What is Digital Fundraising?
We all know that fundraising is when charitable foundations or governmental agencies seek and gather voluntary financial contributions to support their cause.
Digital fundraising is all about using the various digital channels for greater reach, awareness, and ultimately seek voluntary donations for the cause.
With restrictions in place the past 2 years from the COVID-19 pandemic, and with the future situation unpredictable, many fundraisers have had to bid farewell to in-person fundraising events and make the switch to solely online solutions.
While most of the principles of fundraising remain the same, there are differences. It needs to be noted that digital fundraising goes hand-in-hand with digital marketing.
What does that mean?
Instead of being project-based, digital fundraising is a continuous cycle that consists of attracting potential donors, engaging your audience and building relationships, and the call to action. This means having a content strategy to get more eyes on what you’re doing, and enticing viewers to stay with quality content and storytelling.
Build a community, and show you care about and appreciate your audience. Move them with stories, and don’t forget to share updates on the impact that has been achieved so they know the money they give matters.
Here are 3 insights into Digital Fundraising that would be useful to your organisation:
1. Showcase Both Emotional and Inspirational Beneficiaries Stories
Viewers are drawn and moved by good storytelling. As empathy is an important part about what makes us human, telling the backstory about your organisation, beneficiaries, and how the money will be used to support the cause is important for people to feel compelled to make a donation to your cause.
Case study from our own clients:
Client A - a charity organisation that supports children with cancer
“He worked 2 part time jobs and still found time to bake Raya cookies for the poor” - that was the copy to hook the reader on to find out more about the beneficiary of this organisation. We ran this ad on Facebook and Instagram telling the touching story about this boy in need who was also helping others despite his own adversities. This inspirational story resonated well with the audience and went on to become one of the top performing ads for this digital fundraiser campaign!
Client B - a charity organisation that supports the visually impaired community in Singapore
We ran inspirational story ads about beneficiaries, highlighting their many capabilities such as continuing/picking up sports, and even competing in the Paralympics. Showcasing how the organisation has helped their clients gain confidence through the workshops and training, as well as providing white cane and Guide Dogs.
2. Be transparent about how the funds will help the beneficiaries
It’s important for people to know where exactly their donation is going to and how it will help the beneficiary in need.
Case study from our own clients:
Client A - a charity organisation that supports children with cancer
We ran Facebook & Instagram ads telling the story of an 8 year old boy who had to have his leg amputated because of cancer. Facebook’s Instant Experience allowed us to tell the story through a few short paragraphs about how a Child Life Specialist from the organisation used a gingerbread man as an example during a counselling session, to understand more about how the boy felt when he received news of the amputation.
The end of the instant experience article tells the audience that Counselling is just one of the many services provided by the organisation, to the children and their families. This allows the reader to know what the donated money would be used for.
Client B - a charity organisation that supports the visually impaired community in Singapore
The campaign goal was clear with the main objective of raising $150,000 to bring in, train and match 3 Guide Dog teams. The social media posts we created aimed to highlight what goes on behind the scenes and how the money will be used. For instance, stating how a donation of $100 will be able to help with the maintenance of the Guide Dogs in training which includes food, toys and treats for them.
Additionally, we also produced videos to feature their clients and to effectively showcase how having a Guide Dog has enabled their lives - i.e. the independence to travel on their own and the newfound opportunities.
3. Work with a Social Enterprise Agency to Help Reach your Fundraising Goals (and more!)
As a Social Enterprise Agency who has worked with over 170 community projects in various community organisations for projects ranging from campaign ideation, to social media content strategy, video storytelling, marketing collateral design etc, we are well-versed in the space to reach the right target audience that would be interested in knowing more about and supporting your campaigns.
We have also raised more than 1.6 million dollars combined for various digital fundraising client projects we’ve worked on!
We’re also a company that walks the talk. We are advocates for inclusive hiring and have our own pool of Persons with Disabilities working under our inclusive talent portal, Younite. These are talents that will be able to support your creative projects with copywriting, graphic design services, and more. By working with us, you will also be giving them a fruitful opportunity to hone their skills and expand their portfolio.
Being a sustainable business is so important, and as a social enterprise, we have a responsibility to our environment. We have a decarbonisation promise to offset the carbon caused by all projects via Tree-Planting at MTC’s Forests located in Indonesia and the Philippines under our eco-partner, EcoMatcher.
Every Tree will have a unique blockchain registration number to track the carbon offset and they will be contributed to each client’s sustainability account.
Last but not least, we transfer the full ownership of all website and marketing collaterals, including working files, to all our clients, at no extra costs!
If you’re looking to run a successful digital fundraising campaign, or need help with brand awareness, feel free to reach out to us at karen@makethechange.sg to discuss how we can support your organisation.