Make Giving Easier For Your Donors In 2024

Recurring payments, donor portals, contactless payments, donor-covered fees. What do all of these fundraising tools have in common? The donor experience is central.

As a fundraising organization, you work day in and day out to inspire your donors to open their hearts and wallets for your cause. You spend time prospecting, building the relationship with intentional cultivation, and preparing for the actual ask.

When that time comes, you want the transition of funds to be as easy as possible for the donor. The easier it is for the donor to support your organization, the more donations your organization will receive.

Picture this: Your organization has worked tirelessly to prepare for your annual gala over the last three months. You and four other major gift officers are soliciting donations from your major donors throughout the event. The donor you’re working with is prepared to make a five-figure donation to your organization, but your card swiper isn’t working, and—not to add more pressure—another major gift officer is waiting for it. You’ll need to come back to that donor with a written pledge form and collect the donation later, and your colleague will need to do the same.

Not only was your donor unable to donate during their peak moment of inspiration, but it was a missed opportunity—for you and for your organization. That single technical issue you experienced at the gala could potentially trigger a domino effect:

• Reducing the number of solicitations you can make.
• Significantly decreasing the overall amount of funds your organization raises.
• Directly impacting the effectiveness of your mission.

It’s crucial to address these issues to maximize the success of your fundraising efforts.

When evaluating the donation process at your organization, always consider keeping the donor’s experience at the center. Using Bloomerang Tap to Pay in the Bloomerang Mobile App makes the donor experience at in-person events seamless: multiple donors can tap to donate on numerous devices at the same time. The donor just needs a WiFi-enabled card they can hold to your organization’s device to process the payment. The donor can even use their phone if they don’t have a credit card handy.

Contactless payments means there’s no need to handle anyone’s personal devices or for your donors to share their payment details, making this the most secure way to process donations in person.

But, the donor experience encompasses more than in-person events. And as fundraisers, we need to consider the full spectrum.

Does your online giving form encourage donors to set up recurring donations? Does the form offer an option to select the start date or the frequency of their recurring donation? How about managing that recurring donation?

Whether you’re ordering a pizza, booking your next vacation, or purchasing a prefabricated house on Amazon (yes, you really can do that), all of these actions have something in common: you can do them online—by yourself—at any time.

Most donors prefer to give online—regardless of their generation—with younger generations particularly influenced by social media posts. You can link these social media posts to your online campaign pages, cutting the time between receiving the appeal and donating versus other solicitation types like direct mail and personal asks.

When giving, donors today expect a personalized experience they can complete as quickly as purchasing on Amazon. Does your tool today adapt to meet your donors where they are—for example, with suggested donation amounts based on their likelihood to give? Personalize the experience by prepopulating their information? Or enable donors to skip the check-out and just give in two clicks—like they can on their favorite shopping apps?

Providing donors with the same ease to contribute to your cause can be just as simple. Online giving tools like Qgiv make it easy for your organization to create personalized experiences that make your donors feel like superheroes. Now, you can empower donors to give in seconds, creating their own logins to make future one-time gifts or set up and manage recurring donations.

Donors can manage payment methods, upgrade their giving, and download tax summaries independently. This not only gives donors a sense of ease and autonomy, but it significantly reduces administrative time for your organization to manage ongoing commitments and eliminates having to chase down a donor when a card expires or declines.

When your donors give through Bloomerang + Qgiv, they’ll have the tools to make donations the way they want.

Credit Card? Check.

ACH? Check.

Apple Pay? Check.

PayPal? Check.

Venmo? Check.

Tap to Pay? Check.

According to the Fundraising Effectiveness Project Q1 2023 report, the nonprofit sector is showing decreases in all areas: major donors, total dollars, and new donors. That means it’s more important than ever for giving to be easy, manageable, and flexible. Organizations like yours are already facing hardships when it comes to funding. Your giving tools don’t have to be one of them.

Are there any contactless payments that you would add to this list?