Online Giving Helps Parish Raise $91,061 In 2 Months

Even as in-person events and activities were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, our partner GiveCentral locations raised thousands of dollars more during the COVID-19 crisis than they did during the same time period last year! They key reason for this amazing win was the technological flexibility. Online giving helps a parish with providing a much broader reach and a means to continue events as usual.

Here is one such success story.

St Giles Catholic Parish Oak Park,IL raised almost one hundred thousand dollars in 2 months by transitioning successfully their in-person events into virtual events. By using the power of their peer network on social media they not only engaged their audience well, they also were able to drive action.

What they did right

1. Creatively used the website to highlight the most important information on the homepage.

2. Positioned clear calls to action, prominent donate buttons, also visible on the homepage.

3. They maintained a steady stream of support through their donation page and YouTube channel during the COVID-19 crisis and changed how they provide services and take donations. 

St Giles Catholic Parish used GiveCentral events to collect one-time or recurring donations through a completely branded, mobile-responsive web page. All pages are designed to move donors through the checkout flow quickly and smoothly.

4. St. Giles set up their YouTube Channel 2 months ago and they already have 50 videos and 280 subscribers.

Why it works

Visual content is a great online giving support to your parish website. Videos are a great way to tell your story, create an emotional response, and get your message across. Working with thousands of nonprofit partners, we’ve seen videos of all shapes and sizes.

To help you get the most out of your video we’ve put together a checklist to help keep you on track.

Dos

• DO capture your audience’s full attention by keeping the video short and informative
• DO have a strong communication plan to share your video

Donts

• DON’T be vague about money
• DON’T share a video you wouldn’t watch

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Make your year-end fundraising a success!

Each year during the holidays, donors respond to the call for generosity and mobilize for the causes they support. In fact, about half of the donation collected in a year is collected in December alone. It is therefore essential that your nonprofit is present in the minds of donors at the end of the year.

And there are many other good reasons to write to your supporters at the end of the year:

• Thank the people who have followed you for a long time … or for a few days!
• Present the perspective of your nonprofit to help everyone to project themselves
• And if your organization is recognized as being of general interest, you can also offer a tax reduction to your donors in return for their donation

Online giving can help your parish reach its goals too.

Are you still trying to figure out online giving at your parish? 

To help you and simplify your communication and fundraising campaign, GiveCentral has designed a dedicated communication kit. It includes everything you need to communicate : sample text, social media images, emails and other ideas for your content strategy. 

View now. 

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Last modified: September 7, 2020