MAKING THE MOST OF YOURFUNDRAISING WEBSITE

CONTENTS

3 Making Your Fundraising Website a Priority

5 First Impressions: How Do I Look?Branding & Theme

12 Content & StorytellingDefining the Problem

Story to Solution

17 Campaign & Site AdministrationDonation Tiers

Impact Metrics

Progress Bars & Timelines

Updates & Outreach

Metrics & Reporting

25 Peer-to-Peer Fundraising

28 Putting It All Together

30 Building Your Fundraising Website on CauseVox

CauseVox is a crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising platform for nonprofits and social good projects.

www.causevox.com

MAKING YOUR FUNDRAISING

WEBSITE A PRIORITY

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � MAKING YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE A PRIORITY 4

Although there are multiple opportunities to promote your nonprofit’s fundraising campaigns these days through social media, email, advertising, press, and more, the most important channel is your actual fundraising website. During a campaign, this is the first true impression a potential donor has

of your organization, the first chance to learn about who you are, the work

you do, and how they can make an impact with you.

We like to think of your fundraising site as a welcome mat, beckoning

new and old friends alike inside, offering them a chance to get to know

you better, and see what’s going on behind the scenes. Some visitors

will return again and again, spending more and more time with each

visit, and others you may not see again. But while they’re there, how can

you make them feel at home?

In this eBook, we’ll explore how you can make the most of your

fundraising website, to maximize the impact you and your community

can make together to achieve your vision and goals. We’ll discuss visual

and design elements, content, site administration, metrics, and reporting,

and fundraising options. And for those of you who already use CauseVox

for your fundraising needs, or are considering it, we’ll provide some

specifics to our platform as well. Let’s get started!

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � FIRST IMPRESSIONS: HOW DO I LOOK? 5

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

HOW DO I LOOK?

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � FIRST IMPRESSIONS: HOW DO I LOOK? 6

If you have purchased anything ever, you probably understand the importance of branding. If you have a favorite type of cereal or running shoe, if you find yourself

humming a commercial jingle or you can recognize a logo just by the colors,

or if you know a product’s tagline, you’ve been influenced by branding.

But it’s not just retail brands and businesses that benefit from great

branding — nonprofits do, too.

Some of the most enduring and respected charities are associated with

their logo, colors, or taglines: think American Red Cross, World Wildlife

Federation, or the Girl Scouts. These organizations have made brand

recognition a priority through the years, so that even as they have evolved

and adapted and tweaked things here and there, the visual essence remains.

You see a red cross on a white background and you know immediately that

Red Cross is present. You see a green box of cookies, and you think Girl

Scouts. You see a panda logo and know WWF is involved. But even these

major philanthropies know that it doesn’t stop there.

Your fundraising website should align with your brand in as many ways

possible. Sticking a logo and name on a page doesn’t create branding.

There’s much more to it than that. Now we’ll take you step by step

and lay out the various ways that you can make your website visually

complementary to your organizational mission and goals.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � FIRST IMPRESSIONS: HOW DO I LOOK? 7

Branding & ThemeLogos & Taglines

¢ Your logo should be obvious and up front on your homepage and

throughout all pages of your website. It’s your calling card. Place it

prominently on the top of your fundraising website.

¢ Use high-resolution PNG files for your logo for the best quality no

matter what monitor someone is using, or what kind of device.

¢ Transparent PNG files work best versus JPGs with colored backgrounds

to get the best match against your website’s background or wallpaper.

¢ Do not use various versions of your logo throughout the fundraising

website. Be consistent, and use the primary one that represents your

brand. An organizational branding and style guide or online toolkit for

press, partners, and fundraisers can provide alternative approved logo

options for download and use.

¢ Consider how you want to use your organizational tagline if you have

one. Is it part of the logo, or is it generally used separately? Again, use appropriate approved style for your tagline, and aim to be consistent

with your primary website.

�Transparent backgrounds in logos allow you blend in your logo with your background seamlessly.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � FIRST IMPRESSIONS: HOW DO I LOOK? 8

Colors

¢ Your fundraising website colors should match

those of your branding and style guide and

primary website. Use your branding guide or ask

your graphic designer for the specific color codes.

¢ As much as possible, coordinate color use in the design in a similar fashion to your primary website

for consistency.

¢ If you do not have a branding and style guide with

set organizational colors, we recommend choosing

web-friendly color themes and palettes from

Adobe Color or ColourLover.

¢ Follow online best practices when it comes to

using colors for header and body copy, links, and

menu items.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � FIRST IMPRESSIONS: HOW DO I LOOK? 9

Images & Graphics

¢ Choose a background color, wallpaper, or image that aligns with

your primary website and style guide.

¢ Avoid images and graphics that detract from pertinent copy and

calls to action.

¢ Follow online best practices for creating and using web-friendly images and graphics, with high resolution and sizing.

¢ Always remember to appropriately credit photographers or designers if borrowing images (you can do this through captions, alt

tags, and meta data).

¢ Explore photo purchasing or borrowing services like Flickr’s

Creative Commons and this FreeUse group, Unsplash, Little Visuals, or

images in the public domain. (Explore some other options here.)

¢ When possible, use photos of people from your organization that

show real impact.

¢ Consistently use bold, prominently placed call to action buttons

throughout your site (i.e. Donate, Sign Up, Volunteer, Share).

�Unsplash is a website that features 10 free high-quality photos you can use for anything.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � FIRST IMPRESSIONS: HOW DO I LOOK? 10

Design & Layout

¢ Use straightforward and simple menus and navigation items to lead visitors throughout the

site.

¢ Avoid drawn out paths to action. The less clicks the better.

¢ Make it easy for supporters and donors to find key

pieces of information: who you are, what you do,

and how they can help. Also make a direct contact

email or phone number available.

¢ Don’t overcrowd your fundraising site with

unnecessary widgets, copy, and pages. Think

about how you can use your other channels and

platforms to showcase that stuff, so you can focus

on fundraising here! �Use a clean and simple structure to drive donations and sharing.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � FIRST IMPRESSIONS: HOW DO I LOOK? 11

URL

¢ Create continuity and build trust with your

primary website and your org name by using a

similar URL and domain.

¢ Make tracking and inbound marketing easier by

using your own domain.

¢ If using CauseVox, you can choose to use

your own domain, or host through us

(i.e. yournonprofit.causevox.com).

Ultimately, there are many ways you can use branding,

design, layout, and visual elements to create a

clean and authentic fundraising site. We hope this

breakdown provides a good foundation for you, or

even a refresher if you’re looking for a chance.

Learn more about how design and branding play

important roles in fundraising on our blog.

yournonprofit.causevox.com

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CONTENT & STORYTELLING 12

CONTENT & STORYTELLING

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CONTENT & STORYTELLING 13

A well-designed and pretty fundraising website means nothing if you don’t have compelling content to get people there in the first place. And with multiple mediums to distribute that content, such

as social media, your primary website, YouTube or Vimeo

channels, email, and more, you have many options to use

storytelling and strong action language to drive traffic to your

fundraising site.

During a campaign, all of your content distribution channels

should be aligned to point to your fundraising site with the goal

to drive donations.

While some visitors may head to your site and immediately make

a donation (they’re probably long time supporters, a friend of a

current donor, or already did some research elsewhere), others

may want to take a minute to look around and get the story before

contributing their money — especially if they didn’t first engage

with content from one of your other channels.

But they don’t have all day. Visitors will want to spend maybe

a couple of minutes to get acquainted with your mission and

goals, but then they’re ready to give or ready to give out. You

don’t have much time to draw them in. Consider these steps:

Stories shared on channels direct traffic and donations

to your fundraising site

FUNDRAISING SITE

CAMPAIGNYOUTUBE

VIDEO

SOCIALMEDIAPOSTS

E-MAILLINKS

BLOG POSTS

LINKS FROM YOUR ORG WEBSITE

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CONTENT & STORYTELLING 14

Defining the ProblemOne of the most important elements in a fundraising site

is to quickly and efficiently explain the problem or the

need. There are two elements to this: the overall problem

that your organization is trying to solve — which can tie

into your mission; and then the more specific, current

need — which supports a fundraising campaign.

So for instance, your nonprofit may want to eliminate

hunger in New York City by 2020. That’s the

overarching goal, the big picture problem. But for

your summer campaign, you may decide to focus on

one borough of NYC, or a group of shelters in a single

neighborhood, or one public school. This problem

is specific, it’s current, and it’s got tangible impact

measures for a short fundraising campaign.

How does this all fit into your fundraising website,

then? We’ll start with the “big picture” problem: once

someone lands on your site, they briefly take in your

logo, tagline, and overall design, and then perhaps

they’ll want to get a few more basic details about who

you are and what they need to do to get involved. We

recommend these best practices:

¢ Start with a one-liner so first time visitors get the

gist of what you’re about.

¢ While you may have a pie-in-sky vision statement,

break down your mission and goals into tangible,

approachable language. Everyday donors do not

like jargon and what we call “sector speak.”

¢ Craft language and terms you’d use when speaking

to a middle-schooler, your neighbor, or your

mother. Avoid buzzwords and heavy stats.

¢ Make it clear how donors can contribute, and what

the impact and outcomes are.

But now it’s time to get to the solution part of the

story, and that’s where your fundraising campaign

comes in.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CONTENT & STORYTELLING 15

Story to SolutionOnce someone has gotten the gist of what the

problem is and why your organization exists, they

want to know why this matters, and why you need

their help. They want to know how they can play a

role in the solution to the problem.

Just as more retail brands are using storytelling in

their advertising and commercials to connect with

consumers emotionally, you need to do the same to

connect people to be a part of the solution.

Think of it this way: a good story has a plot that

moves forward, character development, and some

sort of premise that everything rests on – a line that

summarizes the theme and story. The story also has a

beginning, middle, and an end. When you are creating

your fundraising campaign’s story, think of the

essentials in this way:

Who are the characters? [your org, supporters, people/things being impacted]

What is the plot? [problem, situation, needs]

What is the premise of the story/campaign? [theme/theory of change]

What is the beginning (problem), middle (action), and end (solution)?

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CONTENT & STORYTELLING 16

Your fundraising website and other content channels should answer these

questions in some way. The CauseVox platform makes it easy to post blogs,

or start a new one, to embed videos, photos, and other media, and share

campaign updates.

Here are a few things we recommend to make the most of your

fundraising site’s storytelling potential:

¢ Use video to show social impact by your organization. How are

you making a difference? Read our blog post to learn how two

organizations tackled this approach.

¢ Provide real-time updates in a short fundraising campaign to show

urgency and in-the-moment impact, but then tie it back to your larger

solution.

¢ Find creative ways to use data to tell your story. Here are some tips on

data visualization for your website.

¢ Does your work and mission have a common, recognizable theme in

storytelling? Come up with a unique twist on it to stand out from the

crowd.

¢ Don’t try to tell ALL the stories in one place. Pick the most compelling elements that will drive visitors to make a donation as soon as they

have consumed your content. Remember quality over quantity.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CAMPAIGN & SITE ADMINISTRATION 17

CAMPAIGN & SITE ADMINISTRATION

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CAMPAIGN & SITE ADMINISTRATION 18

You have a beautiful, impactful design and a great storytelling strategy. But now comes the technical stuff – how to manage your campaign fundraising site. If visitors come to your site but can’t figure out how to make a

donation, and you can’t show progress in a campaign, none of

the other stuff matters. Ultimately, the goal is to get donations

and make an impact. You want to see it, and your donors want

to know it’s happening.

A great fundraising site makes it easy for organizations to

manage their campaigns and to be transparent with donors.

Translating donations into measure of impact and giving

context through timelines and progress are essential elements

for this transparency.

Here are some of the features that the CauseVox

platform provides that we think make for a more robust

crowdfunding site administration experience.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CAMPAIGN & SITE ADMINISTRATION 19

Donation TiersA popular and effective feature of fundraising is using

donation tiers to provide several options of giving for a

campaign. It takes the guesswork out for the donors, but

also gives you a chance to tie your goals more specifically

to your mission, giving the donor a better handle on what

they are supporting.

To determine the donation tiers for your campaign, take a

look at your total fundraising goal, what the funds will be

used for, and what it will take to get there. Each campaign

will be different, so your tiers may vary from one project

to the next. Here’s an example setup that could be used

by an organization advocating for youth fitness:

$10 Covers the cost of a jump rope for a child

$25 Covers the 5k race entry fee for a child

$35 Buys a new pair of running shoes for a child

$50 Pays for two swimming lessons for a child

It’s not always easy to match donation levels with specific

impact goals, but when you can, it really increases your chances

of success for a campaign. You can create donation tiers quickly

and easily through your CauseVox admin dashboard, and edit

them at any time.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CAMPAIGN & SITE ADMINISTRATION 20

Impact MetricsThe Impact Metric is an automated counter set to show the impact of your nonprofit fundraising

campaign as it progresses, based on a unit of impact

that you create in your site settings.

So for instance, if you are able to say that a $25

donation provides paperback novels for three students

in a classroom, you can set that as your impact

metric, and as donations come in, the counter will

automatically calculate how many books you’ll be

able to purchase.�For every $10 donated,

this impact metric counts the number of people with clean water.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CAMPAIGN & SITE ADMINISTRATION 21

Here are three examples from CauseVox customers:

¢ World Bicycle Relief is raising $500,000 to provide

bikes for people around the world.

Impact metrIc = bIkes, of course!

¢ Friends and family are raising money to cover the

cost of physical therapy for Christian, a baby born

with a rare brain disease.

Impact metrIc = therapy sessIons, at $120 apIece

¢ No Child A Slave, an initiative of Beyond Borders, is

establishing Child Protection Brigades in 25 Port-

au-Prince neighborhoods in Haiti to free children

from slavery.

Impact metrIc = fully funded neIghborhood chIld protectIon brIgade

So why use the Impact Metric? For many nonprofits,

it’s a challenge to explain all of the programming and

nuances about restricted and unrestricted funding.

It’s even harder to tell a great story when all you’ve

got to work with is a big dollar figure. But when you

are able to equate those dollars with actual items

to be funded, or ideas put into action, your message

becomes stronger and your donors feel more

connected with your cause.

The Impact Metric can also help lend a sense of

urgency to your campaign as you close in on the

deadline. So if you have five hours left and you

still need 10 more Thanksgiving dinners to ensure

everyone at the homeless shelter receives a hot

meal, use that metric to drive your final appeal.

And of course, once your fundraising campaign is

complete, you have no better measure of success

than your Impact Metric.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CAMPAIGN & SITE ADMINISTRATION 22

Progress Bars & TimelinesNo matter how long your fundraising campaign is,

you’ll want to show your status, and keep people

abreast of the timeline. While a basic progress bar

shows how close you are to reaching a fundraising

goal, we like to give our users the option to show all

stages of progress: percent of funds raised for the

campaign, how that affects the impact metric, and

how many days are left in the campaign. Putting all

of those data points in context with each other give

supporters a much better picture of what needs to be

done to help your nonprofit to see success.

$7,000OF $10,000

70%

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CAMPAIGN & SITE ADMINISTRATION 23

Updates & OutreachA well-run campaign means updating your

community regularly. So in addition to the progress

bar, we recommend posting updates about the

campaign through the blogging tool. You also can

consider sending targeted emails to donors thanking

them and to provide additional opportunities to

take action and stay engaged with your nonprofit,

during and beyond the campaign. Don’t forget to

report out after a campaign has ended, too – whether

or not you reached your goal, your community

deserves to hear about the outcome, as soon as

possible after the deadline.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � CAMPAIGN & SITE ADMINISTRATION 24

Metrics & ReportingMore than ever, nonprofits are realizing the importance

of good data – and donors are, too. That’s why a key

attribute to an effective fundraising website includes

metrics and reporting features, for both the organization, and

individual or team fundraisers. CauseVox likes these features:

¢ Custom donation receipts

¢ Donation reports, custom and built-in

¢ Real-time updates in graphs and charts on your dashboard

¢ Email notifications and updates

¢ Donor wall

¢ Peer-to-peer fundraiser management and tracking

¢ Donor data management

¢ Offline donation management

¢ Mobile donation optimization

Learn more about donation processing and management

features on our website.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING 25

PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING 26

Of course, one of the most fun and effective features of nonprofit crowdfunding is individual and team fundraising, also known as peer-to-peer (P2P) fundraising. CauseVox is a big supporter of this strategy, because

we believe that P2P fundraising is one of the most

compelling approaches to achieve your goals –

both for awareness and financially. In 2013, people

raised $5.1B through crowdfunding around the world.

And within the nonprofit world, peer-to-peer

fundraising grew by 60% from the year before.

More than ever, people give because someone else

asked them to – a friend, family member, neighbor,

classmate, etc. So while a strong brand and a

compelling organizational story are hugely important,

so is making all of that accessible and transferable to

everyday people who want to make a difference in

their own special way.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � PEER-TO-PEER FUNDRAISING 27

To that end, P2P fundraising features are a priority for the CauseVox team,

and we spend a significant amount of time making sure that we are creating

opportunities for your nonprofit to maximize your P2P strategy. Here are just

some of the options available on our own platform:

¢ Individual and team pages, management, and reporting

¢ Personal and team fundraiser blogs

¢ Pre-populated fundraiser appeals, ready for your edits and customization

¢ Easy and guided fundraising page creation

¢ Social media integration

¢ Custom fields and features

We strongly recommend crafting a coaching strategy for your P2P fundraisers

to help them see success with you, for a short-term campaign, and in the

long run. From sending individual or team emails, to posting tips to the

dashboard, and providing toolkits and other resources, there are numerous

ways you can guide your fundraisers to make an impact on a personal

and local level that feeds into your regional, national, or global efforts.

Learn more about personal fundraising in our eBook,

The Ultimate Guide to Peer-to-Peer Fundraising.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 28

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 29

There are so many things to consider when creating a fundraising website. You could go down a rabbit hole of reporting and colors and blog updates and more. But don’t let the options intimidate you. It’s important to stay true to your

mission and message, and ultimately, ensure that your supporters can make

donations…because that’s the goal, isn’t it?

As your organization evolves and you plan out each campaign, take the time

to figure out how your fundraising site should reflect change and new goals.

The combination of great aesthetics, compelling storytelling, and a user-

friendly interface and administration will help you to make the most of your

fundraising website, and your donors to make a difference in the world.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � BUILDING YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE ON CAUSEVOx 30

BUILDING YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE

ON CAUSEVOx

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � BUILDING YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE ON CAUSEVOx 31

We know you’re itching to start your campaign, and we’re ready to help you make it happen! If you haven’t already, we hope you will sign up for CauseVox today to support your crowdfunding needs. As a CauseVox user, here’s just a few of the features you’ll have access to:

¢ Fully customizable fundraising site to integrate with your branding and design

¢ Comprehensive fundraising tools to help you manage your campaign

(metrics, emails, social media, content, donation progress, and more)

¢ Easy and clean user interface and admin dashboard to manage donors,

create content, adjust your campaign, and get real-time updates

¢ Personal and team fundraising pages for more resources, more reach, and more results

¢ Straightforward donation processing with offline gift integration, donor

data, and compatibility with the major transaction processors

¢ Free guides, toolkits, case studies and resources, in addition to our

frequently updated blog to help you be as successful as possible

There’s a lot more where that came from, and the CauseVox team is your number one

resource. Don’t hesitate to reach out for more information on any of the topics covered in this

guide, and feel free to browse our website for related content if you want to dig a little deeper.

Ready to get started? Sign up on CauseVox today.

MAKING THE MOST OF YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE � BUILDING YOUR FUNDRAISING WEBSITE ON CAUSEVOx 32

www.causevox.com