How Online Giving is a Lot Like Online Dating

A recent survey revealed that over 41 million adult Americans had tried or are currently using an online dating service. I’ve been happily married for over 15 years, but I can’t even count how many of my friends have met someone they are still with through online dating. Meeting and building relationships online is very common these days.

Online giving is also growing rapidly. I thought it might be interesting to see how the advice out there about online dating might apply to our efforts to build a relationship with donors and encourage online gifts. Here are 7 common tips I found about online dating and how they apply to online giving.

1) Figure out what service is best for you.

As you consider an online giving portal or updating your existing one, you want to make it as easy as possible for donors to complete a gift with the fewest number of “clicks.” Don’t require “registration.” You want the look and feel of the online form to be professional and as frictionless as possible. Integrating with your larger organization’s existing providers might also save you some fees and startup costs.

If you are taking the plunge into charitable crowdfunding, which definitely requires robust online giving, you want a service that integrates with your own online payment portal so the charges are coming from your institution. We love Scalefunder, but do your own research and ask questions about how the gifts are finalized and appear on credit card statements.

The appearance of your institution’s name on a donor’s credit or debit card transaction statement is a key step in establishing a lifetime giving relationship with them.

2) Keep yourself safe.

The comparable rule for online giving is simple: you need to make sure that every section of your online giving program, including gifts entered from solicitations like your phonathon, is secure and PCI compliant. These regulations change pretty regularly, and you need to make sure that someone at your institution and all your vendors are on top of them. While you can construct a great campaign, donor cultivation disappears if you have a security issue.

There is nothing worse that can happen for your donor relations than a data breach.

3) Make your “profile” attention-grabbing and accessible.

There should definitely be a “give” button on your home page. Over 65% of givers have reported to responding to a direct mail appeal by giving online. You really won’t know in the coming years what drove donors to your online portal, so you need to be ready to embrace them with the same quality you put into all your appeals.

Also, it is a very good idea to accept every possible payment option. This is a donor-centric decision, and while some of the credit card options may cost you more in fees, you certainly don’t want a donor to turn away because you don’t accept the card they have just pulled out of their wallet.

I’m not suggesting you have to take the BitCoin plunge, but you should accept American Express.

4) Post great and current photos.

This is one tip that hits home all too often. Most organizations are great about updating their home pages. Giving pages often get missed because “changing the pictures is too hard.” If you have pictures on your giving pages, make sure they get the regular changes that the rest of your website sees. Keep in mind that through a web search or a link you send them, givers are likely to land right on your giving portal—in fact, it may be the “front door” and deserves as much attention as your home page.

If there is a young person with a Justin Bieber haircut in a picture on your online giving page, it’s probably out of date.

5) Tell the Truth.

This is a good reminder that both ethically and as a key donor-centric giving practice, we need to be totally clear about how funds will be used. A certainly level of distrust for bureaucracy and overhead is one reason why we’re seeing more donors designate their gifts. If you support scholarships, say it. If you help students take trips, say it. If you help cover staff costs, go ahead and say it. Annual funds have had incredible impacts for charitable organizations for many years. They also “help keep the lights on.” Donors understand this and should be leveled with.

Make sure your institution speaks and acts with one voice about the use of contributions, or the donor backlash will be big.

6) Have a memorable first date.

If your online donors don’t receive an immediate email confirmation following a gift, they are going to be checking their card transactions to make sure the gift went through. Immediate acknowledgment and follow up via email is just plain expected these days. You should also offer an option for donors to share their gift via social media.

I recently made my first gift online to First Book after meeting a member of their team at AFP. Within seconds, I had a PDF donation receipt and a thank you email, which was followed shortly by an opportunity to dedicate my gift in honor of a student or teacher and one of their impact stories. It was impressive, and I will give again.

Think about making your online giving experience truly top-notch and more than just a transaction.

7) Remember, the goal is a relationship.

It’s important to have a strategy at your organization to identify repeat microgivers, and provide them an opportunity to become more involved. Giving is more than just a transaction, and your stewardship, recognition, and involvement opportunities will confirm that.

We’re acquiring more and more first time donors online, and it’s a good idea for us to be thinking as giving professionals about how we can engage donors who enter through this channel.

These are just a few ways you can say to online donors: “Hey, I’m interesting, and I’m available.”

Who knows, it could be a match made in heaven.