payment options, easy to build, and utterly delightful. So... don't create a donation platform; just use Funraise.