Welcome back to Ask a Responsive Fundraiser! This week, Matt Hussey, Founder and Lead Strategist at Generosity X, brings his expertise to help you tackle some of the most pressing challenges in nonprofit fundraising.
In a world where every dollar counts and every online interaction matters, Matt offers actionable advice on optimizing your website to boost donations, enhancing your email strategies to increase open rates, and focusing your limited resources on the most impactful areas for A/B testing. Whether your nonprofit is working with a tight budget or looking to refine its approach, Matt’s insights are designed to help you make the most of your efforts and drive meaningful results.
Be sure to check out past editions of Ask a Responsive Fundraiser and leave us a comment on LinkedIn so we can answer your questions!
Let’s dive in and see how you can transform these common hurdles into opportunities for growth!
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: Our nonprofit has a tight budget (like so many others!), which often means our website doesn’t get the attention it needs. What are your tips for optimizing our site so more people will donate online?
—Budget Bummers
Dear Bummers: Think of your website as your most valuable employee. It’s working late on December 31st and early on January 1st. In the 2020s, it’s almost impossible to grow—or even maintain—a strong fundraising program without a high-performing website.
The good news is that you can have a website that drives donations and excites donors by focusing on just two pages: your homepage and your donation page.
Most of your traffic (and I’m generalizing here, so bear with me) will only visit your homepage or donation page. If you make those pages great, you’ll see a big difference.
Here’s how to think about them:
- Homepage: Your homepage is your front door. If someone hears about your organization for the first time, the first place—and sometimes the only place—they’ll go to learn more is your homepage. So, your homepage should focus on explaining the problem you aim to solve, what a donation does (aka your approach), and why donations are needed now.
- Donation Page: Your donation page is your checkout. If someone made it here, they’re likely interested in donating. Keep it clear, easy, and free of frustration. Now is the time to REMIND them that donating is a great idea.
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: We’ve noticed that our email open rate is dropping. How can we increase open rates and encourage clicks?
—Keen for Clicks
Dear Keen: The subject line (and preview text) gives donors a reason to open your email. Donors are busy, and we all know how competitive our inboxes can be.
So, my two cents would be to make your subject line enticing. Try things that provoke curiosity or excite donors (and don’t forget to mention a match campaign in your subject line if you have one).
I also believe more of us approach our inbox like a to-do list, so try to make it feel frictionless. Subject lines like “This will just take a second” help reassure me that opening your email won’t add much more work to my plate.
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: We don’t have many resources to run A/B tests on our website or emails, but we would like to test a few things. What are the most critical areas to A/B test for a medium-sized nonprofit?
—Teach Me Testing
Dear Teach Me: Great question! Step back and look at the most important areas of your fundraising—testing fewer things but focusing on the right ones is far more valuable. Here are three suggestions:
- Email Copy Length: I’ve seen both long and short copy perform well—it really depends on the organization. This is usually a meaningful change, which means you’re more likely to see a significant impact.
- Email Copy Design: We’ve seen plain text emails outperform designed ones. This is often a noticeable difference for donors, making it a test that can show real impact.
- Donation Form: Testing your donation form can yield real dollar differences. If you can optimize your form to be 10% better, that affects ALL online donations (email, ads, print to digital, etc.). It’s where a little testing can go a long way, and it’s often the easiest place to reach statistical significance.
