New Fundraising Tool for Your Cause: Donor Choices

What makes people want to donate to a nonprofit?  Individuals donate for different reasons: some donate because they’re asked, others donate because they  believe in the mission of the organization; some people want to win the prize offered to donors, and others just want to stop receiving the same donations mailer over and over again.  We’ve learned that a major reason people do not donate is that they don’t know where their money is going and what exactly it will accomplish.  Donating to a nonprofit’s name or to a general concept is not as compelling as the feeling of fulfillment you get from knowing to whom, what, and where your hard-earned dollars went.  We’ve seen that nonprofits that do a good job of informing their supporters what their donations fund and who is impacted by those donations often see the number of donations, average donation amount, and repeat donations increase.  To that end, we have launched an exciting new feature called Donor Choices.

Donor Choices allows your nonprofit to designate price points at which members of your cause can donate and modifies your donation page to display those options.  For example, $1,000 will donate school supplies for one classroom, $50 will donate 12 warm blankets to refugees, and $20 will mean a basket of baby chicks for a family in Cameroon.  The price point will persist throughout the donation and promotion process so the individual will be able to tell their friends that, for example, they saved 2 puppies from an animal shelter with their donation to your cause.  To use Donor Choices, log in to your nonprofit dashboard at www.causes.com/partners and click on the “Donor Choices” tab.  Enter in the price point, title, and description of the Donor Choice and every cause that benefits your nonprofit will automatically start featuring your Donor Choices. Make your Choices concrete, impactful, and compelling so your supporters will love giving through your cause.