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Research records that 54% of global donors prefer online giving, but 60% of potential donors leave donation forms because of poor design and complicated processes. Optimal optimization of your online donation form during the digital era decides whether donors will support you or choose another cause.
To reach maximum contribution potential, every nonprofit organization, charity, and crowdfunding campaign should invest in creating donor-oriented donation processes that offer smooth user experiences.
This guide explores ten proven strategies to create donation forms that enhance donor conversion rates through increased generosity.
The Key to Maximizing Online Donations
Your nonprofit works hard to make an impact. That’s why it’s important to ask yourself if your online donation form is helping or hurting your fundraising efforts.
A confusing or time-consuming nonprofit online donation platform, form, or process can easily turn people away and leave critical funding on the table. This refresh on the latest best practices for online nonprofit donation pages and forms will help you create a seamless and donor-friendly experience that inspires generosity and keeps your supporters returning to give.
And what if we told you there’s a way to set up a strong donation form and keep 100% of every donation without transaction fees cutting into your funds? Stick with us for expert tips to help you maximize your online fundraising efforts, campaigns, and donation potential online.
It’s no surprise that when your donation form looks good, you’ll probably attract more donations. When your form reflects your nonprofit’s branding (think logos, text, coloring, and tone of voice), you can more easily build trust with donors.
But don’t stop there! Adding visuals or videos to your nonprofit donation pages or form can capture their attention, making the act of donating feel more personal and impactful. Here are a few ideas to consider beyond the basics of branding your nonprofit donation form or donation page itself:
Personalized messaging: Imagine how good it feels to be greeted by name. You can make donors feel extra special by including personalized messages that acknowledge their past support or highlight the impact of their donation. It’s a simple way to build a connection.
Donor recognition: Who doesn’t like to be recognized? Featuring recent donors on your form—whether a shout-out on a thank-you wall or a "donor of the day" feature—helps show appreciation and motivate others to give as well.
Interactive elements: Invite donors by adding fun, interactive features to your donation form. Maybe it’s a quick quiz that matches them with a project they care about or a timed challenge to encourage donations within a specific window. A little excitement goes a long way!
What impact does branding have?
Research shows that nonprofits with strong branding enjoy a 25% increase in repeat donors. Branding builds trust and credibility with donors, assuring them that their resources are going towards a useful cause.
Moreover, incorporating storytelling aspects in visuals on your form can increase its effectiveness. Use images that represent your mission best like smiling beneficiaries or your team behind the scenes. These build a connection which can increase donation amounts by 35%, according to research.
Pro tip: Optimize images and videos to ensure fast load times.
2. Customize donation form options and introduce flexibility
Research shows that offering selected donation amounts ($25, $50, $100) can boost donation conversion by 18%.
In addition, having an ‘Other’ option allows donors to specify the amount, making it easier for those who are willing to donate either a smaller or larger amount.
The "Round-Up" option is typically used for retail or payment transactions rather than standard donation forms. It works best when donors are making purchases and can round up to the nearest dollar. If you're thinking about adding it to a donation form, it might not be the most natural fit unless you're integrating it with a larger payment system where donors frequently make transactions.
Why you need to customize donation form options
Donors like having options and often abandon a donation page if the giving process gets too complex or they don’t see what they need quickly. Flexibility is key, and here are a few ways to accomplish this on your forms:
Donation amounts: Give them a variety of donation amounts that vary from smaller amounts to more impactful donations, with an “other” field for those who want to give what feels right for them.
Donation frequency: Include the choice of one-time or monthly donations from the same form. Increasing recurring donations can automatically bring back supporters to give again.
Donation details: Learn more about your donors and help them feel empowered to customize their gift with options such as donating in someone else’s honor, name, or memory and making their donation anonymous if they prefer.
A personal share from supporters to their friends, family, co-workers, and community goes a long way to increase traffic to your online donation form. Add share buttons that make it simple for existing donors to spread the word. The more people see your campaign, the more likely you will reach new supporters.
To create a giving community using donations and donations matching other recurring gifts, one can set up a Challenge Campaign where the donor's friends are encouraged to match the donor's gift.
Expansion of the gamification idea by adding a spotlight to the participant’s name on the leaderboard would widen the donor community, hence making the whole experience fun. Also, social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram that offer donation stickers could further broaden your reach when integrated with your donation page.
Research has proven that using social sharing options in campaigns helps increase total contributions by 20% on average.
What to include in your donation form best practices
Share options for your donation form can include:
A direct link option to copy and paste into a text, group chat, or create into a QR code
Social media links to populate a post that links back to your donation form on popular channels such as Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, and X (formerly Twitter)
An email option that makes it easier than ever to share your form with email contacts
4. Accept a variety of payment options
Nobody likes to be stopped at checkout, and the days of stopping to reach for a wallet and a physical card every time a transaction happens are over.
Sure, some people carry their cards and checks on them at all times, but as we move towards primarily contactless payments, it's important to have all options available for your donors.
Offer multiple payment methods like credit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and even checks so donors can choose the best option. The smoother you make the payment process, the more likely people will complete their donation.
Especially when it comes to the way you accept donations with mobile payment options, you are far more likely to keep the attention of donors who have login information loaded onto their devices and can complete a donation in seconds rather than minutes (because we know no one has time these days!)
Why you need to recharter donors
Rechartering donors also contribute significantly toward increasing the giving rates; thus, enabling 'One-Click Giving' for returning donors is an effective strategy.
Storing donors' payment information safely can help non-profits to encourage donors to repeat giving without requesting them to provide payment details repeatedly. This alone has been proven to increase conversion rates of donations by 25% to 26%.
Another useful option is to open donations through cryptocurrency, which can appeal to another group of donors. The Giving Block noticed that donations in cryptocurrency increased by more than 900% in 2021, which showed how fast people are adopting the idea of donating through digital assets.
Simplicity is key when it comes to donation forms. Keep things intuitive and easy to navigate so donors can quickly contribute without frustration.
And don’t forget to optimize your form for all devices and browsers—everyone wants to donate on their terms, whether on a phone, tablet, or desktop. When you’re looking at a donation page on a mobile device, typical paragraphs of text can take several scrolls to get through before a donor reaches the area where they submit their information.
Inconvenient donation forms are among the most frequent reasons for donor dropouts. When forms are reduced to 5 fields or fewer, they perform 38% better than the longer options. We improve the donor experience by eliminating needless steps and focusing only on the essential donor details.
One way to make donation forms more efficient is to use progressive profiling. In this method, the donor’s minimal information is captured initially, while more details are procured at later stages, ensuring users are not overwhelmed and have a more pleasing overall experience.
Also, enabling auto-fill for returning the monthly gift to donors eliminates a lot of hassle. Smart data capture combined with pre-filled fields from past interactions makes the process as smooth as pressing a button.
A few ways to communicate impact without getting overly wordy:
Use bullet points wherever you can to break up text
Utilize headings and bolded text to separate thoughts
Lean on imagery (that can also have text!) and automatically optimize to the screen they’re being viewed on
Pay attention to font size and styling
Communicate the most important points on your donation form, leaving links to learn more in related blogs, web pages, and videos.
People trust people, so let your past donors do the talking. Adding testimonials or stories from previous supporters can help visitors feel aligned and connected to your cause.
It’s a great way to show that you’ve built a large community of others who fiercely believe in your mission and have experienced firsthand impact.
People tend to follow what others are doing. As crazy as it sounds, 9 out of every 10 people will trust a recommendation by a peer over traditional adverts. Using donor testimonials, success stories, and impact statements in your donation form will make your offer more believable and build trust.
A unique way to provide social proof would be to incorporate donations being made in real-time. Seeing other prospective donors actively making donations will also motivate them to partake. A recent donations ticker or a donor spotlight provides maximum relief.
Questions to ask
As you think about asking for testimonials, consider questions or prompts that can help you make the most of the opportunity to bring authentic voices to your mission. These might include:
What inspired you to support our cause?
Can you describe how our work has impacted you or your community?
What made you choose to donate to us over other organizations?
How does knowing your donation make a difference feel?
What would you tell someone who is considering supporting our cause?
Why do you believe our mission is important?
How has your experience with our organization influenced your ongoing support?
Furthermore, the use of user-generated content, like video testimonials from beneficiaries and loving quotes from loyal donors, can greatly increase engagement rates.
These stories resonate on a personal level, which increases the chance of more people completing their donations. You can also get creative about the format for your testimonials.
Consider asking a few donors to provide videos, which you can then use to repurpose into audio content for social media, graphic posts, and written testimonials based on what you need and when.
7. Optimize your donation form for mobile giving
More and more people donate from their phones, so make sure your forms not only look great on smaller screens but also make it possible to see all the buttons and functionality needed to submit the form.
A mobile-optimized online or donation page design is easier to navigate and makes the donation process quick and straightforward for donors on the go. You’ll want to test out your form on different devices and browsers to catch any friction points that might drive your donors away.
Since more than half of online donations are made through mobile devices, ensuring that your donation form is mobile-responsive is a requirement, not an option.
If your form is not optimized for mobile, you will experience high abandonment rates, wasting crucial resources for your nonprofit organization. To optimize your mobile form, switch to single-page, accessible donation forms with large clickable buttons and autofill functions.
Google’s research shows that mobile users are more likely to convert when fewer form fields are available, with some users reporting up to 50% increases.
Other essential improvements are allowing express payments through Apple Pay and Google Pay, vertical form layouts to reduce scrolling, and users being able to read the text without zooming.
Test multiple devices and browsers to remove any obstacles that could block mobile donations.
What to look for
Responsive design: Your experience adjusts automatically to fit any device, whether you're on your phone, tablet, or desktop, so it’s always easy to navigate.
Simplified layout: We’ve kept things simple, showing only the essential fields to make your donation process quick and stress-free.
Large, clickable buttons: All buttons, like donation amounts and the "Donate" button, are designed to be easy to tap, minimizing errors.
Autofill capabilities: When possible, we’ll fill in your details, like name and address, so you don’t have to type as much, speeding up the process.
Easy-to-read buttons: The text and buttons are big enough to read without zoom, making them easy to use on smaller screens.
Quick load time: We’ve ensured the page loads quickly, so you don’t have to wait, even if your internet is slower.
One-page donation flow: You won’t need to scroll or switch between pages—it’s all streamlined into one easy-to-follow page.
Instant confirmation: Once you donate, you’ll receive a thank-you message immediately to let you know your gift has been received.
We’re preparing for an influx of donation traffic, so there will come a point when even the most thoughtful nonprofit teams won’t be able to keep up with manually writing and remembering to send a thank you or update every donor promptly.
Everyone likes to feel appreciated. After a donation, make sure your online forms are synced up to send an instant thank-you email automatically after a donation.
In that thank you email, it’s also equally as essential to include a compliant tax receipt. Of course, you can add some personal touch to these messages (and you should!), but at the least, you want to be sure that no individual is left wondering if you received their money or feeling like they will never hear from you again.
This kind of genuine outreach helps build trust and can encourage future contributions. It also helps you stay at the top of your mind for supporters who you want to think about you when they’re ready to show generosity again.
Why this strategy works
Constructing a correctly written thank-you message leads donors to become sustained supporters. The research indicates that donors who receive timely acknowledgments are likely to donate again due to an increased odds of 38%.
The automated email system appreciates every donor while not increasing the workload on your team members. A truly successful thank-you email consists of something more than acknowledgment alone. The communication should present key donation details, a tax document, and a specific statement about the fund usage.
Your strategy to retain donors should include a request to follow your nonprofit through social media and participation in a membership-giving program.
Your thank you mail should include video messages from either beneficiaries or your staff members. Video thank-you messages produce better donor retention outcomes than text-based emails as they generate stronger emotional responses from donors.
9. Create a sense of urgency or excitement on your donation page
Sometimes, motivating someone to give on your donation form takes a little push. Creating urgency can prompt action, whether a limited-time matching campaign or a countdown to your fundraising goal.
When people know their donation will make a big difference within a short time, they’re more likely to give. When updating your donation form, consider both first-time visitors and returning donors to ensure it appeals to everyone.
You can continuously update your donation form with the latest impact your organization is making and offer a timely call to action or donation link to encourage more donations whenever someone lands on it.
Motivators of successful donor forms
Urgency is a powerful psychological motivator that makes donors immediately act on their financial contributions. Such fundraising campaigns, on average, receive 35% additional donations simply because including an urgency element compels action from people who tend to procrastinate.
As outlined previously, incorporating elements of urgency on your online donation form makes it easier to persuade potential givers to donate. One great technique is countdown clocks on limited-time donation matching campaign promotions, where a payment made within a certain period is doubled by a sponsor. This gives rise to a moment where funding must be provided immediately.
Flash donation challenges can also work wonders, where donors must give in a stipulated time to unlock prizes or recognition for participating. Another strong tactic is emphasizing the impact of contributions.
A better approach is for an appeal to be made in the way that spending money will produce something tangible. Saying, “For $50, you will help 10 children have their meals today,” demonstrates a strong relationship between impact and giving.
Ultimately, continuously updating milestones helps instill a challenging mentality effective online donation page that is impossible to ignore. Some ideas to create urgency and excitement on your online donation page over time include:
Countdown timers: Add a ticking clock to your donation form to show how much time is left for a limited-time fundraising goal or matching gift challenge. It’s a great way to motivate everyone to give before time runs out.
Goal progress updates: Keep everyone in the loop with real-time updates on how close you are to reaching your goal. A fundraising thermometer makes it fun to see how donations are adding up, and it inspires others to pitch in and help you hit those milestones.
Matching gifts countdown: Let people know that their donation can go even further with matching gift opportunities. Show them how every gift gets doubled if donated within a specific time frame—it’s a win-win!
Campaign milestones: Celebrate when you hit key milestones, like reaching 50% of your goal or getting 100 donors! It helps build excitement and gives supporters a sense of accomplishment as they see the progress.
Flash donation events: Surprise your supporters with quick, 24-hour donation drives, and offer a special thank-you gift or recognition for anyone who donates within the time frame. It adds a little thrill to the campaign!
Donor spotlights: Shine a light on top donors or recent contributors with a “Donor of the Day” feature or leaderboard. It creates a fun sense of friendly competition and shows people you appreciate their support.
Storytelling with impact: Keep donors updated with stories about how their contributions are making a difference. This can be especially helpful when increasing recurring donations.
Intentionally adding rush elements within your fundraising content amounts to better donor activation when these elements reach their audience.
Effective urgency tactics include
1. Organizations should use countdown timers together with time-sensitive matching opportunities.
2. A progress bar visualizes your current status toward obtaining your fundraising target.
3. The spotlight feature of our donor recognition runs only for donors who donate within the present moment.
4. The practice of flash donation challenges enables donors to earn extra funding when they contribute in defined duration periods.
Expressing how donations immediately contribute to change helps create a sense of urgency. Donors become motivated to donate immediately when they understand their giving will feed five families through messages such as "Your today's donation feeds five families this week."
10. Use data to optimize your campaign
You can learn a lot about your online fundraising strategy by looking at the numbers. After all, you want to know what’s working and what’s not in a clear-cut way. When you take some time to check out what exactly is driving donations, you can make changes that help you create a better donor experience and raise more in the future.
The nonprofits with the highest success rates focus on improving and upgrading their donation forms, and to do so, they carefully analyze donor data first. Tracking key performance metrics allows you to discover areas that need work and make strategic changes that enhance conversion rates.
Using A/B testing, you can swap out different suggestions for donation amounts, form designs, and CTA phrases to see which works best. Changing around even small details, such as where the text is or changing the color of a donation button, can shift donor behavior.
Metrics that are important for donation form monitoring
Some standard metrics you can track on your online donation form include:
Conversion rate: The portion of people who complete a donation out of the total number of site visitors. This shows what percentage of visitors follow through and make a donation after landing on your page. It’s a great way to see how well your form turns visitors into supporters.
Average donation amount: What an average donor tends to give. This tracks the average size of donations you receive. It helps you understand donor behavior and gives you a sense of future donation goals.
Donation frequency: One-time versus recurring donations and their emerging patterns. This measures how often donors contribute—whether one-time or recurring donations. It gives you insight into how loyal your donors are and how you’re doing with donor retention.
Donor demographics: Where donations fall off the map in the donation phase. This looks at donor information like age, location, and other details. Knowing these details helps you tailor your messaging and outreach to connect with them better.
Mobile vs. desktop donations: Donations made through the phone versus donations made through the computer, and whether the form works for both. This tracks whether people donate more from their phones or desktops. It helps you optimize the form, so it works great on mobile if that’s where most of your donations come from.
Payment method preferences: These are the most used payment methods by the donors. This shows you which payment methods donors use most often— credit cards, PayPal, or Apple Pay.
Knowing this helps you adjust your options to make it easier for donors to give the way they prefer. Online, fundraising software depends highly on data to increase donor conversion rates while achieving success in digital fundraising operations.
Your analysis of donation patterns lets you modify your approach to achieving maximum donor contributions.
Analyzing the donation form patterns
The conversion rate measurement of your donation form reports how many website visitors complete payments after accessing the donation page link. A low form conversion rate usually appears when users find your donation process confusing with no compelling call to action.
Large donation amounts need to be tracked so that you can develop perfect donation-level recommendations that yield higher donor support. The donation options should be reconsidered to promote higher giving levels when donors repeatedly choose the minimum suggested donation amount.
Why this strategy works
Your donation form abandonment rate can help identify trouble zones in the online donation process caused by slow page loading or demanding fields. Your ability to understand donor payment preferences helps you provide donation methods that match their preferred choices.
Analyzing different versions of your donation page helps you determine which donor elements lead to the best responses from your audience through A/B testing techniques.
Continuous data application for strategy refinement will help you build an optimized donation framework that drives long-term fundraising performance.
Build your online donation form for free with Zeffy
Your effective online donation form isn’t just a payment tool—it’s the key to growing your impact and making giving easy. A seamless, well-designed form builds trust and keeps donors coming back, and it shouldn’t require extra effort with the right partner on your side.
That’s why Zeffy’s 100% fee-free, all-in-one online fundraising and donation platform is a game-changer. No hidden costs, no transaction fees—just more money going directly to your mission. You can even check out our sample as a donation form template to make your own as you get started on Zeffy.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Tracking how well your donation form performs is key to understanding where donors drop off and how to improve the experience. You can use analytics tools like Google Analytics, heatmaps, and form completion tracking to monitor donor behavior.
Check metrics such as conversion rates, bounce rates, and the average time spent on the page to identify any friction points. A/B testing different form layouts, donation amounts, or CTAs can also help optimize performance over time.
Encouraging donors to give on a recurring basis is one of the best ways to ensure steady funding for your organization. Make the monthly giving option the default selection on your donation form while still allowing one-time gifts.
Adding a short explanation about the long-term impact of recurring donations can also be effective—for example, "A monthly donation of $25 provides meals for a child all year long." Finally, offer special perks or exclusive updates to recurring donors as a way to build a loyal community of supporters.
Many donors start the process but don’t complete it, which can lead to lost contributions. To reduce abandonment, keep the form as short as possible, offer multiple payment methods, and use autofill features to speed up the process. Removing distractions like excessive links or unnecessary fields can also help. If a donor exits without completing the form, consider using retargeting emails or ads to remind them to finish their donation.
Expert Guide to Recurring Donations for Nonprofits
Boost donor retention and revenue with recurring donations. Use these proven strategies to launch a successful recurring giving program for your nonprofit in 2024.
