How online platforms have helped fundraising growth
Every year, fundraisers around the world raise millions for charities of all descriptions. Online platforms play an increasingly important role in these fundraisers’ efforts. Here is how and why online platforms are impacting today’s fundraising efforts.
Fundraising growth
While donations from offline donors still make up the largest proportion of funds raised, the online proportion of annual fundraising revenues steadily increases year by year. Mobile devices are particularly important, with regular monthly donations via mobiles becoming increasingly popular.
The 2016 Blackbaud Charitable Giving Report revealed that there was only a one per cent increase in overall giving from 2015 to 2016. Online giving, on the other hand, increased by 7.9 per cent and now makes up 7.2 per cent of all giving. Donations made via mobile devices represent a total of 17 per cent of all online giving.
Fundraising trends and patterns
While these figures may look sparse at best, they hardly represent the complete picture. To see the greater whole, it is important to look at trends and at who will be the donors of the future. At present, most donations come from older donors, many of whom still prefer writing a cheque to going online. As the generations raised in the digital age continue to grow, however, so do online donations. According to Blackbaud studies, both the amount given online and the number of online donors have continued to steadily increase over the past four years.
What’s more, these studies have shown that:
- Multi-channel campaigns (both offline and online) can significantly improve donor engagement
- People giving both offline and online are more likely to make repeat/regular donations than people giving exclusively offline or online
- Organisations manage to retain approximately 58 per cent of first-time multi-channel donors, whereas only 23 per cent of online-only and 29 per cent of offline-only donors can be retained
Bearing these trends in mind, it is clear that making strategies diverse, current and mobile-friendly when organising fundraising campaigns is elementary if future success is to be secured. To help companies and individual fundraisers make the most out of these trends, sources like KnowHowNonProfit.org offer some excellent tips on how to launch effective online/digital fundraising campaigns.
Fundraising efforts
Efforts to raise vital funds for charities include anything from large companies’ major fundraising campaigns and direct social media and/or email appeals to individuals arranging coffee mornings, participating in athletic events (which, according to Blackbaud, garners approximately 75 per cent of participant fundraising involvement) or hosting poker games, for example.
Poker and fundraising
Success stories of people winning millions on slots is rare but not uncommon. Whilst ever-growing in popularity is poker by millions, with people both in ‘real life’ and online casinos (as well as in many people’s homes), poker is enjoying rapidly increasing popularity around the world. Televised poker games and YouTube videos of World Series of Poker matches (like this Dario Sammartino game, for example) help to increase the general public’s interest. This, of course, makes the game an ideal candidate for fundraising ideas. In addition to the option to host poker games in your home, at a local pub or even in your village/town hall, there is also the option to play poker for charity online.
Many online casinos are, for instance, quite happy to allow charities using their facilities for fundraising. Possible options for online charity poker games include, among others, so-called Sit’N’Go (Single Table) Tournaments, which offer participation of up to 10 players; Multiplayer Cash Games, which are played with nine players per table and enjoy No Limits Texas Hold’Em as one of the most popular games, or Multi-Table Tournaments, which typically involve players starting with a fixed number of chips and play continuing until a single player holds all chips.
Online fundraising
In a nutshell, online fundraising is becoming ever-more important for worldwide charities and must be included in campaigns to ensure organizations secure the public’s support in the years to come. As the digital generation continues to rise and replace the ‘traditional cheque book generation’, the future of successful fundraising lies online. Whether you place direct appeals and/or rely on peer-to-peer action on social media sites, use e-mails to raise funds or stage online poker games for charity, including online; mobile-friendly options to participate and give is a must more effective fundraising option.
