Monday Mixtape 003: Future Fundraising, Website Mistakes, & Winning Fundraising Gold

Monday Mixtape 003: Future Fundraising, Website Mistakes, & Winning Fundraising Gold

Is your website ready?

Your website is your organization’s home on the Internet. You might have a tent posted on Facebook, but your website is your house.

It’s the first place your donors go when they want to learn more about you. It’s where they can make a gift (online giving is still growing, y’all), see what you’re up to, and connect more deeply to your cause. With all that potential, let’s make sure your website is doing the job.

Here’s the Week’s Mix:

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.” —Robert Collier

Track #1: 6 Fundraising Best Practices To Help You Reach New Donors & Raise More, by Noah Barnett at CauseVox

Do you ever get the feeling that the nonprofit fundraising game has changed? Well, you’re right. Donor behavior and preferences are shifting, you’re not imagining things. This thoughtful analysis from Noah guides us to new best practices for this brave new fundraising world.

Track #2: Why Your Website Is Killing Donations And How To Fix It, by Joanne Fritz at The Balance

If, like me, the title of this post made your heart start to pound in terror, relax. It’s actually a very helpful and approachable piece about user experience (UX) design for nonprofit websites. Backed with research and armed with strategies, it breaks down what donors want, and how we can provide it.

Weekly Wow

It’s easy to stick with what you know, especially when it comes to fundraising. Traditional methods, such as special event fundraisers, grant writing, and email campaigns are all tried-and-true methods that are sure to bring money into your organization.

But times are changing and, if you’re anything like the Asian American Arts Alliance, you’re ready to step up to the plate and try something new.

See how Asian American Arts Alliance stepped out, tried peer-to-peer fundraising, and raised $23,000. We share the details here.

Track #3: Donation Page Best Practices For Nonprofits + 5 Tips To Perfect Yours, by Tina Jepson at CauseVox

To restore our heart rates to a normal rhythm after that last post, here’s Tina to tell us exactly why donation pages matter, what they need, and to ease our troubled minds. Thanks, Tina.

Track #4: Philanthropy Forecast, 2018, by David Callahan at Inside Philanthropy

The future is full of possibility, and lots of it is online. Check out the forecast at Inside Philanthropy. Does anyone want to start tracking if they come true or not? Am I the only data nerd? Come on, it will be fun!

Bonus Tracks

For when your caterer cancels on your spring event, the day your major grant proposal is due …
Cookie The Penguin, by Patricia Sund

For when you need big ideas from unlikely sources …
What Nonprofits Can Learn From Coca-Cola, by Melinda Gates, at TEDxChange

For when you need to buckle down and GSD (get sh*t done) …
Champion (Remix), by RM and Fall Out Boy

And Finally…

Do you wish someone would walk you through optimizing your donation form and increasing online giving? Well, I guess I’m your fairy godmother now because your wish just came true.

Join us for a webinar on that very topic. It will be fun, I promise. Even more fun than predicting the future of philanthropy.

Thanks for reading!

– Megan

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P.S. Questions about this week’s mix? Suggestions for next week? Don’t leave me in the dark. Let me know by emailing me at blog@causevox.com.