A new report sheds light on best practices for charities raising money online with such information as which social-media site has the highest conversion rate and how to turn first-time donors into recurring supporters. It also offers data on something nonprofits have long wondered about: crowdfunding campaigns for individuals on GoFundMe.
GoFundMe, which allows people to raise money for individuals in need, bought the Classy fundraising platform last year. “The State of Modern Philanthropy 2023,” a new report written by Classy and released today, pulls data from the 34 million donors that use both platforms.
The report found that GoFundMe campaigns shared more than six times in the first few days are three times as likely to raise more donations than those shared less often. Traditional nonprofit fundraisers should apply this information when crafting their own online campaigns, says Michelle Boggs, executive nonprofit industry adviser for Classy.
“It goes back to the urgency that inherently is built into a GoFundMe campaign,” Boggs says. “Oftentimes, it’s built around a disaster or a timely event. I think traditional nonprofits can take some of that and think of ways to drive more urgency, especially when it comes to that peer-to-peer fundraising.”
Boggs describes peer-to-peer fundraising as anytime a supporter asks friends or colleagues to donate. That could be someone using social media to ask friends to make a charitable donation in lieu of a birthday gift or seeking out donors to support them during a walkathon. The combination of nonprofits highlighting the urgency of the need and peers sharing the appeal could improve campaign performance, Boggs says.
Classy is still integrating data from GoFundMe into its ecosystem, says Krista Lamp, senior director of brand, events, and communication at Classy, but initial indications show donors who give to GoFundMe campaigns are similar to those who support traditional charities.
“It’s still really early,” Lamp says. “Based on what we know right now, once we see you give, we actually see you give to lots of organizations and causes. We see you giving to individuals, and we see you giving to nonprofits. Our early hypothesis is, no, those two groups are not different types of givers. People who give, give.”
Other highlights from the report are:
Social Media. Facebook was the most popular site for charitable campaigns, with 84 percent of all campaign traffic. But Facebook didn’t have the highest conversion rate — just 13.4 percent of people who clicked through to the drive completed a donation. For the second year in a row, LinkedIn had the highest conversion rate at 33 percent. But only 1 percent of campaign social-media traffic goes through the site. The report notes LinkedIn donors may have both higher intent and higher net worth. Lamp suggests nonprofits “be everywhere your donors are,” but also recommends testing more campaigns on LinkedIn.
Events. Creating a positive experience at your events — whether they are virtual or in person — is essential. The report found 91 percent of attendees who had a positive event experience took further action with the nonprofit, 51 percent attended another fundraising event, and 44 percent sought more ways to support the nonprofit after the event.
Make It Easy to Pay. The report notes that embedded forms — often pop-ups that require minimal giving information — have higher success rates. A key factor is having easy-pay options. “When you have mobile wallets like Apple Pay or Google Pay enabled on your forms, it actually helps with conversion rates,” Lamp says. If people don’t have a credit card handy when they click through to the donation form, they often stop, thinking they’ll come back later — but then forget. So having that easy-pay option is crucial, Lamp says. “You want to be able to get them to the finish line of the donation.”
Recurring Givers. In recent years, there’s been a lot of focus on the benefits of recurring giving. This report concurs; it says “recurring donors are 9 times more valuable than one-time donors.” The report finds that 29 percent of first-time donors who are approached within 90 days of their gift sign up for monthly giving. Boggs advises that flexibility in recurring-giving options helps. “If your initial gift amount is $50, you might turn off some younger donors,” she says. “See if you can offer flexibility around $5 a month or different ways to give: monthly, biweekly, quarterly. Also, consider an ability to pause giving.”