Nonprofit Ecommerce: How to Create Your Online Store

If you’re looking to create a nonprofit ecommerce store to boost fundraising efforts, this guide is for you.

Nonprofit ecommerce doesn’t stop with online donations. Charity merchandise is one of the best fundraising tools and revenue streams available!

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the ins and outs of nonprofit ecommerce, including creating a charity swag store that’s part of your nonprofit website. This online store will allow donors and the general public to purchase items and make donations in the same transaction. You can also use swag for gift items when donors reach certain gifting milestones.

Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let’s get our facts straight.

Can Nonprofits Launch an Online Store?

Yes, nonprofits can launch an online store. Doing so can help you raise extra funds, increase awareness, and engage supporters.

There are a few things you need to keep in mind when setting one up, though. These include:

1. Tax compliance. This includes collecting sales tax or tax-exempt status.
2. Business licenses and permits. Depending on the items you’re selling or your locality, you may need either of these.
3. Consumer protection laws. Like all online stores, you’ll need refund and return policies, a privacy policy, and terms of service.
4. Fundraising regulations. Depending on your locality, you may also need to comply with charitable solicitation laws or disclose how the proceeds from your sales will be used.

It’s worth checking with legal and tax professionals who can guide you through each of these. The likelihood is that you will already comply with the majority of these.

How to Start a Nonprofit Ecommerce Store

So let’s say you’re happy with all of those and want to get started – how do you do it? This section will walk you through each step, starting with planning.

Step 1: Plan What You Want to Sell

Before we start setting up your ecommerce store, you’ll need to outline the type of things we want to sell. By doing this, we’ll be able to determine which platform will suit our online store most.

The most common type of products to sell on your nonprofit ecommerce store is merchandise or swag.

Nonprofit Swag Ideas

The best nonprofit swag items will resonate with your core donor base. While T-shirts are one of the most common items, that’s not always practical. (Is it something your donors and supporters would wear?)

There are plenty of different swag items to choose from. For those just starting an online store, items that don’t have sizing can be a better option. Because every item is the same, there’s less management for individual items or inventory to worry about.

Popular nonprofit swag items include:

• Tote bags
• Coffee cups or mugs
• Silicone bracelet
• Lip balm
• Water bottles
• T-shirts
• Baseball caps
• Phone chargers
• Notebooks or portfolios
• Stickers

Your goal when selecting a nonprofit swag item should be visibility. This strategy is most effective when you create an item that people want and will use, putting your organization out in the open.

Other nonprofit products

But let’s say you want to expand your product base to more than just merchandise. What else could you sell on your nonprofit ecommerce site?

• Digital products include ebooks or guides, online courses/webinars, and digital art/photography.
• Event tickets to fundraising galas, conferences, or community events.
• Memberships or subscription boxes.
• Experiences like in-person tours, travel packages, or virtual experiences.
• Customized products like custom donations, plaques, or commemorative items.

So now we’ve decided what you want your nonprofit to sell, let’s pick our platform.

Step 2: Choosing the Right Ecommerce Platform for Your Nonprofit Online Store

When setting up your nonprofit online store, you have a few options:

1. WordPress: Use the WooCommerce plugin to set up your online store (for free).
2. Shopify: Has monthly fees but an easy setup.
3. Etsy: Has an existing marketplace but is solely for your online store rather than a website combination.

How Do I Choose the Best Ecommerce Platform for My Nonprofit Organization?

Picking the right ecommerce platform for your nonprofit will depend on your current website setup, goals, and what you want to sell.

Your Current Website Setup

If your nonprofit website already exists and is hosted on WordPress, creating a Shopify store or setting up your online store on Etsy is likely not worth the hassle. Shopify charges you monthly fees and Etsy takes a cut of your revenue.

The logical choice in this example is to create your online store on your existing WordPress website using WooCommerce.

WooCommerce is a plugin you can install on your WordPress website that adds an online store. It’s free, easy to set up, and gives you a lot of freedom. Plus, it works perfectly with the WordPress donation plugin GiveWP. But we’ll talk about that more later.

Your Nonprofit Ecommerce Goals

The next thing to consider is your goals. What do you want your ecommerce store to achieve for your nonprofit?

If you’re looking to streamline your product sales, adding your online store to your existing website is a great option. This way, you’ll only need to learn and manage one platform and have full control over it.

Etsy is a great option if you want to grow your small business nonprofit using an existing platform. It has an established customer base that you can tap into.

The Type of Products You Want to Sell

Where you host your online store will also depend on the type of products you want to sell. If you want to stick to merchandise only, Etsy works just fine.

However, if you want the freedom to sell event tickets, digital products like webinars, experiences, and personalized items, WordPress or Shopify are your best bet. They both allow for more customization and freedom than Etsy.

If You Want to Take Donations While You Sell Products

This last question may be the kicker. WordPress is the top choice if you want to take donations while you sell products.

With WordPress, you can use GiveWP and their Donation Upsells for WooCommerce. This allows you to add an additional donation upsell to the shopping cart or checkout page, giving you another way to raise funds.

As a bonus, Shopify and WooCommerce allow you to use whatever payment processor you like (including PayPal, credit card, and more). However, if you want to avoid processing fees, WooCommerce/WordPress is your best option.

Step 3: Set up Your Nonprofit Ecommerce Store

The next step is to actually set up your ecommerce store. In this section, we’ll presume you’ve picked WordPress as your ecommerce solution of choice.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is a content management system (CMS) that allows you to easily create a website for your nonprofit.

With WordPress, you can use templates to create the design of your website in minutes. You can also add blog posts, pages, and more to the platform. It’s one of the most user-friendly ways to create a website.

WordPress is the top system used by charities in the UK alone, with over 29,000 charity sites using it over Wix.

How to Set Up Your Nonprofit Ecommerce Store With WordPress

WordPress and WooCommerce allow you to add an ecommerce store to your existing WordPress website in minutes.

With WooCommerce installed, you can easily create products, determine your own pricing, set shipping costs, and take orders online.

The best part? It takes no time at all to get up and running.

The Best Plugins for Your Ecommerce Store

One of the major benefits of using a platform like WordPress is the opportunity to customize your online store to suit you.

To get you started, we recommend the following plugins to help your nonprofit thrive.

GiveWP

GiveWP is the best donation plugin for WordPress, hands down. With GiveWP, you can add donation forms to your WordPress website, manage donors, create reports, and more.

Plus, GiveWP has many add-ons that allow you to customize fundraising, including peer-to-peer fundraising, recurring donations, text-to-give, and so much more.

For your ecommerce store, GiveWP has an add-on that allows you to add donation upsells to the checkout page and cart. So, while you sell your nonprofit merch, you can increase fundraising with added donations.

Flux Checkout for WooCommerce

To make the most out of your online store, you’ll need to improve the default checkout from WooCommerce.

Flux Checkout for WooCommerce upgrades the default WooCommerce checkout into a multi-step checkout designed for conversions. The last thing you want when a customer shops with you is an abandoned cart.

WooCommerce Attribute Swatches

If you sell merchandise on WooCommerce, WooCommerce Attribute Swatches will improve your customers’ experience.

Instead of clunky dropdowns for colors and materials, Attribute Swatches replaces them with color and image swatches. This way customers get a preview of the merch you’re selling with fewer clicks.

WooThumbs for WooCommerce

Round off your ecommerce store improvements by upgrading your product gallery.

WooThumbs for WooCommerce replaces the default WooCommerce product gallery and instead upgrades it. It allows you to add video, have multiple images for each of your product variations, and have more control over the layout of your gallery.

Now that your online store is in place, how do you market it to your existing or new customers?

Step 4: Marketing and Promotion

You may have the best nonprofit products around, but if people don’t know about them, they won’t buy them.

So, let’s explore some marketing and promotion tactics you could use.

Some marketing might be natural, particularly if products are tied to a campaign or donation levels, but that’s not the only way to generate interest for your charity merchandise store.

Here are a few ideas:

• Send a discount coupon with each donation receipt and a link to your online shop.
• Include a note with swag purchases to share the item on social media with a specific hashtag.
• Use email marketing to email donors and past shoppers when new items hit your charity store.
• Give items to your employees or best ambassadors to wear in public.
• Add a shop button or link to donation pages on your website.

Now that we’ve decided how to market and promote your online store, let’s examine the benefits.

The Benefits of a Nonprofit Store

Charity merchandise is a more practical fundraising option than you might think. Website tools, on-demand printing, and dropshipping make this a fairly easy (and affordable) option.

This means you don’t have to order anything in advance, and there is nearly no overhead cost. The only costs you encounter are those associated with design and website maintenance, which you need anyway to raise money online.

Swag items also provide longevity and marketing value for your organization. The more items with your organization’s name or logo, the more general awareness there is for your nonprofit.

Think of shirts, hats, and coffee mugs as walking billboards for your nonprofit. People will use and reuse these items for years.

The availability of swag items encourages donors to increase their gifts and show pride by supporting the organization with an item they can use. It also keeps donors around, reminding them to give or encouraging them to continue their recurring donation subscriptions. Just remember that if you give an item for a donation rather than selling it, the item should cost you less than the donor gives.

Start Your Nonprofit Ecommerce Store Today

Charity swag items can be a fun and practical way to generate interest in your nonprofit and help increase revenue. If you’ve been thinking about adding merchandise for your nonprofit, now is the time to use ecommerce and get started.

All you need is a WordPress website, a good idea, and GiveWP tools to get started. Learn more about setting up your store or check out the GiveWP demo website.