News & blog
Virtual giving programme
Over the last few years charities have found new ways to encourage donations using digital channels. During the Pandemic, 83% of small charities had to rethink their fundraising activities and over half found digital fundraising to be a new and important channel for their organisation. Fundraising has dramatically changed with the development of virtual fundraising where during a Zoom event, charities encourage in-show donations. This article considers how such one-off donations can be turned into regular monthly donations.
Running a virtual regular giving programme
Benefits
A traditional regular giving programme can be costly to administer when compared to the speed and efficiency of a regular digital programme. The costs of printing and posting along with the rising awareness of environmental impact is a factor driving a change to a digital regular giving programme. Donors will be looking to support charities making use of greener methods of communications.
Likewise, a digital programme provides greater data and insight both to retain existing donors and reach out to new ones.
Although regular givers are traditionally older, they are now more digitally capable and engaged with giving technology and more adept at making use of digital opportunities. This positive change from the Pandemic is a significant opportunity for your charity and should be maximised through developing specific campaigns. With wide adoption of the NHS Test and Trace app, consider using QR codes to simplify the process of signing up to your regular giving.
Retention
A regular donation programme might include;
- Sending video Thank you messages or news updates
- Priority access to any events you may be running
- Offering discount code for future events
- Access to celebrities or money-can’t buy opportunities.
This new way of delivering rewards to regular donors gives charities the opportunity to get creative with technologies old and new. Regular communication improves retention rates, making uptake and data insights quicker and easier to access.
Acquisition
Helping your face-to-face fundraisers convert monthly donors to digital is easy too. Displaying a campaign’s text keyword or QR code during events will allow potential donors to use their smartphone to make the initial transaction. DONATE’s easy process (via text and web) enables supporters to convert their one-off gift into a regular donation. Of course, your volunteers can provide guidance and reassurance as required.
Framing virtual regular giving as an upgrade to traditional postal methods shows digital awareness, reduces the cost of transaction and presents your charity as relevant to audiences. In contrast, offering direct debits could be a turn-off, more about this on our Regular Giving page.
The DONATE™ platform provides easy ways to turn one-off donations into regular giving via weblinks in both email and thank-you texts. This approach then converts one-off donors to longer term supporters of your charity.
Including a link to join your emailing list in the donation thank you messages is a great way to boost your supporter numbers and convert donors into regular supporters. Why not show them the benefit of converting their gift into a regular donation by showing what difference the annualised sum could make?
Is it your first time planning a fundraising campaign? Head to our FAQ page for more information or drop us an email. Have you planned and executed a regular giving programme before? Do share your insights with us at hello@nationalfundingscheme.org
