You’re building a fundraising website, but you don’t know where to start or how best to get the right attention. You just installed GiveWP but what should you do next?
Sign-up for our 30-minute Fundraising Website Audit like “Uniting 2 Serve Guatemala” did!
What is a Fundraising Website Audit?
GiveWP customers who purchase our Plus, Pro, or Agency Plan have the opportunity to schedule a 30-Minute Fundraising Website Audit with our Customer Success (CS) team.
Our CS managers have seen thousands of fundraising websites and interacted with thousands of nonprofit leaders over the years. Our audit is informed by all of that experience in addition to our own time in the fundraising world. The result is that you have actionable steps you can take to get the most out of your fundraising with your website and GiveWP.
When you schedule your audit, you’ll select what you’d like to prioritize in your individualized audit from a list of suggested topics. At the beginning of the call, we’ll also make sure you have some time to ask any specific questions before we dive in!
Before your audit, our CS team will review your website in detail and come prepared with actionable items for you to think about. There are several factors taken into account when reviewing your site such as site navigation,organization of campaigns/forms, storytelling, form use, and more.
During your audit, a member of our CS team will listen closely to your fundraising goals and offer suggestions for reaching those goals using GiveWP.
After your audit, you’ll receive a PDF document which will help guide you through some donation best practices, our suggestions from the call, and bonus resources.
Fundraising Website Audit Example: Uniting 2 Serve Guatemala
Uniting 2 Serve Guatemala is working to break the cycle of poverty in Guatemala through various initiatives. One of those initiatives is a family sponsorship program.
Dylan Brobst of Uniting 2 Serve Guatemala scheduled his Fundraising Website Audit with some key topics he wanted to cover: Customizing multiple donation campaigns and optimizing the donor experience.
Navigation/Site Flow
At the time of Dylan’s Website Audit, he had placed the general donation form on the homepage of the website, within the header section so it was the very first thing his website visitors would see.
This placement assumes that all website visitors have the information they need to make the decision to donate. However, with a lot of different initiatives going on, it’s important to communicate effectively with donors from the very first moment they experience your page.
For this reason, we discussed moving the general donation form to its own dedicated donation page and utilizing the homepage header section as a direct call to action. The two main pages Dylan wanted his donors to visit are the donation page and the “meet the families” page where all active families are available for sponsorship. Thus, this is what Dylan created:
This new homepage header section gives potential donors a clear understanding of the different aspects of this organization and some incentives for either learning more or taking direct action by donating.
Another small but impactful adjustment that was suggested during the audit was to add a “Donate” link to the main navigation. At the time of the audit, there was no link to the donation page since the donation form was on the main website page.
Now that it has its own dedicated landing page, it’s crucial for the donate button to be unmissed by donors on every page of the website.
Storytelling & Form Use
When Uniting 2 Serve Guatemala joined GiveWP, they set up a general giving form with a few of our add-ons, like Recurring Donations and Funds and Designations. They were using Funds and Designations to name each of the active families they are sponsoring on the form, so donors could choose which family to support. While this is a great use of Funds and Designations, there were some missing pieces that would make their strategy even more impactful.
The organization’s Active Family page has a section for each of the families they are supporting. There’s beautiful imagery and storytelling included on these pages, but there was no call to action to encourage folks to donate.
If a donor wanted to donate to a specific family, they would need to visit the “Active Families” page and then navigate to the donation page to find that family’s name from the drop down.
There are several criteria we cover within the Fundraising Website Audit that digs deep into the donor’s experience on the website. It’s important to notice what barriers might exist that may prevent a donor from making an informed donation, quickly.
To decrease this donor friction, we discussed creating a specific GiveWP form for each of the active families, so that each family page gives donors an opportunity to donate. This approach works seamlessly with the Funds and Designations add-on, where each of the family forms can be assigned to a specific fund, for example:
By creating individual forms for each of the active families the organization can customize their donation receipts for each family (with images of the family, their story, etc.) and each family can have their own fundraising goal. Plus, the donation reports will reflect the revenue allocated to each family, no matter if a donor donates on the individual family’s form or via the general giving form.
This also opens up more possibilities for using tools like our Donation Form Grid, where all of the family forms could be displayed in a grid for easy searching.
How can you get a Fundraising Audit today?
Our Fundraising Website Audit is available for GiveWP customers who purchase a Plus, Pro, or Agency Plan.
After your purchase, you’ll receive an email where you can book a time for your Fundraising Website Audit.
Once booked, you’ll receive an email confirmation for your audit and a member of our Customer Success team will prepare by reviewing your website and fundraising goals.
If you’re already a Plus, Pro, or Agency Plan holder, you can book your audit here!
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