As a charity, you might not have considered the role your website plays in the donations you receive. From events to merchandise to crowdfunding campaigns, there are so many ways to get donations, you might not have a way for people to donate online.
Everyone has a website now, from your dentist to your florist, it’s just good business practice. In this article, we’re going to show you how having a website as a charity can help to improve your donations across the board.
Find out more below.
Ease of Donations
One of the first things you will have thought of when we mentioned using your website for donations is, of course, creating a place where people can donate online. This will streamline the entire process and give people an easy place to make a donation.
Plenty of website builders now allow this kind of feature to be added to your site. Having a page specifically for donations means that you can give people the link, you could even create a QR code, making donating as simple as possible for people.
Increased Visibility and Reach
A website is a fantastic marketing tool. It will include all the information that a person needs about your brand and you can use it to bring in new donors. One of the easiest ways to expand the reach of your website and grow your audience is to create a blog that covers topics that have meaning for your charity.
For example, the concern or issue that your charity focuses on might be more convoluted than you realise, or you might want to do an explainer to help people understand the issue more. You can create articles on all aspects of the issue and help donors understand your role as a charity.
The blog you build brings in organic searchers who google something related to the keywords in the blog. This brings people to your website, and therefore, your charity. While not every person who visits your blog will donate, it will make them more aware of your brand.
This increase in visibility means that say, when a person is looking to make a donation in someone’s name for an occasion, they think of your charity. They might also consider your charity for sponsorship and more.
Using a website in this way can have a positive impact on the donations you receive, even if not directly creating a donation page.
Trust and Credibility
Trust and credibility are very important for charities, mainly because people don’t want to think they’re just giving their money to anyone. We mentioned earlier how having a website is a good business practice, and the credibility it lends your business is one of the reasons.
Many people now will Google a business, charity or brand before engaging or donating. They want to find you and make sure you exist and that you are who you say you are. They want to know they can trust you with their money.
For this reason, it is important that you get as much information about your charity online as possible. Make sure all of the information is up to date and that any contact information you have is the same across the board. Ensure that people can trust you when they log onto your site.
With better trust in your brand, you can make sure that people trust your charity enough to donate, thereby improving your donation numbers.
Storytelling
A website is a great place for telling a story. You’ve got the space and the word count to explore the charity, the issues behind it, and why you do what you do. You can use all of the space you have to implore people to donate.
It’s a good idea to include a range of information, including an ‘About Us’ page that explores the charity and how it started. Really tell the story so that people can feel like they know your brand. On top of this, we’d suggest other content, like case studies showing the people (or animals, etc.) your charity has helped (with permission!), a mission and vision, an events page, a news page, and so on.
A well-rounded website will give you the opportunity to tell your story, help donors get to know you and make them much more likely to donate to your cause.
Reporting and Analytics
Lastly, when you’ve implemented all of this onto your website, you will likely want to find out if any of it is actually working to improve donations. Thankfully, with tools like Google Analytics 4, you can easily track improvements on your website.
You can use features like traffic acquisition data to work out where your users are coming from and keep a record of the donations and how they have improved. This data will also mean you can work out what isn’t working and make tweaks and changes until it does.
There is no point in a marketing strategy without reporting and analytics. A website is an easy way to track and report your marketing efforts to ensure that all of the work you’re putting in isn’t going to waste.
How Rokir Can Help
Rokir is a full-service digital agency offering a range of services to businesses of all kinds, including charities. Our services include web development and hosting, so we are in the perfect position to help you build, maintain, and utilise a website to improve donations as a charity.
We offer tailored services to every client, so you can combine our web development with content creation and blogging too. We create a strategy that suits your individual business to help you grow and improve your numbers.
Contact the team today to find out more about how we can work for you.
Final Thoughts
A website is a fantastic way of growing your audience, improving trust in your charity, and streamlining the entire donation process. Following the few ideas we’ve laid out for you here is an easy way to get started. If you want more help, remember we’re just a phone call away.
Hi I’m Alex, Blog and PR Copywriter
