Insights from PayPal’s digital fundraising event
Howard Lake | 17 July 2018 | Blogs
This month WPN Chameleon’s digital specialists Addition took part in PayPal’s Charity office Hours event, bringing together experts in online donation conversion and experience to help charities increase their donations and find new ways to accept gifts.
Some of the main points discussed during this event were:
1. How to streamline the online donation experience
Sarah Fleming, Senior Commercial Manager, Charity & Financial Inclusion at PayPal set up the session explaining the reasons behind the meteoric rise in digital donations. Currently 50% of all donations are still in cash, but this continues to decrease with a recent survey stating that 70 per cent of charities have seen a drop in cash donations over the last three years.
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Sarah also explained that donating to charity, unlike clothing or food is not a necessity and requires a smart approach to get your charity’s message across, whilst also avoiding the pitfall of asking too many questions at the check-out.
She explained it was important to give donors choice with multiple payment options, such as offering PayPal or other methods alongside direct debits as 58% of direct debit forms are abandoned, according to PayPal.
As smart phones usage continues to rise, charities need their websites to be mobile first. A recent study shows that two thirds of all ecommerce transactions will be done by mobile by 2020.
2. Best practice for accepting contactless & in-person donations
PayPal offered some great advice to charities trialling contactless street donations. To avoid confusion and missing out on potential supporters, they suggested not mixing payment options and making it clear with signage that donors can give on the go. Of course, careful selection of your street teams is also vital to making this work.
3. Simple enhancement to increase donation conversion
Vicky Reeves Digital Director at WPN Chameleon, who also heads up digital fundraising specialists Addition started her presentation by explaining how a charity can use the Inspire > Engage > Convert process to start a conversation with donors, engage with them and then convert them to regular donors.
Vicky also explained why having the best user experience and user interface is vital for charities to make this model work successfully. Our goDonate online donation platform offers smaller charities an out-of-the box donation funnel and takes advantage of the latest payment technologies.
After an inspiring hour of presentations, each charity had a chance to sit down with a PayPal and an Addition representative for a 1:1 sessions to get advice on how to refine and increase their donation journeys.
Maz Nazemi is the digital product manager at Addition. He helps clients implement our digital products such as goDonate and inMem. If you are interested in getting advice on your online donation experience, please do get in touch.
- Chameleon and WPN to merge (22 April 2014)
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.