[GUEST POST] Improve These Online Fundraising Campaigns to Engage Donors

October 17, 2025/ Ann Fellman / Fundraising / 0 comments

In 2024, the average nonprofit’s online revenue increased by 2%. While this number may seem small, it shows that online giving is on the rise, and nonprofits that capture donors’ attention through social media, their websites, or other corners of the internet are well-positioned to earn more.

Your nonprofit likely already runs online campaigns like peer-to-peer fundraising and text-to-give. Revamping these ideas can maximize the funds you raise, engage donors, and build your community. Let’s explore several online campaign types and how to improve your strategy for each one.

1. Peer-to-peer fundraising campaign

Peer-to-peer fundraising is an effective way to make supporters feel like true partners in achieving your nonprofit’s mission. These campaigns empower donors to get involved in the fundraising process, while allowing you to tap into their personal networks to grow your donor base.

On average, 44% of online revenue in 2024 came from donors without a previous giving history with the benefiting nonprofit. This proves that new supporters increasingly discover organizations through initiatives like peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns. Improve your peer-to-peer efforts by:

• Providing messaging guidelines. Help participants portray your nonprofit accurately by giving them clear instructions for how to communicate your organization’s mission. Create a short document with your campaign’s key points and any style guidelines so supporters know exactly how to spread the word to friends and family.
• Making it easy for participants to share. The more people your peer-to-peer campaign reaches, the more successful it will be. Enable social sharing buttons to empower participants to share their personal fundraising pages with as many people as possible.
• Encouraging competition. Get supporters invested in your campaign with some friendly competition. Set up a leaderboard so participants can see how much they’ve raised compared to others, and offer a prize to whoever raises the most.

Many organizations host peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns in tandem with fundraising events or challenges, such as a 5K race or social media challenge. If you already have a signature fundraising event you run each year, combining it with a peer-to-peer campaign can maximize its fundraising potential.

2. Crowdfunding campaign

In a crowdfunding campaign, your nonprofit creates a central campaign page and promotes it on communication channels like social media, email, and your website to raise funds. The key to a successful crowdfunding campaign is a compelling donation form that inspires giving. Your online donation page should be:

• Branded to your nonprofit. When donors land on your donation page, they should immediately know it belongs to your organization. Otherwise, they may not feel comfortable inputting sensitive information like their payment details. Include familiar brand elements, like your logo, colors, and fonts, to foster trust and increase brand recognition.

• • Easy to fill out. Avoid overwhelming donors and risking form abandonment by only asking for necessary information, like supporters’ names and payment information. Limit the number of questions per page so donors don’t have to scroll for too long to complete the form and can instead jump from page to page. Additionally, offer suggested donation amounts to make it easy for donors to decide how much to give.
    

• Compelling. Provide a strong reason why donors should contribute. Use images and impact statements to bring your mission to life. For example, you might say, “$100 helps purchase food for shelter pets,” and include an image of real dogs in your shelter. This information allows donors to connect their funds to real-life impacts and inspires them to give.

To further optimize your donation page, consider conducting A/B testing, which involves changing one small element of your page and serving the two versions to different audience segments to see which resonates more with your supporters. For example, you may change the central image on your donation page to determine what type of visuals lead to more conversions.

3. Online auction

In an online auction, supporters browse auction items on your nonprofit’s website or auction platform and place bids during a specified period. Online auctions offer more flexibility than in-person events since supporters can participate from anywhere and receive real-time updates when they’ve been outbid.

Use these best practices to make your virtual auction successful:

• Offer enticing auction items. Send a survey ahead of time to ask about the types of items donors want to see. Consider your audience’s characteristics as well. For example, if many of your supporters are parents with young children, you could offer family-friendly items like a trip to Disney World or a meet-and-greet with an actor on a popular kids’ show. Bloomerang’s silent auction guide recommends reaching out to corporate sponsors or donors who can contribute items related to your cause, like an animal shelter asking a pet store to donate items for a pet care basket.
• Provide additional ways to give. Not every participant will win an auction item, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be able to show their support. Direct auction attendees to your donation page, where they can give even if they don’t win. You may also run a raffle and sell branded merchandise alongside your auction to collect more funds.
• Streamline the checkout process. Provide a simple, mobile-friendly payment page where donors can complete their auction item transactions. Offer clear guidelines outlining how to pick up auction items or how you’ll distribute them to winners. Using technology like auction software can make this process even more efficient by allowing donors to bid and check out from the same app or website.

Inspire more bidding by making your online auction a limited-time opportunity, such as a one- or two-week event. This time limit generates urgency and encourages supporters to submit their bids as soon as possible, while also providing time to generate bid wars. If items are left over with no bids after the time has elapsed, note the type of item so you can better understand which offerings your audience isn’t interested in and can avoid sourcing similar items in the future.

4. Text-to-give campaign

Approximately 53% of nonprofit website traffic comes from mobile users, making text fundraising a frontrunner among online campaign ideas. Text-to-give makes online fundraising as convenient as possible, allowing donors to give right from their phones. Make your text-to-give campaign stand out by:

• Giving clear instructions. Make it as easy as possible for donors to contribute to your text-to-give campaign. Explain how the process works using screenshots or a video so supporters can easily follow along and know exactly how to join.

• • Using simple keywords. To participate in your text-to-give campaign, donors will first text a keyword to your text fundraising number. Keeping this keyword as simple as possible ensures supporters remember it and enter it correctly. For example, a local organization raising money to rebuild homes after a recent hurricane may use the keyword “RELIEF,” whereas an environmental nonprofit aiming to fund cleanup projects may choose “OCEAN” as its keyword.

• Personalizing your messages. While it’s easy to mass text all of your supporters, donors will appreciate your efforts to customize communications to their needs. Have your constituent relationship management platform (CRM) automatically pull donors’ names, and create different base messages for different donor segments, like new and recurring donors.

Remember to also keep your text messages concise. Give a quick synopsis of your campaign and provide links to your campaign and donation pages where supporters can learn more and contribute.

No matter which online fundraising campaign you choose, keep donors engaged throughout the process. Let them know when you reach your goal, and send genuine thank-you emails expressing appreciation for the vital role they played in your campaign. That way, you can build strong relationships with your supporters and retain them as part of your nonprofit’s growing community.

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Ann Fellman, Chief Marketing Officer, Bloomerang

Ann brings with her more than 20 years of experience in business-to-business (B2B)  marketing in the technology industry, including time spent working at a nonprofit organization. She spent the past two years as an independent marketing consultant for high-growth, B2B Software as a service (SaaS) businesses and was named one of the “Top Women Leaders in SaaS of 2018.” She previously served as Senior Vice President of Marketing at Code42, Product Manager at Rimage Corporation, Principal Product Director at Oracle and Manager of Member Services at the Minnesota High Tech Association.