It’s no secret that mobile devices are a regular component of everyday life. From how we communicate with friends, to how we check the weather, to how we get directions to work, our cellular devices are now an extension of our own bodies. It only makes sense that mobile fundraising and how nonprofits engage with their supporters are affected as well.
Currently, around 1 in 4 donors use their phones to discover new nonprofits and 25% of all donors complete online gifts from their mobile devices. In the past year alone, mobile giving donations have increased by 205%.
If you haven’t taken the steps to optimize your own online engagements for mobile use, then your nonprofit organization is missing out on valuable fundraising.
Specifically, you’re losing out on your contextual giving opportunities. Contextual giving describes the act of someone donating within the same context that inspired them to give in the first place, whether that’s your website, an event, or a conversation with a friend. This is important because during the moment you’re inspired to give, you’re also more likely to give more.
We at Kanopi are technology consultants for nonprofits, specializing in website building and development. Using our expertise, we’ve compiled these tips to help you optimize your own website for mobile donations:
- Familiarize yourself with different types of mobile giving
- Update your most popular landing pages for mobile use
- Keep the mobile giving experience streamlined and to the point
- Consider the visual layout of your mobile donation page
Optimizing your site for mobile donations doesn’t just mean making sure that it works on a phone. Most websites will show up on a mobile screen, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy to use or navigate. If the user has to constantly pinch to zoom or rotate your phone, they’re likely to just close the window and give up. Ready to learn more? Let’s begin.
1. Familiarize yourself with different types of mobile giving
Before you start making any updates to your website, let’s first go over the different types of mobile giving. This will help you better understand how a supporter may find out about your organization or online campaign, and the path on your website that they’ll take if they decide to give.
When someone makes a mobile donation to your nonprofit, it will likely be through one of these two methods:
- Mobile donation page. This is a mobile-optimized page on your website that supporters can visit from any device they have—including computers, tablets, and cellphones. To be mobile responsive, it should not only look great on any size screen, but should integrate with the device’s own functions. For instance, if your website has a button to email a staff member, clicking it should automatically bring the user to their mobile email app.
- Text fundraising. This is a form of mobile giving that enables donors to give via a text message. All you need is a designated shortened phone number (short code) and a campaign keyword. From there, you can either use the text-to-give or text-to-donate method. They both require texting a keyword to a shortcode, with the former charging the donor’s cell phone bill directly. The latter is more popular and simply presents texters with a direct link to the mobile donation page. If you want to review both types of text fundraising, we recommend a resource like Qgiv’s text-to-give vs text-to-donate guide.
No matter how someone makes a mobile donation, it’s likely that they’ll end up on your nonprofit’s website. This means that your most popular landing pages, not just your mobile giving page, should be optimized for any size screen.
2. Update your most popular landing pages for mobile use
Optimizing your website for mobile donations doesn’t just mean focusing on your online giving page. According to this article on the typical donor journey, most donors conduct research before deciding to give to an organization. This is how they’ll decide if they want to support your mission and give to your organization.
It’s crucial that you make it as easy as possible for supporters to find a reason to donate and further your fundraising, even when they’re on their mobile devices. As soon as they find your nonprofit website, they’ll likely be heading to your most popular landing pages and exploring site content.
Thus, you’ll need to optimize the following pages and content for mobile use:
- About Us
- Mission statement
- Event calendar
- Annual reports and analysis
- Case studies on past campaigns
- Testimonials from the community you serve
- Success stories and infographics that relay important metrics quickly
Typically, the content management system (CMS) that you use will have capabilities that allow you to create mobile versus desktop responsive pages. However, there are also a couple of quick changes and modifications that you can easily make if you want your website to be more mobile-friendly. For example, consider implementing:
- Portrait mode screen orientation because around 90% of mobile sites use vertical navigation while desktop versions are more likely to use horizontal navigation.
- Sticky navigation menu so that users can quickly explore other pages as they scroll.
- Larger texts and buttons for links since mobile users will be tapping with their fingers instead of using a mouse to click. Otherwise, your fingers may accidentally tap something else or be unable to select the action you want at all.
If you want to increase mobile donations to your organization, you need to make it as easy as possible for supporters to find out more and become inspired to give. Ensuring your website is easy to use on mobile devices will only help your donor stewardship efforts.
3. Keep the mobile giving experience streamlined and to the point
Now that your most-visited web pages are optimized for mobile use and site visitors are feeling inspired, it’s time to look at your online donation form and ask yourself if it is doing all it can to encourage donors to complete their gifts.
For one thing, an overly complicated and time-consuming donation form can be enough to turn away even your most passionate supporters. Mobile donors are usually contextual givers, so anything that makes this process longer takes them out of that moment of inspiration. You don’t want to lose any prospects at this stage, especially since you’ve already worked so hard to get them there in the first place.
Above all, it’s important to keep your online donation form streamlined and to the point. Be sure to:
- Embed your donation form within your website. Sending prospects to a third-party page interrupts the giving process and might even raise enough suspicions to change users’ minds. If you do send them to a third-party page, make sure that it is branded to your organization.
- Avoid asking unnecessary questions. If your form takes too long to fill out, it’s very possible that the user will lose interest and move on to something else. There’s little chance that they’ll come back to the form later on.
- Use an integrated payment processor. This not only keeps your essential donor and financial data together, but it continues to keep your supporters on the page. Using a third-party app like Venmo or PayPal adds another step to the giving process.
As the catalyst to a prospect becoming a donor, your online donation form and its user experience is critical to your mobile fundraising efforts. Keeping the giving experience as short and easy as possible is always the goal, even for your non-mobile donors.
4. Consider the visual layout of your mobile donation page
As we mentioned earlier, mobile users will likely be viewing your website via a portrait or vertical orientation. With this in mind, consider how you might optimize your mobile donation page and its content elements to leverage relationship building and fundraising opportunities.
First of all, you have to consider the content you want to prioritize. Because mobile screens are much smaller than desktop ones, you have less physical room to display content and information.
We recommend using the top of your donation page to reinforce your organization’s mission and campaign needs. Even just a couple of sentences or a heartwarming photo can be enough to pull at supporters’ heartstrings and remind them why they want to give to your organization in the first place.
Then, users should be presented with your embedded online donation and payment form. At the end of the form is a great place to incorporate options that can possibly increase your fundraising and engagement efforts.
For example, once mobile donors are done filling out the basic information, you can:
- Present them with a searchable matching gift database to see if they’re eligible to increase their original donation.
- Display a quick form for donors to opt-in to any fundraising newsletters and emails—which is great for starting the relationship on the right foot for new donors.
- Include social media buttons so that donors can not only access your organization’s accounts but also share their donation on their own platforms with their friends and families.
All of the best nonprofit websites keep layout and design in mind. This is even more critical for mobile users, as there is less space to work with. Carefully consider what elements you want at the top to pull prospective donors in, as well as what elements go after the donation form to set up the stage for continued engagement.
Conclusion
Mobile donations and fundraising will likely only increase. Even if you run the largest and most established nonprofit organization, going over the basics and ensuring that your website isn’t missing out on essential elements is critical. Use our tips above and set your organization for long-lasting success.
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