Crash Course
Disaster-relief organizations offer vital lessons in online fundraising.
September 2006 By Vinay Bhagat
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The growth in recent years of online contributions to disaster-relief organizations clearly illustrates that Web fundraising has come of age. Consider the online giving that the American Red Cross has generated following major disasters: $64 million related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks (2001); $140 million in the wake of the Southeast Asia tsunami (2004); and $479 million after Hurricane Katrina (2005). Also telling is that the percentage of individual donor funds raised online (excluding corporate contributions) grew from 29 percent for Sept. 11 to 55 percent for the tsunami, illustrating that donors have become increasingly comfortable giving over the Internet.
With each disaster, relief groups have had huge surges in their Web site traffic and learned important lessons. As a result, they’ve developed a number of best practices to optimize the value of new online constituents. They’ve found that success requires a proactive, investment-oriented approach: deploying the right software tools, technology infrastructure and human resources; and developing robust online marketing plans.
Best practices
Nonprofits of all sizes and with varying missions — disaster relief-oriented or not — can learn lessons from the American Red Cross and other disaster-relief groups. To maximize success, organizations must optimize their Web sites to convert inbound visitors to donors; leverage search engines and other traffic aggregators to drive traffic; have an e-mail file ready for sending e-communications and promoting appeals; and implement formalized conversion programs with first-time or “disaster-only” donors. (Many non-disaster relief groups pitched in to collect funds online for relief efforts following Sept. 11, the Southeast Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.)
1. Maximizing conversion of site visitors to donors: Following a disaster, prominent fundraising organizations are inundated with Web traffic. The key goal is to maximize the conversion rate of site visitors to donors as well as to yield the highest possible value for each transaction. Techniques that any organization can deploy to impact conversion rates and transaction value for inbound prospective donors include:
With each disaster, relief groups have had huge surges in their Web site traffic and learned important lessons. As a result, they’ve developed a number of best practices to optimize the value of new online constituents. They’ve found that success requires a proactive, investment-oriented approach: deploying the right software tools, technology infrastructure and human resources; and developing robust online marketing plans.
Best practices
Nonprofits of all sizes and with varying missions — disaster relief-oriented or not — can learn lessons from the American Red Cross and other disaster-relief groups. To maximize success, organizations must optimize their Web sites to convert inbound visitors to donors; leverage search engines and other traffic aggregators to drive traffic; have an e-mail file ready for sending e-communications and promoting appeals; and implement formalized conversion programs with first-time or “disaster-only” donors. (Many non-disaster relief groups pitched in to collect funds online for relief efforts following Sept. 11, the Southeast Asian tsunami and Hurricane Katrina.)
1. Maximizing conversion of site visitors to donors: Following a disaster, prominent fundraising organizations are inundated with Web traffic. The key goal is to maximize the conversion rate of site visitors to donors as well as to yield the highest possible value for each transaction. Techniques that any organization can deploy to impact conversion rates and transaction value for inbound prospective donors include:
- Launching a themed donation form versus using a generic donation form to set more context and sell the appeal;
- Testing different donation form variants and comparing conversion rates;
- Making the gift ask as tangible as possible (e.g., explain what a given level of contribution can support);
- Modifying Web site content, such as home pages and landing pages, to highlight the fundraising campaign and direct visitors to the donation form, and/or setting up a micro-site with campaign-specific messaging and content;
- Encouraging monthly giving, since monthly donors have considerably higher annual donor value and renew at much higher rates; and
- Ensuring that the organization has the capacity to handle a surge in Web traffic.
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