Online Fundraising Websites – What Should You Look For?

At GoGetFunding we’ve been providing online fundraising pages since 2011 and we’ve helped people from all over the world raise millions. It’s something that we’re very proud of and we’re still filled with a great deal of passion when providing this service.

During our time, we’ve seen many new fundraising websites spring up. Some of these provide a great service whereas others disappear or sadly, in some cases, even scam. As a result, it can be confusing and time-consuming deciding which website to go with.

You don’t want the search process to sap all your energy (you’ll need that when it comes to promoting your campaign), so this list will give you the heads-up on the things to look out for:

Visit GoGetFunding & Start Your Own Campaign >

Website Style

One of the quickest ways to decide if a particular fundraising website is for you or not is to simply check out the style.

Take a look at the homepage, the fundraising pages, the donation process, the fundraiser widgets and anything else of interest. Then ask yourself if it suits the style of your campaign?

Payment Method

This is something that’s critical to evaluate and decide whether it’s right for you. Some fundraising websites require that you wait until the end of your campaign till you receive your money whereas others post you a check which naturally can cause delays. If you’re raising money for something time-sensitive, you might need funds to arrive in your account as soon as they’re donated. Make sure the payment method suits your particular needs.

Fees

Fundraising websites should allow you to create a fundraiser for free. Asking for payment upfront should raise a red flag. Most charge a fee for using the service which often ranges from 5% to 9%. You shouldn’t pay anything above this. We charge a flat rate fee of 4% – lower than all our major competitors.

Features

Check out what features the website provides to its fundraisers. For example, is the page easy to share? Can you embed a donation widget on your blog? Can you track visitors and download donor details?

Ease of Use

As with finding a fundraising website, you don’t want to spend a ton of time trying to create your page. Register on the site of interest and get a feel for the listing process. You should quickly be able to get a sense of how easy or difficult it is.

If it’s difficult, try elsewhere as you’ll be likely to encounter difficulties further down the line too.

Security

Security should always be considered by both websites and consumers. Make sure that the fundraising website you choose takes you to a secure location to process payment. A quick way to check that out is to make sure the URL bar uses ‘https’ instead of just ‘http’.

Currency & Location

How disheartening would it be to start creating a fundraising page and then realize that the website doesn’t support the currency that you want to use or your country as a whole? Make sure this box is checked.

Customer Service

The website should make it easy for you to contact the customer support department and you shouldn’t have to wait longer than 24 hours for a reply. It’s often useful to send customer support a message just to assess how reactive and helpful they are.

 Scam Prevention

The worst-case scenario when choosing a fundraising website is that you get scammed of the money you raise. To put it lightly, this would be a disaster. However, there are a number of precautions you can take to ensure the website you’re using is legit:

• Search for reviews on the website from legitimate sources.
• Check to see if people are already raising money on the site.
• Look for information on the company and the people that run the site (the ‘about us’ page is useful for this).
• Contact customer support, review payment gateways and start your campaign off with a test payment.

Need an online fundraising website that meets all of these requirements and more? Look no further. Start your fundraising campaign on GoGetFunding now!

Visit GoGetFunding & Start Your Own Campaign >