44 Ways to Build Trust and Gain Donors Online

Lately, it seems like everyone including your grandma, Bill Gates, and the Dalai Lama are talking about increasing online donations. Voices are constantly peppering you with how to simplify your donation form, employ stronger calls to action, and use headlines that even a 15-year-old playing a video game wouldn't be able to ignore.

But what about all the other ways visitors can engage with your nonprofit online? Keep in mind one of the greatest truths in fundraising: People will only donate to organizations they trust, and trust doesn't happen at the first handshake or website visit.

Build Trust One Step at a Time

When I talk to nonprofits, I hear one of two things:

"When new people visit our website, a lot of them will donate online immediately."

Or

"There is no way someone is ever going to donate through our website."

Both statements are often far from the truth. Almost always, donations come after people have engaged with your nonprofit in some other way. The process of becoming a donor typically looks more like this:

1. A local resident, Stephanie, sees an interesting story about a family your nonprofit helped keep warm during the winter on her friend's Facebook feed. She likes your Facebook page.
2. Three weeks later, Stephanie notices a volunteer opportunity you posted on Facebook to bring coats to families near her neighborhood. She clicks the link you shared, signs up to volunteer, and checks a box to start receiving your email newsletter.
3. One month after volunteering, Stephanie receives your email newsletter with a wonderful story about the coats she helped provide to families. She clicks the donate link in the newsletter and makes a donation.

In this story, you can see how every form of online engagement has the ability to contribute to starting relationships, building trust, and ultimately driving folks to donate.

44 Ways People Can Engage with Your Nonprofit Online

So that brings us to an important question surrounding online engagement: How else can people take action on the Internet outside of making a donation? Since every nonprofit is different, it's not going to be helpful to tell you exactly how you should encourage people to engage with you. But I can give you a list of actions to pick from, and you can take it from there. With that said, here is a list of 44 different ways people can engage with your nonprofit online outside of making a donation.

Website Actions

These actions can be taken by visitors directly on your website.

• Sign up to volunteer
• Sign up for your email newsletter
• Download a piece of educational content (for example, How to Grow a Flourishing Neighborhood Garden, or How to Protect Your Children from Cybercriminals)
• Download a member directory
• Watch a video (could be a training or story of impact in the community)
• Share a page, blog post, or article via social media share buttons
• Reach out through a contact form
• Post on a forum
• Sign up to be a user
• Sign up for an event or class
• Purchase a product (t-shirt, mug, and so on)
• Listen to a podcast
• Sign up for an appointment
• Comment on a blog post
• Search for a local chapter
• Create a team-based fundraising campaign

Social Media Actions

Your website isn't the only place people can engage with you. There are also many ways they can connect with you through social media.

Facebook

• Like one of your posts
• Share one of your posts
• Comment on one of your posts
• Like your page
• Click one of your links

Twitter

• Mention your nonprofit
• Retweet one of your tweets
• Follow your nonprofit

YouTube

• Watch a video
• Subscribe to your channel
• Comment on one of your videos

Pinterest

• Pin something you pinned or an image from your site
• Like something you pinned
• Comment on something you pinned
• Share something you pinned

LinkedIn

• Like one of your updates
• Share one of your updates
• Follow your nonprofit

Google+

• Follow your nonprofit
• +1 one of your posts
• Share one of your posts
• Comment on one of your posts

Instagram

• Like one of your posts
• Comment on one of your posts

Email Newsletter Actions

Just like social media, email is a great way to drive engagement where people are, rummaging through their inbox.

• Open your email newsletter (even if they don't click, they might still be reading)
• Click a link in your newsletter
• Share the newsletter with a friend or colleague
• Share the newsletter on social media

Hopefully this list helps you start thinking about the process someone might take to build a relationship with your organization online. Once you've provided opportunities for visitors to take action, it's your job to then drive them to engage. And only after they've acted, when a relationship really exists, should you consider trying to turn them into a lifelong donor.

This post was written by Jonathan Goldford. Jonathan is a partner at Wired Impact, a web design company that builds websites for nonprofits. He spends the majority of his time focused on web development and is passionate about encouraging nonprofits to use the web as a tool to improve the community. Jonathan has written articles on web and online marketing for publications such as Mashable, Business Insider, and American Express OPEN Forum.

Image: Startup Stock Photos / CC0 Public Domain

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