It’s no secret that raising funds and attracting new dues-paying members is not as easy as it has been in past years. The economy is not in a great place; with rising inflation and cost of living, donations are on the decline.
More nonprofits are fighting for a smaller pool of donors. It’s hard to cut through all the noise, but it is essential for you as a nonprofit to reach your fundraising goals! To help out, we’ve compiled our 5 top tips on how to raise more money for your cause with Crowded’s fundraising platform.
First, we will go over some general tips, and then share some specific pointers on how to optimize the attached image and description.
Tip #1: Upload your Logo to Crowded
An important part of your fundraising/collection page is how branded it is to your nonprofit. You want your donors to recognize your logo, and identify with your mission!
You can add an image and description within the creation flow with Crowded. But our tip is to go the extra mile and add your logo, which will appear on your collection page, next to your organization name.
Check out the screenshot above how the custom logo adds additional branding to the fundraiser page!
How to upload an organization’s logo to Crowded?
On the web:
- Log into Crowded
- Click on your name in the lower left corner, and select “Organization Settings”
- You’ll see the photo row at the top. Click on “Upload” to add your organization’s logo.
On your phone:
- Log into Crowded
- Click the “More” button with three dots, and then Profile
- At the top you will see the “Upload” button where you can add your organization’s logo
Image Specifics:
Supported file types: JPEG or PNG
Image shape: Circle
Max file size: 3 MB
Recommended ratio: 3:4
Tip #2: Add a Quality Image
The impact of powerful images on human psychology has been true throughout history! It is also true for dues and fundraising campaigns. Adding a quality image can help potential donors feel a connection to your organization and drive more donations.
Here is a checklist to ensure you’re adding an optimal quality image to your Crowded fundraiser:
- Use an image with a high resolution
- Ensure your image size fits the suggested 16:9 image ratio for Crowded
- Check the preview button after you add the image to ensure everything looks good
- Use images of people – research shows that images with human faces are more engaging than others.
- Stay true to your nonprofit’s brand identity. Attach images from events, or with your nonprofit’s colors, fonts, and logos integrated into the image.
Tip #3: Add a Strong Statement
Use the Description field in the Fundraiser/collection creation process to provide a powerful ‘why’ to potential donors or dues-paying members. Not all people who visit this page fully intend to donate, and giving potential donors an extra push with an impactful description can motivate them to complete their donation (or even make it recurring!). These visitors may not even be fully familiar with your nonprofit’s mission, activities,and initiatives, so writing a descriptive, powerful statement is a great opportunity to present yourself to potential donors.
See our blog on short donation messages for more ideas on writing a description that drives donations!
Tip #4: A/B Test Collections
Use A/B testing to determine the optimal mix of information and images to raise the most money, sell the most items, attract the most signups, etc. A/B testing might sound complicated, but it is very easy to implement and track!
To A/B test is to create two slightly different versions of your online fundraising collection page, and to see which version better achieves your organization’s goals. Generally, organizations are optimizing for raising the most money, but you could also be optimizing for attracting new donors or appealing to a different audience.
The key to a successful A/B test is to only change one element at a time, so you can identify exactly which element is making the impact with your audience.
For example, you can test out different versions of your Crowded donation page by changing around the elements.
Here are a few A/B testing ideas to play around with on your collections:
- Image
- People/no people
- Illustrated image / photograph
- Generic image / actual image of programs from your nonprofit
- Description
- Funny/serious
- Long description / short and sweet
- Describing how the money will be used / general message about your organization
- Get inspiration from our blog on short donation messages!
- Fundraising goal amount
- High / low
Each of these variables can have a profound impact on human psychology while donors are debating whether to donate to your organization. Don’t be afraid to make bold changes between the two pages – it will generate the clearest results!
Implementing the A/B Test
- Create the two fundraising/collection links on Crowded with the small change, label which link is which, and keep both on hand.
- Choose which channel you’d like to implement the test. The easiest way is to do by email, as most email providers have A/B testing tools built-in.
If not email, try adjusting the donation links on your website, or other fundraising methods. It’s important to ensure that the split is done evenly and without any meddling! That will produce the most accurate results. - Continue the testing process until you’re left with a version of your donation page that reaches your goals!
Tip #5: Inspire Donors with Specific Campaigns
At times, what ultimately convinces a donor to donate to a nonprofit is feeling a connection. When nonprofits give options of campaigns for donors to contribute to, donors can pick a campaign that speaks to them, and they can more concretely feel their impact with your organization.
With Crowded, create unlimited fundraising links – one for each of your campaigns. On your nonprofit’s website, Linktree, social pages etc., provide a link for multiple campaigns (and link it back to the Crowded fundraising page!)
