Donation eCards are a fantastic incentive for donors. They allow you to create a personalized giving experience, making it a perfect digital fundraising strategy for any nonprofit. You’ve come to the right place for inspiration!
Year-end giving is the most charitable time of year. In fact, around 30% of annual giving happens in December, making it the perfect time to push unique giving incentives like fundraising eCards. Taking this approach allows organizations like yours to spread kindness and joy while bringing attention to those who need a helping hand during the holidays.
In this example, Habitat for Humanity South Africa offered a great way to give back during the holiday season without breaking the bank. The organization allowed donors to give and then send an eCard to a loved one. By enabling tribute giving, donors could honor someone special by giving in their name and providing shelter and comfort to families in need during this charitable time.
Holiday donation eCards enable donors to show their support for a cause they care about while also extending well wishes to the recipient. With happy occasions like Valentine’s Day, nonprofits can spread love and joy by offering fundraising eCards to prospects.
The Humane Society of Tacoma & Pierce County tied Valentine’s Day to its cause by creating several pet-themed eCards for donors to send in exchange for charitable contributions. In true Valentine’s Day fashion, each eCard had a silly pun paired with a cuddly creature like in the example on the left.
This animal rescue organization had the right idea by taking this approach to tailor the giving experience and spread its mission! There’s no better way for donors to share some love while also supporting a worthwhile cause.
Honoring the legacy of a loved one with a donation can be a powerful tribute. Sympathy donation eCards allow people to express their condolences to a grieving family while also making a meaningful contribution in that individual’s name.
Maryland Food Bank offers sympathy donation eCards as a gesture of kindness. Donors can take action by supporting the food bank in honor of someone who’s passed. Then, they can send the eCard, ultimately impacting the nonprofit’s beneficiaries and showing care in a family’s time of need.
Father’s Day and Mother’s Day are days dedicated to expressing gratitude for those who raised us. Donation eCards are a convenient way to show appreciation. Instead of mailing a physical card, fundraising eCards can be sent quickly over email. By adding a heartfelt message, donors can make the card even more sincere, making it a meaningful way to honor parents and parental figures.
Peace Winds offers Father’s Day eCards to celebrate the occasion. Father’s Day and World Refugee Day align every few years, allowing Peace Winds’ marketing team to forge a direct connection between the day and the nonprofit’s mission. By giving, people can dedicate their donation to any father figure in their life while also supporting a meaningful cause.
Nothing says “happy birthday” quite like a personal card! By offering birthday donation eCards, you can bring that same excitement to the virtual space.
Maryland Food Bank offers birthday-themed eCards to their donors. Donors can give in someone else’s name. Then, they can send a custom digital card to that person letting them know. You can even personalize the card with a heartfelt message to take your birthday wish to the next level.
It’s a meaningful way to say “happy birthday” and support a cause the recipient is passionate about. Not to mention, it also removes any pressure of having to buy and wrap a physical gift, making it a smart fundraising strategy for any organization!
Create designs that communicate your mission if you’re running a specific campaign or want generic eCards donors can send.
In this example, Wounded Warriors Family Support included a genuine photo that conveys their mission to support and empower the families of those wounded, injured, or killed during combat operations. After giving, a donor can send the fundraising eCard to loved ones, challenging them to do the same. Upon receiving the fundraising eCard via email, recipients are prompted to visit the organization’s website to give to Purple Heart veteran families.
Not only is this an excellent way for donors to show off their passion for the cause, but this approach serves as a form of referral fundraising, helping to position the organization as a trustworthy steward of donations.
Tribute donation eCards provide donors with a personalized way to honor a loved one. They enable individuals to reach out to thank someone or to memorialize someone who made an impact on their life by giving in their name.
Maryland Food Bank allows supporters to commemorate loved ones by donating on their behalf and sending a personalized eCard to them or to a family member. The nonprofit positions donating in someone’s honor as a way to find permanent pathways out of hunger, and giving to charitable causes like this is a great way to create a lasting legacy for the honoree.
Cause awareness days are a prime opportunity to draw attention to worthwhile causes. If there’s one associated with your mission, create a fundraising eCard that promotes it and inspires donors to spread your message.
For World Refugee Day, Peace Winds offered a visually-captivating eCard branded with original graphics, the organization’s logo, and its official colors. To top it all off, the typography emphasizes the purpose of the eCard and the organization behind the hard work. In exchange for a donation, supporters could send an eCard to honor refugees and raise awareness of their plight around the world.
You’re not limited to just one way to offer fundraising eCards to your donors. In fact, there are a few convenient ways you can personalize the giving experience with eCards.
This is one of the most popular ways to offer donation eCards for your nonprofit. These are cards that someone fills out and submits a donation in order to send. Here’s how it works:
Some donation eCard providers allow you to choose different platforms to send an eCard, too. That way, you can allow your donors to send it via email, Facebook, Twitter, or some other method.
Sending eCards post-donation is another popular way to offer donation eCards. With this strategy, donors can give and then choose an eCard to send to someone. On your donation confirmation page, they’ll fill out the recipient’s contact information, add a personal message, and hit send.
You might offer a few card options for this method, like in the example above. You can offer options for special occasions, to challenge others also to give, or just to share your mission.
This approach is less widely used but still a viable option! If your nonprofit sells fundraising products, you might be able to attach eCards to your virtual store. Here’s how this approach works:
Know that not every eCard provider offers this option. eCardWidget allows you to set up this option with Shopify, making the fundraising process more enjoyable and convenient!
An eCard can deepen the meaning of a donation to both the donor and the dedicatee, helping to improve the supporter’s personal experience with your organization. After all, 71% of donors are engaged by a personal touch, and nothing’s more personal than a customized eCard to a loved one!
Plus, digital donation cards provide an instant give-back with every gift. With each eCard, donors can share information about why they gave with others and promote causes close to their hearts. This is a great way to boost support via referrals, especially since 88% of people highly trust a brand when a friend or family member recommends it.
They’re also eco-friendly, making them perfect for environmental organizations to exemplify their missions.
One of the best parts of fundraising eCards is their versatility. While you can certainly tie them to special occasions, you’re not limited to one particular design. Update your design to match different cause awareness days, or choose ones for year-round occasions, like birthdays and tributes.
You already know what the process looks like from the donor’s perspective. With the right software, the process can be just as straightforward for your nonprofit to set up your eCard offerings. Here’s what to expect when you use a platform like eCardWidget to supercharge your digital fundraising:
It’s that simple! If you work at a data-minded nonprofit, you’ll even receive supporter data like open rates and recipients’ emails, making it easy to follow up and establish connections.
We recommend working with eCardWidget to design your fundraising eCards and make the fundraising experience as convenient as possible. The widget seamlessly integrates with some of the most popular fundraising tools and website builders. With more than 16,000 eCards created for nearly 4,000 nonprofits, eCardWidget can help take your fundraising up a notch.
FundraisingLetters.org is a project put together by Nexus Marketing and ECardWidget as a way to help individuals and organizations across the world effectively communicate with supporters. Feel free to use our fundraising letter templates for your organization.