Success on Overflow means that giving is a celebration for your donors and they keep coming back to give again and again. It also means that your team spends less time than ever before administering donations. But first, we need to get the donations flowing.
How do we do that?
Introducing Overflow’s Four Pillars of Success. Each of these pillars is foundational to encouraging your donors to give through the Overflow platform. By implementing these pillars, you too can see thousands of dollars donated over a weekend and a 65% increase in overall donations.
The Four Pillars of Success
- Pave the pathway to give
- Share it with your people
- Non-cash for the big ask
- Consistently, everywhere
Let’s dive in to what each of these mean for your organization.
#1: Pave the pathway to give
Some giving pages feel like a bumpy road with unexpected turns and the occasional man-sized pothole that swallows you whole. Giving to your organization should be easy - a paved, straight road leading to one conclusion: generosity! People can only donate to your organization if they can find the way to give that makes the most sense for them.
This is the first and most important pillar because it sets the foundation for the rest. Here are a few considerations as you pave the donation pathway for your givers:
#1. Do you have the Overflow button live?
This is a basic first step, but absolutely an important one!
#2: How many clicks does it take a donor to get to your give page?
Hint: it should be one! We recommend a “Give” button on the top navigation bar throughout your website.
#3: Are donors presented with multiple ways to give?
Your giving page should make it easy to give all different kinds of assets so that donors can give in the way that makes the most sense for them. Keep this page simple and clear. If you need to present more information, consider creating separate pages dedicated to educating donors about that particular asset type.
#4: Do donors understand which giving option is best for them?
For cash givers, this might mean highlighting that Overflow offers low-fee credit/debit/ACH giving.
For stock and crypto donations, make sure to emphasize the tax benefits of giving appreciated assets.
You’ll immediately know how smooth of a giving pathway you have by analyzing the traffic to your webpage. Simply log in to your Overflow Dashboard and go to the Donor Analytics section. If you aren’t seeing the page views you’d like, donors may be having a hard time finding your donate page - or may not know it exists! Use these tips and tricks to maximize each page view.
#2. Share it with your people
You know the ones. The loyal supporters you can always count on to give when it means the most. For churches, these are your core givers, your Kingdom Builders, your Legacy team. For nonprofits, these are your major donors - the high-net-worth individuals you’ve built relationships with over the long term. These are the types of people that already are inspired by your mission and want to support. They also are the ones that have non-cash assets to give. Don’t be afraid to share with them, and remind them again and again, that you offer ways for them to donate stock and crypto online. And if you have Overflow’s cash platform, they may even want to transition their offline check giving to a more convenient debit, credit, or ACH donation with low fees.
Within your Overflow Dashboard, you can analyze your donor demographics using the Analytics section. You’ll be able to see things like new recurring cash donors and top givers. You can share personally and directly with this group of givers about why you chose Overflow and how it can benefit them. They will be thankful you are creating opportunities for them to maximize their tax savings, and minimize fees for your organization!
Check out our major donor game plan for ideas on how to engage this audience.
#3. Non-cash for the big ask
90% of individuals hold their wealth in non-cash assets, which means their biggest gifts come from their stock portfolio or crypto wallet, not the cash in their bank account. When making a big ask, whether for a capital campaign, gala, or a new vision for your organization, make sure your donors know they can easily give stock and crypto online. This will make all the difference in how much they can give.
Case in point: one of our partners had a major donor move from giving $1000 checks at their annual gala to $10,000 stock gifts because he had more to give from that pocket. When this story is repeated throughout your donor base, you can raise hundreds of thousands more.
If donors decide not to give stock or crypto to your capital campaign, you’ll want to provide a low-fee way for them to give via credit, debit or ACH. Overflow’s cash product offers the lowest fees on the market. If you haven’t already added Overflow’s cash option to your giving suite, contact us to turn it on.
Do you need a confidence boost to ask big? Check out the Connected Accounts value in your Overflow Dashboard. This total shows the wealth your donors hold in their stock portfolios (at least of those that have connected a brokerage account through Overflow). If even a small portion of your donors have given stock gifts already, you’ll be encouraged by how much discretionary wealth is available within your donor base.
If your capital campaign is launching with an in-person event, use this game plan to exceed your fundraising goals!
#4. Consistently, Everywhere
We’ve found that for every 100 page views a client has, they generally receive 4 gifts averaging a total of around $35,000. If you're raising $1 million for a capital campaign, this means you need at least 2900 page views. That’s a lot of page views! The point here is that the communications you are sending on and offline have to lead givers to not only find your donate page, but actually donate through the links provided. How do you do this?
Churches have an incredible platform to speak about generosity every Sunday. Make sure to emphasize all the ways a churchgoer can give, and make it easy with a scannable QR code. For any other giving messages that goes out, whether over email, social media, etc., include a link back to your give page with all the ways to give. You'll have everything you need to make this all happen in the Church Launch Kit.
For nonprofits, you can drive the page views you need by including ways to give in every newsletter, every direct mailer, on your social media profiles, and more. Wherever you talk about giving, make sure to make it easy for the donor to reach your giving page and donate. Check out this verbiage to use across your fundraising channels.
Follow us on Instagram, explore our help center, or contact our customer success team to glean new ideas to continue to engage your supporters in digital giving.
👉 Overflow offers a plethora of resources to help you be successful in each of the four pillars. Visit our Fundraising Resources knowledge base for a library of templates, blurbs, mockups and ideas to launch and consistently share your Overflow giving links with supporters.