It can be hard to keep up with everything in the news, but here’s a key announcement: GoFundMe Charity will be merging with GoFundMe.com. That means charity fundraising and individual crowdfunding campaigns will all be mixed together.
The premise of this change is to help donors and fundraisers find each other more easily across the globe. Unfortunately, this move will also leave many nonprofits without a donation page, and recurring donations and fundraising campaigns will close down.
Perhaps even more concerning, the end of GoFundMe Charity will also mean losing critical integrations with Eventbrite, Salesforce, and MailChimp (among others), which could damage some nonprofit’s fundraising strategies.
But we’re not here to just be the bearer of bad news. At Soapbox Engage, we pride ourselves on being problem-solvers! So, we wanted to take a moment to outline how you can take back control of your fundraising and actually get more out of your hard work!
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Replace Your GoFundMe Charity Page With Soapbox Engage
We get it; change is hard. Especially in the middle of a fundraising campaign or after you’ve finally got everything set up just the way you want it. If you’ve been using GoFundMe Charity for some or all of your fundraising efforts, you’re probably feeling frustrated, discouraged, and overwhelmed at the prospect of having to find another crowdfunding platform.
We’ve got a long-term solution we think you should consider. Our Soapbox Engage apps are easy to use, quick to set up, and will likely solve problems you didn’t even know you had!
The Soapbox Engage Donations app gives you complete control
Create totally customized, mobile-friendly donation pages for one or all of your fundraising campaigns with the Soapbox Engage Donations app! You’ll be raising money in no time because there’s no code to write or frustratingly restrictive customization options.
Donations will be processed directly on your website, so you can skip the step of directing potential donors to an off-site page and risk losing them in transition. Plus, the information saves to Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics directly, saving you the hassle of manually entering data.
Are you running multiple fundraising campaigns? Create a custom donation form for each one with just a few easy clicks! Add details, stories, and media to each donation page, so your donors really understand your cause.
With the Donations app, you can accept one-time or recurring gifts and allow donors to customize their giving amount. Add options for them to dedicate their gift to someone and sign up for your newsletter, too! After the donation is complete, send each donor a custom confirmation and thank-you email with text, video, and images. The Donations app then directs each contribution to the correct campaign for you, so everything stays organized.
Crowdfunding and P2P made easy with Soapbox Engage Donations
Crowdfunding has become an effective fundraising strategy in recent years. Perhaps one of the most attractive things about GoFundMe Charity was their crowdfunding and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) features. Have no fear! The Donations app allows you to harness the power of Peer-to-Peer fundraising and give your loyal supporters the tools to raise money on your behalf.
Create an unlimited number of P2P campaigns and pages. Each person can customize their donation page with a personalized appeal in their own words. Then they can track their own fundraising goals throughout the campaign!
One feature that is especially helpful for nonprofits is the ability to save transactions from P2P campaigns to your database. This makes follow-up and future campaigns a breeze!
Plan your giving day events through the Donations app
Does your nonprofit have a planned giving day? These are 24-hour (or longer) fundraising campaigns that mobilize people around your organization or a community, event, or specific need. The goal is to generate excitement and motivate people to give toward a particular goal.
Since the introduction of Giving Tuesday, these fast and furious giving campaigns have become a popular fundraising strategy. Many nonprofits used GoFundMe Charity for their own giving day events.
Have no fear! With the Donations app, you can still host your own giving day events. Your supporters will be able to share your custom donation link seamlessly across all social media platforms.
Integrate your donation and CRM systems easily
We all know that data entry and paperwork are time consuming and exhausting--but fundraising can generate a lot of both! The Donations app connects directly to your Salesforce Nonprofit Success Pack or Microsoft Fundraising and Engagement. As transactions are processed on your website, the data transfers directly so you can eliminate a lot of data entry.
Plus, you can create tracking URLs for each fundraising or marketing campaign. You’ll have the data you need to identify what’s working and how to improve as you go.
Flexible payment processing choices plus PayPal options
At Soapbox Engage, our goal is to empower you to choose the tools and resources that work best for you. So, you can choose from many reliable payment processing options for online donations. You can also allow donors to give with their PayPal account!
Better donor management features
Unlike GoFundMe Charity, Soapbox Engage equips you with a wide range of donor management options and information. As we mentioned before, contact information will transfer to your integrated CRM system, where you can filter and search your donor list. You can even customize the information fields to gather the details that matter to you! This makes targeting the right audience for future fundraising campaigns infinitely easier.
Grab supporters and invite them to opt into your newsletter mailing address or sign up for upcoming events and activities with our fully customizable opt-in feature.
Send fully customized thank you and confirmation emails after a supporter makes a donation. Include videos, photos, and other content to continue the positive giving experience.
You can also add progress meters to your donation pages and other places and generate customized payment buttons to embed throughout your website.
We don’t want to toot our own horn, but we believe that the Soapbox Engage Donations app does all the things GoFundMe Charity did--and much more! Our goal is to give you as much control as possible of your online presence and fundraising efforts without requiring complex coding or technical savvy.
3 Other GoFundMe Charity Alternatives
As you’re searching for a solution to replace your GoFundMe Charity option, we hope you’ll explore and seriously consider Soapbox Engage as a long-term solution. It will grow and flex with your organization’s ever-changing needs. But we also wanted to offer three other GoFundMe Charity alternatives to help you in your search.
Fundly
Fundly is a crowdfunding platform that empowers nonprofits and individuals to raise money for a wide range of causes and projects. One of the stand-out features of this platform is the “keep it all” (KiA) model, which means you get to keep any money you raise, whether you reach your fundraising goal or not (minus the fees).
Add photos, videos, and updates to your donation page throughout your campaign to keep your donors aware of the progress. You’ll also be able to share your donation page on all your social media platforms.
One thing to be aware of with Fundly is the pricing. There’s a 4.9% standard platform fee, plus Fundly charges a 2.9% credit card processing fee and $0.30 per transaction. This might get pricey if you anticipate receiving a lot of small donations. But, if you’re able to attract some large donations, those prices might be very reasonable for you!
Double the Donation
Double the Donation helps nonprofits raise more money through employee matching options. It’s not a true crowdfunding site or online donation platform like GoFundMe Charity or Soapbox Engage.
Here’s how it works: Double the Donation helps you connect with each of your current donors to identify matching gift options their employers offer. That means your nonprofit can increase the donation amount from current donors with very little extra work! It’s arguably one of the easiest ways to boost your overall fundraising revenue.
Rather than charging per transaction, Double the Donation operates on a subscription basis. They have plenty of options to fit organizations of any size.
Indiegogo
Indiegogo is one of the primary crowdfunding platforms. While it’s primarily designed for entrepreneurs and people working to fund creative projects, the platform is easy to use, and you can create a professional-looking campaign.
Just like GoFundMe, Indiegogo offers social sharing tools and easy ways to promote your fundraising campaign. They also offer a mobile app so you can maintain your campaign from any location.
Nonprofits should be aware that Indiegogo uses an “all-or-nothing” (AoN) model. That means you’ll only receive the money you raise if you reach your fundraising goal within your deadline. Indiegogo also charges a 5% platform fee, and the transaction fees range from 3 to 5%.
Here are three more resources to help you boost your online fundraising efforts.
- The Online Fundraising Software Buyer’s Guide: Have you been thinking of upgrading your fundraising software? There are so many options on the market it can be challenging to find the best solution that meets all your needs and wants (and budget). So, we developed this three-step process to help you figure out what online fundraising tools, software, apps, or widgets will help you streamline your fundraising efforts.
- Create a Powerful Branding Strategy for Your Nonprofit: A brand strategy is necessary for nonprofits and businesses of every shape and size. And it doesn’t need to cost an arm and a leg or require a large marketing budget. This blog offers some tips to help you develop an effective branding strategy for your nonprofit!
- Email Marketing Tools for Nonprofit Success: Email remains a popular marketing and communication strategy for all nonprofits. But there are so many email marketing tools and software on the market, it can be difficult to know what option will best meet your needs. This quick guide will help you find the best email marketing tool for your nonprofit!
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