5 reasons why you should have an online fundraising store

Running an online fundraising store as a nonprofit isn’t as hard as you might think. Here’s why it’s worth it and a way to make it even easier.

Are you looking for new ways to raise extra funds and spread awareness for your cause? With Raisely’s new ticketing feature, nonprofits can sell merchandise!

Whether you’re selling branded clothing or cute coffee mugs, here are five reasons why your nonprofit should sell merchandise with Raisely.

1. e-Commerce Is Booming

The U.S. Census Bureau’s Annual Retail Trade Survey (ARTS) found that e-commerce sales increased from $571.2 billion USD in 2019 to $815.4 billion USD in 2020. It makes sense that e-commerce sales would increase by $244.2 billion USD, or 43%, during the first year of the pandemic. For many of us, online stores became the only way to sell branded merchandise like T-shirts, hats, and other promotional products.

However, August 2022 data from the U.S. Department of Commerce revealed that retail e-commerce sales continue to hold steady, and custom online stores are continuing to flourish!

Convenience is one key reason. Nowadays, you can research multiple storefronts without the hassle of physically going to brick-and-mortars to compare prices and explore their products.

Also, nearly half of e-commerce purchases are made on phones. That figure is even bigger for donations, with 65% of gifts coming from mobile devices on the Raisely platform. That’s 54% higher than in 2016!

And we fully expect mobile donations for fundraising campaigns and events to only increase, especially thanks to digital wallets like PayPal, Google Pay, and Apple Pay. These wallets store digital versions of debit and credit cards on your mobile devices. You can check out with just a click! It can’t get more convenient than that.

2. Donors Get Something

When you go to a physical store and spend money, you get tangible items in return. When someone fills out a donation form at a fundraising event, they’re gifting money. They’ll enjoy a warm and fuzzy feeling, a potential tax break, and the knowledge that they’re helping make the world a better place, but they don’t get anything tangible.,

What if there was a meaningful way to express gratitude and leave your donor with a memorable gift?

With an online fundraising store, you can! Donors get to enjoy cool custom apparel from your charity’s online store platform and the warm fuzzies. It’s the equivalent of having your cake and eating it too!

3. Increase Brand Awareness

Selling merchandise as part of your fundraising efforts builds brand awareness in perpetuity. Here’s how it works:

Let’s say you’re part of a local sports team that’s raising money to go to nationals, and you decide to sell totes, T-shirts, and mugs with your team’s tagline. One teammate's father takes a tote to the grocery store, where someone asks where he got it. Another teammate’s sister purchases a mug and brings it to work, where a co-worker strikes up a conversation. Meanwhile, your friends and family go wild. They wear the T-shirts to concerts, movies, and the gym, and always share photos on social media.

Suddenly, your team’s merch is everywhere. Not only are you creating buzz and getting closer to your fundraising goal, but you’re also giving others the chance to tell your team’s story.

4. Costs Less Than a Physical Store

An online store is much cheaper to run than a brick-and-mortar. The three most expensive components of a physical store are the cost of materials, labour, and rent. Online stores remove two of your biggest cost factors. You don’t need a physical location (it’s online!), and you don’t need to rely on as many employees to run it (because it’s still online!).

Online fundraising stores have a few more advantages to consider. They’re open 24/7, and you don’t have to order and store a large inventory. Also, their links are shareable, so you can post them on your social media platforms for your followers to see. This makes supporting your causes more accessible because you’re not limited by geography. If your shipping allows it, your products can be purchased worldwide!

5. Selling Merch is Easier Than You Think

The process of selling merch is fairly straightforward.

Much like any fundraising campaign, you have to start with an idea. What products will you sell, and how are they relevant to your cause?

Next, design the merchandise, and include your logo and messaging. You also need to find a facility to work with that can make and ship your merch — and don’t forget to account for any of their costs (e.g. shipping) when pricing your products.

With all your products ready to go, design an online fundraising page that highlights your cause’s story, and why donors should give and visit your online fundraising store.

With Raisely, creating fundraising pages has never been easier. You can start with a template like this one and customise it however you’d like! But just a heads up, while we can provide you with the option to create an online fundraising store (unfortunately without the cart functionality), we don’t manage the logistics or shipping.

Selling Merchandise With Raisely

Raisely’s ticketing feature lets campaigns process ticket payment and gives you the ability to add promo codes, unlimited tickets, and run attendee reports. It also gives you the chance to sell merchandise, so participants can attend the event and buy something as a memento.

There are two ways you can sell merchandise with our platform and create a unique user experience: as an all-in-one purchase or a separate offering.

All-in-One Purchase

Selling tickets to an event and want to offer merchandise at the same time? Great idea! Here’s how you can structure your tickets.

Always set up your event Ticket Types first. They should be at the top of the list and easy to read. We recommend adding a brief, simple description and keeping things neat by avoiding images.

Adding merchandise to your form is as simple as creating more Ticket Types for each item! You can set up ticket capacities in this step, so that you can avoid overselling your merch too.

While you’re at it, showcase your merchandise by adding images and a product description. This way your customers know exactly what’s on offer and can trust that they’re selecting the right product, faster.

Best practice is to keep merchandise tickets to the bottom of the list, so they appear below event tickets on your form. This creates a clear hierarchy for your buyers as they browse.

Finally, make use of Attendee Fields and conditional filters. You can create a custom Attendee Field to apply only when a specific Ticket Type is selected. For example, if you’re selling T-shirts, which require sizing, and totes, which do not, you can include the sizing field for T-shirts and remove it for totes.

Separate Offering

Setting up multiple ticket forms gives you more flexibility and enhances the user experience. Here’s how you do it.

Start by creating a separate page on your fundraising website for merchandise. This is a great way to show all of your merchandise in one place. Get creative and include images, list product features or descriptions, and most importantly — show pricing!

Next up, add a Ticket Form to the page and enable your merch tickets only. You’ll be able to easily toggle off any Event ticket types within the form’s settings.

By setting up your online fundraising store as a separate offering, you can create a unique purchase follow-up message that invites registered attendees/purchasers to check out what merch you have to offer. You can also create buzz, and share your cause’s mission and story all throughout the pre-event journey.

There’s Much More in Store With Raisely

Raisely’s ticketing capability helps you make the most of your next fundraising campaign, but it’s just one of our all-in-one platforms' many features. With our fully customisable templates, you can create a professional, branded donation page with no coding required. Our built-in CRM streamlines messaging, generates custom reports, and seamlessly integrates with your favourite tools.

Are you ready to sell merch for free? Request a demo and talk to one of our charity fundraising experts today!