Making it Easy for Donors to Give

It's been a while since I've had an opportunity to post -- the school year's winding down to an end and my family has been busy attending year-end awards nights, studying for final exams and preparing for 2 graduations.

In the midst of this year-end flurry, though, my husband and I have begun talking about making a small gift to our kids' private school in honor of our oldest child's graduation. I'm a donor who likes to stay off the school's radar screen, (and I suspect there are many other parents like me) and rather than give the Head of School a call to see how a gift might be best used, I visited the school's website. To my surprise, there wasn't any information on giving opportunities, ways to make a gift, or the school's needs.

To be fair, the kids' school doesn't employ a development director and because of its particular situation, doesn't have a mature annual fund program. But in this day and age, having basic giving information as an integral part of an organization's website is a must.

Providing giving information on a website, whether it's a simple statement, "To make a gift to the XYZ Organization, please contact us at ..." or a more detailed outline of an organization's long-range plans, needs, and ways to give, is an easy way to give potential donors the opportunity to give. Take it one step further and set up an online giving program through PayPal or through another gateway. With the cost of direct mail always on the increase, secure online giving is a way to cut costs while raising revenue.