Feb 1109
Examples of Really Great Donation Pages
February 9th, 2011
Every December, my husband Maki and I sit down and make decisions about our charitable giving. Once we’ve decided on the organizations and amounts, we go online and get everything done. What I’ve noticed is that most organizations have less than optimal donate pages or sections of their website. Here’s what I want from a Donate page:
- Why I should give
- What my money supports
- An easy way to make a donation, preferably without having to create a login
- If using a third party payment gateway or network, make it really clear to me what I’m going to see on my credit card statement
- A statement that you won’t rent or sell my information to other charities
Instead, what I usually find is a simple e-commerce form that simply asks me for my credit card information! What a waste of an opportunity to make the case for giving!
So I scoured the Web and looked for effective donation pages. Here are some I love:
Johns Hopkins Giving – This is a microsite devoted entirely to giving. I like the navigation: Why Give, Where to Give, How to Give, Calendar. I also like the branding area, which has great stories about Hopkins students and professors and doesn’t rotate too quickly.
United Way – I like the chart on the left that shows the percentage of a donation that goes to administrative costs vs. program costs. I like this label: Our work in education, income and health.
Red Cross – Instead of one big form, the first page of the Red Cross donation form lets me designate where my donation will go, e.g., disaster relief, military families, local chapter, unrestricted funds.
Humane Society – I like how the donation process starts on the home page through a simple form, then continues to a larger form. I think it’s effective to call donors heroes who stand up for animal rights.
How about you? What are your favorite donation pages? Got any examples of donation page disasters?
February 10th, 2011 at 9:50 am
Thanks for the “Donation Page” blog. We are developing a new non-profit and this really helps clear up a few items we had hanging out there.
Best regards from -5 degrees here on the shores of Lake Erie.
AL
November 21st, 2011 at 8:10 am
This is just what we needed to set up our Donation Page. Thanks so much. Keep up the good work!
November 30th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
http://doctorsoftheworld.org.uk/getinvolved/donatetomdmuk.asp
I like this page it simple and the charity is very transparent in what they do.
May 17th, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Love this article and I love how you broke down effective donation pages. I believe that we (as consumers) need to know what our money is supporting.
The key is making an emotional connection, once that is achieved then it is easier to fill out the form.
Patrick