Charities rely on donations to fund their services so website can be their most powerful tool to help generate revenue.
Here are ten ways that charities can monetize their website:
01. Donation Pages
A prominent donation button on every page of your website page is the essential way to monetize a charity website. A prominent donation button appears on every page of the site, allowing visitors to donate with a simple click. To make it as simple as possible for donors, the Donation feature should be simple to use and support a variety of payment methods.
The donation form should also allow people to insert the name of someone they might be donating in memory of or in lieu. of flowers for a funeral.
02. Fundraising Events
Charities can host events such as quiz nights, concerts, galas, and other gatherings to raise money and awareness. The website would then to promote and sell tickets for the events. There are then a lot of ways to add further funds on the night. Create an event page and have the donation built into the page along with a raffle and auction forms for people to participate remotely.
03. Event Sponsorship
By providing businesses with exposure and marketing possibilities in exchange for their financial assistance, event sponsorship can be a terrific method to monetize a charity website.
The charity’s website, social media, event screens, event booklets, and more can all feature advertisements.
There are several chances to promote a business during and after an event.
04. Virtual Live Talent Show
Charities can stage a Talent Show from a venue and include all of that usual moneyraising methods such as ticket sales, a raffle and an auction on the night and more.
The technology now exists whereby the same event can be streamed online with pay per view tickets, a virtual raffle and a virtual auction with raffle tickets and bids being taken in real time on the charity website.
05. Merchandise Sales
For supporters to show their support for a cause, several charities sell goods like online in their own store.
Print On Demand stores for instance, could be a fantastic method for charities to make money while also spreading awareness of their goals.
This is a very untapped market for charities. The problem being that things like Online Print On Demand shops are technical and time consuming to setup initially. POD Stores that offer the royalties option are best because there is no charge upfront.
06. Charity Grants
Charities can apply for grants from foundations, corporations, and government agencies to support their programs and operations. Grant applications can be time-consuming, but they can be a great way to generate revenue and support the charity’s mission.
There are over 10,000 charities operating in Ireland and approx. 50% of funding comes from Government bodies. The Wheel is a great resource for information as they are the main representative voice for the charity and community sector in Ireland.
You can find a link to a post on their website specifically dealing with the subject of funding through grants on the resources section at the bottom of this article.
07. Online Auctions & Raffles
Auctions and Raffles are a great way to raise money online. A monthly auction and a raffle with prizes sourced from local business would be easy to setup and low cost to run. Both things if staged regular each month raffle would also be a great way to promote the website as a whole and bring new visitors which would raise awareness and keep the donation features in mind for the future.
08. Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is a popular way to raise money for a cause, and many charities use crowdfunding platforms to generate donations. Charities can create campaigns and share them on their website and social media channels, encouraging supporters to make donations and share the campaign with their friends and family.
09. Corporate Giving Programs
Many companies have corporate giving programs that allow their employees to make donations to charities. Charities can partner with businesses to promote their cause to employees, and to make it easy for them to make donations through the company’s giving program.
10. Advertising
Charities can generate revenue by selling advertising space on their website. This can include banner ads, sponsored content, and other types of advertising. Advertising should be relevant to the charity’s mission, and should not detract from the user experience of the website.
These are just some of the different strategies that can be used to raise funds and build a community around the charity. Think of a website as your shop front. If you change and refresh your online prescence on a consistent and regular basis with fresh and exciting updates, then people will return to see what you are up to.
Technology
Every charity needs a person with technology skills to help drive their strategy online to maximise donations and revenue from their website. Doing things the ‘old fashioned way’ has worked down the ages and the old adge ‘don’t fix what isn’t broken’ could be used. However, In this day and age it is my belief that this person is vital going forward to make donating and supporting a charity as easy as possible.
Not doing so risks, ‘leaving a lot of money on the table’.
It’s critical to take your charity’s objective, the requirements of your target donors and the efficiency of various fundraising tactics into account when selecting monetization strategies. With the right approach, a well-designed website and regular social media activity to drive people to your website, your charity can generate the support you need to make a success of your online strategy.
