10 proven tips to supercharge your online fundraising campaigns

A successful online fundraising campaign requires more than sharing a donation link. It needs to combine strong supporter relationships with digital tools that make giving simple, meaningful, and engaging.

Below, we share 10 practical tips that can help your nonprofit maximize online donations. Whether creating donation pages that inspire trust to offering flexible payment options, encouraging matching gifts, or building year-round giving programs, these strategies provide big-picture guidance and actionable steps you can put into practice today. We also highlight how GoFundMe Pro can simplify this work for your team.

By applying these tips, your nonprofit can attract new supporters, strengthen existing relationships, increase engagement, and drive long-term fundraising success.

1. Make your branding clear and consistent

A smooth and trustworthy donation process begins with clear branding. When supporters see your logo, colors, and consistent design, they immediately know they’re giving to the right organization.

Campaign Studio, GoFundMe Pro’s next-generation fundraising tool, makes it simple to launch and customize your campaigns. Its no-code, drag-and-drop editor lets you design branded giving campaigns that look great and convert while offering supporters a smooth and secure checkout experience.

Be sure to customize every touchpoint, including your donation page URL, email receipts, and browser icon, so your brand is clear and recognizable. Well-branded donation forms look professional, feel familiar, and make it easy for supporters to give with confidence.

2. Harness the power of setting campaign goals

Setting clear goals for your fundraising campaign helps keep your efforts on track and can drive year-over-year growth. However, goals do more than guide your team. They can also motivate supporters to give faster and more generously.

Visual progress indicators, like thermometers or progress bars, let donors see how their gift moves the campaign forward. People are more likely to contribute when they know their donation can make a real impact.

One strategy is to start your campaign with a soft launch for a small group of loyal supporters. By showing 5%-10% of your goal already met, you create momentum and help supporters avoid the challenge of being the first donor. Once the campaign goes live to your wider audience, your progress metrics provide visible motivation.

Be sure to keep supporters updated throughout the campaign. Celebrate milestones like reaching 50% of your goal or highlight that you only need a few donations to reach the finish line. Using smaller, tangible steps to meet your goal makes giving feel more achievable and meaningful.

3. Offer modern payment options to boost conversions

Providing flexible and convenient ways to give is essential for reaching today’s donors. GoFundMe Pay offers various payment options that make it easy for supporters to complete their donations quickly and securely.

In addition to standard credit card transactions, GoFundMe Pay supports digital wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, and Venmo. For mobile donors, these options appear automatically at checkout, letting them give with a single click. With their payment information already saved, donors can complete their gift without entering card details manually, which helps increase conversion rates.

GoFundMe Pay also supports ACH payments, allowing donors to contribute directly from their bank account. This is especially useful for recurring monthly gifts since there’s no need to worry about card expiration dates.

By enabling digital wallets and ACH payments, nonprofits can make giving easier for supporters and improve overall conversion rates, all with a few clicks in GoFundMe Pro.

4. Leverage matching gifts to increase donations

Matching gifts are a powerful way to encourage donors to give—or give more—because they double their impact.

A common misconception is that matching gifts are only effective during Giving Tuesday or year-end campaigns. In reality, they can drive year-round donations. If your organization has corporate partners or major sponsors willing to provide a matching gift for a specific period or up to a certain amount, it’s simple to set this up in GoFundMe Pro.

You can also repurpose an existing donation as a match or combine several smaller contributions into a larger match to further motivate supporters. Using matching gifts strategically helps increase overall donations while making donors feel their gift truly matters.

5. Let supporters cover processing fees

GoFundMe Pro makes it easy for donors to cover processing fees, ensuring that more of each gift goes directly to your mission. Most donors are happy to add a small amount on top of their donation, especially when prompted with clear, friendly messaging.

With Studio, nonprofits can use customizable nudges to encourage donors to cover fees. You can tailor these prompts to match your branding and campaign goals and set them as the default option for all donations.

By giving supporters the option to cover processing fees, your organization can maximize every donation while keeping the checkout experience smooth, transparent, and engaging.

6. Turn on Intelligent Ask Amounts

GoFundMe Pro’s Intelligent Ask Amounts uses AI to suggest personalized donation amounts for each supporter. By analyzing donor behavior across millions of donations, the tool helps your campaign ask for amounts most likely to convert, increase revenue, or encourage recurring gifts.

Nonprofits can also set minimums, maximums, or specific ask amounts for milestones or special events, giving you control while letting AI guide the optimal suggestions. During campaign setup, you can see real-time projections of how specific ask amounts may impact giving. Then, after launch, analytics show how AI-driven suggestions perform compared with traditional donation tiers.

Turning on Intelligent Ask Amounts helps ensure each supporter sees a donation suggestion that feels relevant and achievable, making it easier to maximize contributions while keeping the giving experience simple and personalized.

7. Use an activity wall to raise conversions

GoFundMe Pro’s activity wall shows real-time updates of supporter activity, including donations, registrations, and peer-to-peer fundraising page creations. This feature not only keeps you informed but also helps you engage directly with supporters.

You can comment on any activity, and your message is automatically emailed to the donor. This quick, personal acknowledgment makes supporters feel seen and appreciated, turning a simple thank-you into a meaningful connection.

Using the activity wall increases conversion rates, making it a simple but powerful tool to strengthen donor relationships while encouraging ongoing engagement.

8. Use optimized templates from Campaign Studio

Creating a campaign from scratch can take time, but Campaign Studio makes it easy to launch professional, high-performing fundraising pages quickly. The platform offers prebuilt templates designed for specific needs, including recurring giving programs, crowdfunding campaigns, segmented appeals, annual giving days, and year-end campaigns.

Each template includes layouts focused on your main ask, default messaging, and preset elements—tested and optimized across thousands of nonprofits—so you can start with a setup that already works.

To make the most of your templates:

• Create year-round campaigns to maintain momentum without rebuilding from scratch.
• Update content regularly to keep fundraising pages current and engaging.
• Browse the Inspiration Hub for ideas and examples of successful campaigns from other nonprofits.

By using optimized templates in Studio, your nonprofit can save time, maintain consistency, and launch campaigns that attract donors and drive results.

9. Launch year-round campaigns to sustain revenue and diversify giving

Many fundraising appeals are often tied to specific dates, like Giving Tuesday or year-end campaigns. However, creating campaigns that live on your website year-round gives supporters a consistent way to engage with your nonprofit and helps build sustainable revenue.

Here are key strategies to make year-round campaigns effective:

• Clear donate button: Ensure your main donate button is easy to find and takes supporters directly to the checkout form. Be sure to brand it and follow donation page best practices.
• Recurring giving option: Offer a monthly giving program alongside one-time donations. Recurring donors are a major asset—they’re more than 10x as valuable than one-time donors over time. Consider creating a dedicated crowdfunding campaign for recurring giving to explain its impact clearly.
• DIY peer-to-peer campaigns: Give supporters the tools to fundraise on your behalf all year. Highlight options like birthday fundraisers, athletic milestones, or other creative campaigns. Peer-to-peer fundraising engages existing supporters, helps acquire new donors, and keeps your community active and invested.

By maintaining year-round campaigns, your nonprofit provides continuous giving opportunities, strengthens donor engagement, and creates a more diverse and reliable fundraising strategy.

10. Make donor communication a priority

No matter how well you plan your campaigns, clear and consistent donor communication is essential to your fundraising success. Here are best practices to keep your supporters engaged and appreciated:

• Segment your email lists: Tailor messages to different groups of donors to increase engagement. Even small personal touches, like acknowledging a monthly donor’s past contributions before sending your appeal, can make a big difference. Segmentation also helps prevent overcommunicating with supporters who don’t need every message.
• Communicate frequently: Send multiple emails during a campaign—ideally five or more—and post updates on social media. Announce the campaign launch, share progress, give reminders, and follow up with thank-you messages. Limited communication can make it harder to reach your goals.
• Support peer-to-peer fundraisers: Provide toolkits with instructions, tips, and sample email and social media content. This helps fundraisers feel confident and effective in spreading your mission.
• Enhance donor stewardship: Use GoFundMe Pro to send timely thank-you emails to donors, attendees, and fundraisers. Send one immediately after a gift, and consider a follow-up later to share the results of their contributions. This shows that donations truly make an impact and builds long-term trust.
• Go the extra mile: Use personal touches, like handwritten thank-you cards or phone calls, to create memorable moments and strengthen relationships.

Remember that strong donor communication helps supporters feel valued, increases engagement, and encourages repeat giving, making it a cornerstone of every successful fundraising strategy.

Turn your online fundraising campaigns into lasting impact

Successful online fundraising relies on thoughtful strategy, clear messaging, and tools that make giving easy and meaningful. By following the tips in this guide—from designing branded donation pages and offering modern payment options to using AI-driven ask amounts, activity walls, and year-round campaigns—your nonprofit can engage supporters more effectively and increase one-time and recurring donations.

Every interaction with your donors is an opportunity to strengthen relationships, inspire advocacy, and build momentum for future fundraising. GoFundMe Pro helps your team simplify campaign management, personalize the giving experience, and ensure every supporter feels recognized, appreciated, and motivated to give again.

With this approach, your nonprofit can drive meaningful engagement today while creating a foundation for long-term growth and sustainable success.

Copy editor: Ayanna Julien