FirstGiving Online Donate Button and End-of-Year Giving

End-of-Year Giving

•  33% of donations made in the year are made in December •  10% of donations made in the year are made in the last 2 days of December! •  Largely tax-related… but holiday giving also comes into play here.

Your donors are eager to give to your nonprofit. Do you have a way of capturing this explosion of generosity?

FirstGiving’s Online Donate Button can help.

•  It’s helpful to have a way for donors to give directly from your website. •  Having a donation button on your website is for the “impulse buy” of donating!

•  Our button lets donors give without leaving your site – their experience with your website is uninterrupted by the donation process.

•  For your End-of-Year Giving campaign, using a donate button on your website can make the process swift and simple for your donors.

Specific features of the Online Donate Button Personalization •  Your organization’s logo •  A brief blurb about your organization or campaign •  Your choice of 7 button colors to match your website design

Options for Donors

•  Multiple giving levels •  Custom donation amounts •  In Memory donations

How to set up the Button

•  Add your logo

•  Enter or edit your organization name

•  Type a brief description of the mission or goal of this campaign

•  Select the color you would like your button to be – you can preview it!

•  Choose whether to have multiple giving levels, and enter them if applicable

Advanced features •  Access the Advanced Features by

clicking the gear icon

•  Allow donors to pay the transaction fee, just like they can on the main FirstGiving site

•  Allow donors to make their donation a recurring donation (monthly or other time period of their choice)

•  Have donation notifications sent to you at the email address of your choice

•  Customize the thank-you message included on the email your donors receive

•  When you’re ready, click “Save Settings” to continue.

What would you like to do with your Button? •  When you have clicked “Save

Settings,” you will see this screen, where you choose what you would like to do with your Donate Button.

•  Install it on your own site by choosing “I will set it up on my site” (the default) or “I have a guy for that” if someone else manages your website

•  Install it on your organization’s Facebook fanpage to allow your fans to donate from Facebook

•  Print it out as a QR code to allow your supporters to scan it with their smartphones and donate directly from their phone, wherever they are at the time

•  To edit your button, click “Update Button” – remember to save again when you’re done, then reinstall the code.

Examples

WalkBoston is using the Online Donate Button on their own website.

•  They are using FirstGiving’s default button image in orange.

•  They have set up 3 giving levels for different types of membership.

•  Donors are invited to pay the transaction fee.

Using the button on your own website #1

Examples

Voices of Hope is using the Online Donate Button on their own website.

•  They have used their own custom graphic by replacing the address of our image in the button code.

•  They are not using giving levels.

•  They’ve installed the button in the header of their website so that it appears on every page, along with their logo and navigation.

Using the button on your own website #2

Examples

•  FirstGiving is using our Donate Button for our “Charity of the Month” program – you can create a button for any nonprofit and install it on your Facebook fanpage

•  Donors can click the “Donate Now” button and also post a message to share with their friends, so that their friends may be inspired to donate as well!

Facebook donate button

Examples

•  You can save an image of your Donate Button as a QR code – then, print it out on your promotional materials

•  Donors can scan the code with their smartphones, which will allow them to make a donation right on the spot.

QR Code

Using the Donate Button for End-of-Year Giving

•  You can set up fundraising campaigns both for fundraising, on the FirstGiving site, and for donations only, on your own website.

•  Create a page on your website dedicated to your End-of-Year appeal, and install the button on that page.

•  All donations made through the button will be recorded in your Direct Donations report.

Summary

•  The FirstGiving Online Donate Button is useful for a variety of donation-button needs, but it can be particularly helpful for driving end-of-year giving because it is quick, easy, and integrated with your website and your FirstGiving reports.

•  No time in the year sees as much or as heavy donation activity as December, particularly the last 2 days of the month – so it pays to get a donation solution in place now.

•  Expand the reach of your button by installing it on Facebook and printing it out as a QR code.

Harness the power of end-of-year giving with a customized donation button on your nonprofit’s website!

Q & A

More burning questions? Visit the Success Center or email us at

learningcenter@firstgiving.com