How to Accept Donations Online: Your Complete Guide

Got a killer business idea that just needs a little cash flow to get off the ground? Would you love to raise money for a cause dear to you? No matter your fundraising goals, accepting donations online is one of the smartest ways to fill your campaign’s coffers.

For a winning campaign, you can’t simply throw together a half-hearted donation page and hope for the best. Below, you’ll learn how to accept donations online and boost the effectiveness of your campaign.

How To Accept Online Donations

Whether you’re new to fundraising or an established non-profit, it can be tough to understand the online donation process if you’re starting from square one. Here’s how to do online fundraising right.

Choose a Donation Platform

Before anything else, you’ll need to pick out an online donation platform. Most charge a fee when donors pay with a credit card, but the fundraising perks you’ll get can be worth the cost.

Donorbox is one of the most popular donation platforms. It offers cool features like customizable donation pages, text-to-give, and donation buttons to add to your website.

GoFundMe is another highly-rated platform, and you don’t have to be a non-profit to use it. On this platform, you can raise money for medical bills, disaster relief, vet care, and college costs.

Fundraise Up is ideal if you’d like to check out the power of machine learning. It uses AI to suggest the right-sized donation amounts for every donor automatically.

Set Up a Bank Account

If you’re a non-profit, you’ll also need to set up a special bank account, called a 501(c)(3), for donations. Choose a bank that will waive the monthly service fee as long as you keep some money in the account.

When setting up an account, you must provide your tax ID number, the appropriate incorporation paperwork, a copy of your non-profit bylaws, and an exemption letter from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Create a Website or Donation Page

Next, you’ll need to create a website or dedicated donation page. If you don’t know a lick of HTML and have no clue what CSS means, don’t worry! Platforms like WordPress and Wix have pre-built templates you can easily customize to match the look and feel of your charity.

Donation platforms make the process even easier. When you sign up, you’ll get your donation page, which you can fill with compelling call-to-action messaging and heartfelt stories of people your charity has helped.

Provide Different Donation Options

If your charity only accepts checks, it could be missing out on donations from people who’d prefer to donate another way. The best donation platforms allow you to accept donations online via credit card, PayPal, or even direct deposit. Some even allow you to accept cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin.

You should also give donors the option to set up recurring donations. It’s a win-win for both of you: You’ll have a steady stream of donations, and your donors can easily give every week, month, or year with almost no effort on their part.

Secure Your Donation Process

No matter how gorgeous your donation page is or how much it tugs on donors’ heartstrings, people won’t give if it doesn’t seem secure.

Good donation platforms come with built-in security. If you have your own website, protect it with an SSL (secure sockets layer) certificate and TLS (transport layer security).

Keep your site updated, too. New security vulnerabilities pop up all the time, and if your website isn’t up to speed, it takes just seconds for someone to break in and cause serious damage.

Lastly, only collect the bare minimum of information from donors. Never store full credit card numbers, CVV2 numbers, or card expiration dates on your site.

Promote Your Donation Campaign

Does your non-profit have a social media page? Take advantage of it to promote your cause! Try posting interesting stories about the people your charity helps and watch the donations come flooding in.

If you already have a hefty email list, it’s time to put it to work for you. In your newsletters, prompt subscribers for donations or ask them for help promoting your campaign.

Stay Transparent

Always tell donors exactly where every dollar of their money goes. For instance, you could say, “Your $20 donation helped us buy three meals for a family in need.” It’s a good way to build trust, and donors will feel like they’re really making a difference.

Express Gratitude

You want donors to feel appreciated, so they’ll keep giving to your cause. A simple “Thank you for your donation” is all it takes. Show your thank-you message immediately after someone donates, or send a follow-up email. For a more personal touch, some nonprofits send thank-you letters in the mail.

Setting Up an Online Donation Platform

The steps for setting up an online donation page depend on your chosen platform. Here’s a quick breakdown of how it generally works:

1. Make an account on your preferred donation site.
2. Start a new campaign and pick your fundraising options.
3. Add your non-profit’s logo, a background image, your message, and a donation goal.
4. Choose the currencies you’ll accept.
5. Set suggested donation amounts.
6. Set up your thank-you message.
7. Done!

How Can You Promote Your Online Donation Page Effectively?

People can’t donate to your cause if they don’t know you exist. Here are a few tips for promoting your page and spreading the word about your charity.

Utilize Social Media Platforms

Social media allows you to share your mission with millions of people. Posting stories and pictures of people you’ve helped — with their permission — is a smart way to connect with donors. That’s because social media users love to read stories with a personal touch.

Engaging Content

A plain message like “Please donate” doesn’t compel anyone to reach for their wallet. Instead, keep your content engaging and fun.

Try posting videos of actual donors on your “Why Give” page. Ask donors to explain what they love about your charity. You could also make videos featuring people you’ve helped.

If you haven’t made a blog yet, why not start now? In each post, talk about what your charity has been up to. For instance, you could post about how volunteers served at a blood drive or soup kitchen.

Send Regular Emails and Newsletters

Your website isn’t the only place where engaging content belongs. Ideally, send donors an email newsletter at least once a month to keep your non-profit fresh in their minds.

Collaborate With Influencers or Other Organizations

Peer-to-peer fundraising helps you gather donations from people outside your network. To leverage it, ask your biggest fans to set up their own donor pages and collect funds from their networks. This works even better if you’re friends with a few social media influencers with many followers.

You might also consider teaming up with other organizations that may be willing to promote your charity on their websites.

Leverage Online Channels

Crowdfunding is a great fundraising technique to use with your online channels. With this technique, you ask for small donations from a large public audience rather than targeting a few select donors with deep pockets.

GoFundMe is one of the best-known sites for crowdfunding. On it, you’ll find people requesting donations for their college costs, vet bills, housing, and much more.

Authenticity and Transparency

The number-one rule of requesting donations is never to hide where that money goes. Your website should have a dedicated page that explains how you’ve used every cent.

Benefits of Accepting Donations Online

Still wondering why you should accept donations online? If we haven’t convinced you yet, here’s why you need to set up an online donation page today.

Increased Accessibility

Online fundraising gives you access to a much wider audience than you’d be able to reach otherwise. Instead of only targeting donors who live in your city, you can collect donations from people in far-flung countries worldwide.

Convenience and Ease of Use

Online fundraising is ultra-convenient for you and your donors. If you’re tired of sifting through cash envelopes, donation platforms take all that hard work off your plate. Donations go straight into your charity’s account, where you can organize them and print giving receipts in very little time.

It takes the headache out of giving for donors, too. With text-to-donate, they can give to your charity in seconds, right from their phones.

Cost Effectiveness for Organizations

Hosting in-person fundraising events and requesting donations by mail isn’t cheap. With online fundraising, your charity could cut its spending by thousands of dollars.

Most donation platforms take a cut of each transaction, usually around 1.5% to 2% per transaction. Still, with all of the convenience and features these platforms offer, you’ll likely find the cost well worth it. You can also cut your expenses even further by choosing a platform with no monthly fee.

Is It Safe To Accept Donations Online?

The best donation platforms have built-in security, such as encrypted transactions, which means it’s perfectly safe to accept donations online. If you collect funds on your website, it’s safe to do so as long as you protect your donors’ credit card information. And be sure to safeguard your site with SSL and TLS, as we mentioned above.

Give to a Good Cause With Easy Donation Pickup

Have you got old clutter lying around that you can’t wait to get rid of? Let Easy Donation Pickup take it off your hands. We offer free donation pickups in Los Angeles and Orange counties. Call (855) 628-8387 to learn whether we can accept your donation, or schedule a pickup online now. Making a difference has never been so easy!