Innovative ideas like gamification are being used in fundraising to inspire, encourage, and promote more giving with your donors.
In a gamified system, users are motivated by the possibility of a reward. Whether it’s through a competition, achievement, progress bar, badge, or points, there are several easy ways you can inspire donors to give by simply gamifying the process a bit.
As we’ve written about before with virtual engagement, getting users to play along provides more interaction time with donors, educational opportunities, and rewards. It’s a win for both you and the participants!
What is Gamification?
Gamification does not necessarily mean turning giving into a game. Gamification means to add game elements into activities that are not typically seen as games – such as donating.
The psychology behind gamification can be fascinating. The principles of gameplay – making an activity seem fun, low-stakes, and rewarding – work as incredible motivators. In this instant gratification world, donors love seeing their efforts appreciated or even celebrated as victorious “wins.”
You can infuse gaming elements in a way that educates, engages, and most importantly, inspires your audience to take action, whether that’s fundraising, recruiting new donors, or spreading awareness.
Gamify Your Giving
Sounds great, but how is it done? Check out these strategies for simple ways to gamify your giving campaigns.
Challenges
Challenging your donors to raise towards a set goal is a simple way to add a game element. Challenges create a healthy sense of competition that can lead to a huge boost in numbers. In fact, one article from Science Daily finds:
Men will donate four times more to a fundraiser in response to a contribution made from another male.
When creating your own challenge, you can make it amount-centered, where donors who hit a certain level win. Or, you can try a time-based challenge, and the most donations in a certain time period wins. You can also try this with a certain group of givers, like an office, where departments can compete against one another to see who can raise the most money.
Social media challenges are another form of gamification that has been successful for many. You might remember the Ice Bucket Challenge a few years ago. Try a challenge and see how it goes for your organization!
Leaderboards
Leaderboards are a great visual way to recognize top donors. Leaderboards have been used by video games for decades to increase player engagement and retention. Donors love seeing their names recognized on top and being rewarded publicly for their efforts. A leaderboard can encourage a close second-place donor to make the push to be on top.
Leaderboards can be stand-alone achievements (such as “all time” donors), or they can be integrated into an existing challenge to easily see who is ahead. People like sharing their leaderboard status publicly. So it can be an easy way to spread the word and let donors do some of the promotion work for you!
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Unlocks
One way to inspire donors is by “locking” rewards behind certain tiers. Locking a reward makes it feel like a prize, which is a strong motivator. Prizes can be gifts from sponsors, such as gift cards or swag, that remain hidden until the incentive is met. You can even add to the game by letting the donor choose the mystery gift! It’s a win for both you and the sponsor: you get the donation, and your sponsor gets a new customer!
You can use the unlock feature if you have a major donor prepared to give. Consider “locking” that donation until you’ve hit a certain amount of other donations. Donors will want to work together to hit that goal to see the large prize!
Goal Bars
Goal bars are great ways to help encourage donors, as they frame donations around goals, and inspire action to reach them. Progress bars are already a popular feature on many social sites, like Facebook and LinkedIn, to encourage users to fill in a profile. They help retention on surveys, where one study found that 75% of people said that they preferred a progress bar to give them some indication of how much of the survey was still incomplete.
Since people love seeing a progress bar filled in, consider adding a goal bar to your donation forms. Like leaderboards, progress bars can be integrated into a specific challenge, or can be a stand-alone feature. No matter how you use it, donors will enjoy filling in a piece of that bar.
Badges and Points
A badge is a great way to distinguish levels of donors. Just as players “level up” in a game, a badge shows off a donor’s hard work and achievements. Similar to badges, you can create a points system, where users accumulate a total amount of points to reach a certain level. You can tie badge or point levels to unlocks, too – hiding prizes behind silver and gold tiers, for example. You can incorporate social sharing of points, allowing donors to reach out to their networks to help them hit a donation amount (personalized donation forms are great for this!)
Use a points system to encourage donors to participate in events. Consider setting up a point system that rewards people for attending virtual sessions. This brings them closer to your nonprofit and inspires donors to act.
Benefits of Gamification
Gamification can make giving fun, but it can also lead to results. Here are a few benefits to track after implementing a gamification strategy:
Increased Engagement
One great benefit of gamification is that it can build community. Nothing bonds people like a good game or competition! Watch for increased engagement in the weeks after a gamification rollout to see how your strategy is working.
User-Generated Content
As we mentioned, people love sharing their achievements publicly. Users can share a fundraising challenge to encourage others to join, or show off a leaderboard or badge status as a symbol of pride. This is an easy, passive way to get more eyes on your goal!
Virality
Though it’s rare, the engaging nature of gamification can lead to a fundraising goal going viral. Take one of the most famous examples of all time: the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. One study done on this famous challenge said that the social pressure and sense of competition were prime driving factors that made this trend so successful. While it may not be an ice bucket, a public challenge can drive big names and users to your cause.
Gamifying with the New Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Add-on (Coming Soon)
The great news is that you won’t have to look for new software and tools to add gamification elements to your donation page. Gamification is built into our new Peer-to-Peer fundraising add-on!
One benefit of peer-to-peer fundraising is the ability to allow your volunteers to create their own branded donation forms. This is a great feature for creating and sharing team challenges and competitions! It makes the fundraising ask seem more genuine, because the plea comes from someone outside your organization. The peer-to-peer function will include gamification features like leadership badges, team pages, fundraising goal bars, and more. It should be available to users by the end of this year.
Available Now
Get the full GiveWP Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Suite today to allow your supporters to raise money for you.
Try Gamification Today
No matter the strategy you use, gamification elements can give donors a sense of personal involvement and progress. The points, challenges, leaderboards, and badges all create a healthy competition that drives action.
Try adding gamification to your fundraising today!
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