How COVID-19 changed the face of fundraising – for good!

Raisely is an online fundraising platform for ambitious charities across the world. The pandemic caused us (like most) to pivot in ways we never have before to ensure charities remained strong at such a time as this!

Have you felt pandemic pressure? We know we have.

Across the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of our lives.

We changed how we work, how we live, and how we connect with each other.

In a year of crazy changes, we learned a lot, grew a lot, and got through it – together.

The fundraising sector felt it too. With restrictions reining us in, everyone had to rethink their approach to hosting events, raising funds, and connecting with donors – staying flexible in their strategy and reflective as they adapted to change.

But our mums were right: every cloud has a silver lining!

We’ve seen an outstanding amount of bright moments – and bright ideas – pop up through the pandemic.

In this blog, we’ll take you through the shifts and surprises we’ve seen from COVID-19 – and new fundraising ideas for your next campaign.

Happy fundraising! ✨

Trend #1 – The unprecedented, powerful generosity

Though our bodies were apart, our hearts were together.

This year, more than ever, we united for Good.

The data is in, and it turns out the pandemic brought with it unprecedented generosity – both in the US and globally. You might have already seen this trend in your fundraising efforts!

The global swell in generosity was most clearly demonstrated through GivingTuesday 2020, where 34.8 million people gave worldwide. That’s a 29% increase over 2019.

There was also an increase of 12.6% for new donors, which shows people who weren’t already donating have started.

This is an interesting – and slightly unexpected – result. Especially because last year brought a lot of economic uncertainty for millions of people.

But, despite the struggle, they are still giving when they can.

The average donation amount has gotten smaller (according to the Association of Fundraising Professionals, gifts under $250 have increased by 1.8% - while gifts of $1000 have gone down by ~17%), but people are still donating.

And that’s what counts.  

✨ Looking ahead

All of this has a big caveat: we will still need to see data from the next year or two to understand the pandemic's actual impact on giving.

But so far, the numbers seem to show people being more generous than the year before COVID-19 changed the world. This is great news for what has been a tough year.

So, why might this be happening? This is a complicated question to answer, but it’s clear a number of extraordinary social movements (e.g., Black Lives Matter) made incredible progress last year. Fundraising ideas during covid were inspired by current issues, with people sharing hashtags and reels online to increase awareness.

More and more people are getting involved – however, they can.

Maybe because they had more time to think and assess their values.

Maybe it’s all tied to economic stimulus payments.

Or maybe the pandemic simply highlighted that everyone is connected, and we all need to rely on one another.

Trend #2 – The changing way we pay

Though it isn’t exactly new, the pandemic made ‘online giving’ a premium option.  We couldn’t get together, but we could still rally behind a cause – digitally.

Gone were the days of flipping out your wallet and rifling through the notes. Now, we wave our phones, watches, or tablets.  Just as fundraising ideas during Covid shifted - so did the way we pay. We swipe, tap, and click, and - BOOM - our money has moved.

Throughout the pandemic, online giving was easy, breezy, and popular.

In fact, the 2020 Report on Global Trends in Giving showed online giving was the preferred method for 63% of donors in Canada and the US. The following most popular method was by direct post or mail, coming in at 16%. That’s a pretty vast gap, showing how essential online giving options are moving forward.

We think this makes a lot of sense: online giving is quick, easy, and can be done from the safety of your home.

If it only takes a few clicks to donate, people are more likely to follow through on their good intentions.

✨ Looking ahead

For some organisations, the switch to online giving meant adapting to new tools and technologies. Whether it was figuring out how to reach people through social media or setting up online payment portals, this pivot can feel a little overwhelming.

But with the right tools (designed specifically for fundraising), life can be a lot easier.

Here at Raisely, we recently boosted mobile giving for every charity on our platform by up to 60% with our launch of Express Donations, where people can use their digital wallets to make their donations.

Online giving should be part of any long-term fundraising strategy, helping you broaden your appeal further and making it easier for people to donate than ever before.

After all, if it only takes a few clicks, giving feels easy.

Trend #3 – The decrease of direct mail as campaign tools

So long snail mail, hello email! Running an email - or social media - campaign is a great way to connect personally with donors.

·   With email, you can personalise your appeal based on different audience segments – such as age or size of the donation. In fact, according to recent research, donors in the US and Canada said email was their favourite form of communication about fundraising.

·   With social media, you can tap into people’s social networks – giving them a chance to share and post about their donations, which encourages others to donate too. It makes support feel personal.

·   With SMS, your message is placed in the palm of their hand (through their phone, of course - let’s stay contactless where we can!). Reaching your donors directly, you can stay in touch and build relationships.

✨ Looking ahead

If you haven’t already, now is the time to plan out your next email, social media and SMS campaign. Setting up automatic messaging is easy to do - and highly effective! You can customise your message, set your trigger, and schedule your journey, so the right segments are engaged at the right time.

Trend #4 – The need to improve and clean up data

Fundraising has always relied on good data. Who is donating, what makes them donate, and how can we improve next year? It’s essential info for all involved.

But data management systems and tools keep improving, and it takes more careful management to ensure your own organisation’s practices are up to scratch.

During COVID-19, there was an influx of new donors. New data shows there was a marked increase in new donors of 12.6% and recaptured donors (15.7%). This has had one unexpected consequence: many organisations had a whole lot more information to process, and if there were any cracks, they started to show.

For some fundraisers, COVID-19 showed gaps in their data collection and management methods. Whether it was not being aware of some donors' capacity to donate or incomplete donor records – all of a sudden, these holes became very clear.

A good database clean-up should be on every fundraiser's agenda. Information about your donors – often built up over a long time – is very valuable. Keep them clean and tidy, and you'll unlock their full potential!

✨ Looking ahead

No matter where you are with your data management, you can always do things to improve.

·   Only collect relevant data:

The first step is to figure out if the data you collect from donors is still relevant. For example, you still need a contact number – but having a home phone instead of a mobile probably isn’t as relevant anymore. Make it part of your practice to do a yearly audit of what data you collect, and work out what’s essential.

·   Update donor details:

Having a system in place to update donor details can save a lot of headaches in the future. Ensuring you have the correct email address, and the right contact in a larger donor organisation, are key to an efficient, effective campaign.

·   Organise your people:

Segmenting an audience means you can reach the right people at the right time. Whether you choose age, donation amount, or location, having accurate and advanced donor segments can help you target the people you want with your messaging. Once your audience is organised, you can better understand them - and how to reach them - through a system like our CRM, for example - not biased at all.

Trend #5 – The shift to online and virtual events

Just like your family get-togethers, all fundraising ideas during covid went digital. This meant getting creative with translating regular events into a virtual format.

For some campaigns, this meant using video-conferencing so everyone could “dial in” from their own homes. But what about activities which are normally held outdoors and in groups, like fun runs?

Well, those organisers got really creative. Instead of the usual fun-run events, a lot of fundraisers used activity tracking to show how much they had moved. To help these efforts, Raisely created a special Active Event template - making it easy for people to track their activity, share it online and raise funds for a cause they care about.

Our friends who organised the Darrel Chapman Fun Run will be using this feature for their upcoming fun run, with participants choosing to commit to 4km, 10km, 21km or 42km. By connecting with Strava, it’s easy to automatically track activity which gets shown straight away on the campaign (and, by the way, our research has shown you will raise 64% more by connecting with Strava).

While it has been heartbreaking not being able to join together for events like fun runs, going virtual has had some surprising results.

Our biggest ‘win’ was realising that more people can access online events. People who normally wouldn't be able to attend because of location, time commitments, or other accessibility issues could now join in the fun – and join the cause. This meant a wider reach, engaging a whole new set of potential participants (and donors!)

✨ Looking ahead

Over the last year, there has been a huge increase in campaigns with a virtual fitness component.

Before COVID-19, only 5% of new campaigns had virtual fitness.

After? It was 20% - a huge increase in a short amount of time.

This shows people enjoy raising funds - and their heart rates. Thankfully, this is something which can continue, virtually. When pondering active fundraising ideas during covid, it’s worth considering a hybrid event format -  where some participants come in person and the rest participate from wherever they are.

Check out this webinar for our virtual event top tips. If your pre-Covid campaigns always involved something active, why not use our Active Event template to set up a hybrid fundraising page.

A change could do you good

It's fair to say; COVID-19 has changed the fundraising sector for good. And it is good!

It might seem counter-intuitive – everyone’s been doing it tough, right? But, for whatever reason, studies showed that giving increased by 7.5% in the second half of 2020.

Our goal is to harness technology to help charities build on the incredible COVID-19 momentum.