How to Make Your Org’s Donation Experience More Accessible

Your nonprofit works hard to make your mission come to life, from innovating new community programs to providing direct services for your beneficiaries. However, your ability to effectively serve those around you depends on one central component: a steady flow of donations.

If your nonprofit struggles to hit your fundraising goals, you might need to improve the accessibility of your online donation experience. A more inclusive, user-friendly donation process opens up your nonprofit to more prospective donors, allowing you to maximize funds raised  and build relationships you can count on year-round.

In this guide, we’ll cover three best practices to make your organization’s donation experience more accessible. With a strong donation page design and process, you’ll be well on your way to boosting revenue and deepening your impact.

1.  Streamline your donation form

Imagine you’re a donor hoping to give to a meaningful cause. You land on a nonprofit’s website and navigate to the donation page, only to notice that it seems to go on forever and includes too many required prompts. You likely don’t have the time or patience to fill out a form like this, and as a result, you click away to give your support elsewhere.

This is an all-too-common error that nonprofits make with online fundraising. Your donation form should be short and to the point, requiring donors to only fill out the information they absolutely need to in order to submit their gift.

Use these best practices to streamline your donation form and increase the likelihood that donors will give:

• Only make the most essential prompts mandatory: These include donors’ contact information, donation amount, and billing information. All other prompts can be made optional. For example, you might ask supporters how they found out about your cause or what motivated them to donate, but let them skip these questions if they don’t want to take the time to answer them. You can always add a survey question later!
• Add suggested giving amounts: This takes out the guesswork of how much donors’ should give. For example, you might create buttons to give $10, $25, $50, and $100. To take this strategy a step further, add in the specific impact each donation amount has on your mission. You might describe how $25 helps your animal welfare organization provide food for five animals for a month. This shows your supporters the tangible connection between their gift and the impact it has on your mission, which might prompt them to give even more than they originally planned.
• Optimize your donation page for mobile: 360MatchPro reports that 28% of online donations come from mobile devices. With so many donors interested in the convenience of giving from their phones, it’s essential to provide a mobile-friendly version of your donation page. Plus, integrating Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Venmo in your donation form provides a more efficient way to donate quickly, especially on mobile devices. Your mobile giving page can be even more streamlined than your desktop donation page so you can effectively grab your mobile audience’s attention and ensure they stick around to submit their gift.

Rather than spending hours trying to code and revamp your existing donation page, your nonprofit can leverage a content management system (CMS), also known as a website builder. A nonprofit-specific website builder with a drag-and-drop interface and optimized donation page templates makes it simple to create a streamlined donation page experience in just moments.

2.  Add flexible ways to give

Another obstacle donors may face when they arrive on your donation page is a lack of flexible payment options. By opening up your donation page to multiple ways to give and a variety of payment methods, you can expand your donor pool and encourage supporters to give to your organization again.

Use these tips to make your donation page more flexible:

• Accept a variety of payment methods beyond credit and debit card: Include other modes to give like ACH deposit, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay, especially helpful for mobile!
• Add an option to sign up for recurring giving: Add an option to click a checkbox to convert a one-time gift to a monthly contribution with no additional action necessary. This will help donors support you in the most sustainable way.
• Empower supporters to look up their matching gift eligibility: Add a matching gift widget to your donation page so supporters can see if they’re match eligible through their employers. Matching gifts allow supporters to double their impact without increasing their giving. Make sure to educate your supporters about this great opportunity by creating a matching gift landing page, highlighting matching gifts in your email newsletter, or posting related social media content.
• Create an option to sign up for text-to-give: Text-to-donate is one of the most convenient ways for supporters to give on the go. Add an optional prompt to your donation page where supporters can submit their phone number to be opted into your text-to-give campaigns. Once subscribed, they can receive regular updates from your nonprofit and mobile-friendly links to donate.

Making your donation page more flexible will allow you to cast a wider net and include more donors in your giving experience than ever before. You can always survey donors to learn more about their preferences and adjust Your donation pages as necessary.

3.  Follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG)

The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are internationally recognized provisions aiming to make the web a more inclusive place for all. By adhering to these guidelines, you’ll ensure that individuals with hearing, visual, motor, and other disabilities can readily interact with your donation page and submit a donation with ease.

Not only is this a best practice for widening your reach to more donors, but prioritizing accessibility also shows that your nonprofit has a welcoming, inclusive culture. As a result, you’ll be able to solidify your reputation as a forward-thinking and community-minded organization.

To make your donation page accessible to all, follow these best practices laid out in the WCAG:

• Add alternative text for visuals: Add brief descriptions that describe what non-text elements, such as photos of your beneficiaries on your donation page, are showing. Screen reader software will read this alternative text aloud so visitors who rely on it will gain value from your visuals. Additionally, if there is a video on your donation page, you should offer a transcript and closed captions.
• Make functionality available from a keyboard: This is critical for individuals with motor disabilities who may not be able to use a mouse. The keyboard should be able to complete all the same actions as a mouse, such as pressing “tab” to navigate or “enter” to click on elements.
• Ensure there is sufficient contrast between the background and foreground: For example, you might make a donation page with a white background and black text so the copy is easily readable.
• Create useful error messages: If supporters type in a word instead of a number when entering in their donation amount, for example, your donation page should alert users to the mistake and explain how to correct it. This will prevent users from getting confused or frustrated if their donation isn’t going through due to an error.

Morweb recommends using a website builder that already has flexible and customizable donation page templates optimized for accessibility. Look for a CMS that offers features like the ability to easily add alt text and an accessibility widget so users can adjust their viewing experience on your website to their exact needs.

The Gist

Your donors are the beating heart of your nonprofit. To make it as simple as possible for them to contribute to your mission on a recurring basis, it’s essential that you create an accessible, inclusive donation experience. Using your website builder, monitor metrics like page views and conversion rates for your donation page so you can optimize your design as needed to boost results.

Guestblog provided by Morweb.