FirstGiving Online Donate Button and End-of-Year Giving
End-of-Year Giving
• 33% of donations made in the year are made in December • 10% of donations made in the year are made in the last 2 days of December! • Largely tax-related… but holiday giving also comes into play here.
Your donors are eager to give to your nonprofit. Do you have a way of capturing this explosion of generosity?
FirstGiving’s Online Donate Button can help.
• It’s helpful to have a way for donors to give directly from your website. • Having a donation button on your website is for the “impulse buy” of donating!
• Our button lets donors give without leaving your site – their experience with your website is uninterrupted by the donation process.
• For your End-of-Year Giving campaign, using a donate button on your website can make the process swift and simple for your donors.
Specific features of the Online Donate Button Personalization • Your organization’s logo • A brief blurb about your organization or campaign • Your choice of 7 button colors to match your website design
Options for Donors
• Multiple giving levels • Custom donation amounts • In Memory donations
How to set up the Button
• Add your logo
• Enter or edit your organization name
• Type a brief description of the mission or goal of this campaign
• Select the color you would like your button to be – you can preview it!
• Choose whether to have multiple giving levels, and enter them if applicable
Advanced features • Access the Advanced Features by
clicking the gear icon
• Allow donors to pay the transaction fee, just like they can on the main FirstGiving site
• Allow donors to make their donation a recurring donation (monthly or other time period of their choice)
• Have donation notifications sent to you at the email address of your choice
• Customize the thank-you message included on the email your donors receive
• When you’re ready, click “Save Settings” to continue.
What would you like to do with your Button? • When you have clicked “Save
Settings,” you will see this screen, where you choose what you would like to do with your Donate Button.
• Install it on your own site by choosing “I will set it up on my site” (the default) or “I have a guy for that” if someone else manages your website
• Install it on your organization’s Facebook fanpage to allow your fans to donate from Facebook
• Print it out as a QR code to allow your supporters to scan it with their smartphones and donate directly from their phone, wherever they are at the time
• To edit your button, click “Update Button” – remember to save again when you’re done, then reinstall the code.
Examples
WalkBoston is using the Online Donate Button on their own website.
• They are using FirstGiving’s default button image in orange.
• They have set up 3 giving levels for different types of membership.
• Donors are invited to pay the transaction fee.
Using the button on your own website #1
Examples
Voices of Hope is using the Online Donate Button on their own website.
• They have used their own custom graphic by replacing the address of our image in the button code.
• They are not using giving levels.
• They’ve installed the button in the header of their website so that it appears on every page, along with their logo and navigation.
Using the button on your own website #2
Examples
• FirstGiving is using our Donate Button for our “Charity of the Month” program – you can create a button for any nonprofit and install it on your Facebook fanpage
• Donors can click the “Donate Now” button and also post a message to share with their friends, so that their friends may be inspired to donate as well!
Facebook donate button
Examples
• You can save an image of your Donate Button as a QR code – then, print it out on your promotional materials
• Donors can scan the code with their smartphones, which will allow them to make a donation right on the spot.
QR Code
Using the Donate Button for End-of-Year Giving
• You can set up fundraising campaigns both for fundraising, on the FirstGiving site, and for donations only, on your own website.
• Create a page on your website dedicated to your End-of-Year appeal, and install the button on that page.
• All donations made through the button will be recorded in your Direct Donations report.
Summary
• The FirstGiving Online Donate Button is useful for a variety of donation-button needs, but it can be particularly helpful for driving end-of-year giving because it is quick, easy, and integrated with your website and your FirstGiving reports.
• No time in the year sees as much or as heavy donation activity as December, particularly the last 2 days of the month – so it pays to get a donation solution in place now.
• Expand the reach of your button by installing it on Facebook and printing it out as a QR code.
Harness the power of end-of-year giving with a customized donation button on your nonprofit’s website!