Many times, people hesitate to donate money to a nonprofit through the internet because the risk of being scammed is high. Even if donors haven’t had negative donation experiences themselves, they may have heard of someone who did, which often brings up many questions: Is Crowdrise safe? Is Donorbox legit? Can I trust GoFundMe?
To be able to build trust with your donors, you need to provide them the information they need to be sure that the donation they are making through an online platform is safe.
Provide Details
On your donation pages, make sure you provide enough details about your nonprofit so that donors know of your reliability. Provide a link to your website and a brief introduction about your nonprofit so that donors can make a quick judgment based on your donation page itself.
Provide Contact Information
Make sure that your donors always have the option to contact you, both online and offline. If your donors go through any trouble during the donation process or because the nonprofit website is not working properly, you may need to address some concerns. Also, make sure to provide a physical address to provide further reassurance that your nonprofit is not a scam.
Update Information Regularly
If your information is not updated regularly, your donors may assume that you are no longer functioning, or that you have changed your purpose or programs. If a website is not updated regularly, donors can be put off by the outdated information and may end up forming a negative perception of your nonprofit. Not just that, but many people also consider organizations with outdated websites unprofessional.
Reassure Security
The most pressing issue of donating online is the fact that, by using a card, donors may worry that their financial and personal security may get compromised. Make sure that the platform you’re using to receive donations and process them is secured and encrypted. If you keep their personal information on an online network, make sure you reassure them that you are using firewalls to protect this information and that this technology is also up-to-date and secure.
Nowadays, the problem of worrying about online security has decreased, with most of the world’s transactions now taking place online. Still, many people who may have had negative past experiences may hold this concern.
Many fundraising software deal with all of these concerns by allowing you to create donation forms that can be embedded on your website itself to remove suspicions, such as Donorbox, or others that allow nonprofits to build a page on their own website so that they don’t need to find real estate of their own, such as Givingloop. These software make it easier for nonprofits to build trust in their donors as well as for donors to remain satisfied with making secure online donations.
Salah Hamwi
Awni Shamah
Ashraf Samhouri