Please help me promote this non-profit site

[trihuynh]

I have just created a website to help non-profit organization to gain donations. But I don't know what is the best strategy to get people donate. I don't have lot of money for a fancy marketing plan. Can anyone suggest me what I should do ? It will be a big appriciate ! Here is the address : fundraising.kylincampus.com

[RKuhle]

Nice looking site. On your front page I found some great information about problems in the world and saw that your organization tries to help those problems, but I didn't see how your organization helps. You should list some of the things you do with the donated, the people who donate will definitely want to know where their money is going.

From what I've heard, incentives work nice. Not only will you be rewarding the donations, but you'll also be getting free promotion. Send them a t-shirt or a coffee mug, even a bumper sticker would be nice.

Good luck!

[trihuynh]

Thank you very much ! I'll improve my site and do what you suggest. This site is to help non-profit organizations to gain donations by using the internet, because most of them don't know much about technology and are struggling with lack of finance. I don't have much time and money but I think my idea can help them. Again, thank you very much
for your suggestions.

[Plebius]

Hi there trihuynh,

First of all, your link "Click here to donate to our programs" gives a 404 error. That's the first stumbling block. I'd also suggest changing that sentence to something like "Click here now to donate to over X charities" and replace X with the number of charities you can donate to.

There are many ways you can encourage people to make donations. Here are some persuasion principles you can use:

Reciprocity: Here you can give away cheap items in exchange for various levels of donation. Even publishing the names of people who donate money on your site may be enough to satisfy this. Or appeal to their desire to "give back to the community"

Committment and Consistency: First of all, you want the person to see themselves as a charitable person. "Join other charitable individuals like yourself and donate to your favorite charity" Another thing you can do here is to ask for some small committment from your visitors other than a donation. Maybe signing a petition or even voting on a simple poll. Studies show that when asked to make a small, seemingly inconsequential committment, people are much more likely to submit to larger requests.

Social Proof: Indicate in some way that other people donate from your site. "We collect more donations from people like you than any other website" etc. Also, on your donation page offer SPECIFIC amounts for people to donate. "How much would you like to donate? Check one: $100 $75 $50 $25 other" This reduces the uncertainty people have about a proper amount. When you put the higher amounts first, it also makes the smaller donations seem like less than they are because of the contrast principle.

Authority: I suggest you list the names of the organizations you take donations for more prominently on your first page and say something about their credentials. This improves your authority and credibility.

That's all I can think of now, Good luck!

[trihuynh]

Thank you, I have just modified my page. Please take a look and tell me what you think. Anybody can suggest me what to do to promote this site ? I think use opt-in mailing list is a good way but the price to rent a mailing list is so expensive, especially my site nearly has no budget at all.
fundraising.kylincampus.com

[Plebius]

Hi,

The site looks good. There are a few weird things in the grammar that should be fixed. Eg: "Everyday there are twenty five people die because of cancer "

Should be "Every day, 25 people die of cancer". etc.

Also, you might want to highlight the facts somehow instead of the "Did you know".

For the amount, there should be an "Other" in case they want to donate less than $25. Also, if you want people to donate with their credit card you should probably be using a secure connection.

Hope this helps,
-Plebius

[trihuynh]

thank you, I will fix the grammar. Because English is
not my first language so it's maybe a little difficult for me. I will use Paypal for the a cheap secure solution to get donation. Don't you think it's a good idea ? Thank you very much.

[donnyjoseph]

Don't you think people have to signup before they can
pay through pay pal

[trihuynh]

I have fixed the error. Can you tell me what is the best marketing technique to promote a non-profit site like mine ? I don't know if opt-in e-mail is a good solution.
fundraising.kylincampus.com