There’s no denying the fact that digital fundraising has become a hot topic for many nonprofit organizations, especially with the recent success of viral campaigns like ALS’ Ice Bucket Challenge.
Increased awareness and engagement are common byproducts of digital fundraising campaigns, but how do they impact your organization’s overall mission?
3 Short-Term Benefits of Digital Fundraising Campaigns
Here are a few of the immediate benefits your organization can experience by investing in a digital fundraising campaign…
1. They offer a quicker return on investment than offline acquisition and upgrade campaigns.
It can take up to 3-5 years for nonprofits to see a return on investment from a traditional offline acquisition or upgrade campaign. From our experience, most organizations that invest in a digital fundraising campaign experience a return on their investment within 30 days of one-day digital blitz campaigns and 90-120 days for larger scale campaigns.
2. They create a cost-effective way to acquire new prospects and cultivate them into donors.
Digital fundraising campaigns are an extremely effective way to reactivate and upgrade existing donors. From our experience, the contributions made by reactivated or upgraded donors often help offset the cost of the initial investment to run the campaign. In turn, digital fundraising campaigns can be one of the most effective ways for nonprofit organizations to acquire new names because the investment can be covered by the contributions from current donors in your file.
3. They provide natural and easy ways for participants, donors, and amplifiers to engage others.
Digital campaigns have the potential to go viral in ways that offline campaigns cannot. According to a 2012 study conducted by the Association of Fundraising Professionals, nearly half of the American population has learned about a cause or nonprofit through social media or online channels.
Digital fundraising can seem like an overwhelming concept. However, online campaigns have proven to become a valuable opportunity for nonprofit organizations looking to engage potential and current donors in the 21st century. If you want to learn more about how to effectively increase donors and dollars online, don’t miss our latest free resource, “The Beginner’s Guide to Digital Fundraising.”