Our next-door neighbour, a very good friend of ours, recently passed away and in lieu of flowers the family asked that online donations be made to a local charity that does fund-raising for colon cancer awareness.

Being that Lester is my third friend / colleague to succumb to the disease, I was SO on it.

Unfortunately, trying to make a donation on the site was a convoluted and frustrating process, so I gave up the first time.

Two days later, only after reading a friend's comments on Facebook – someone who expressed frustration with the online donation process AND added instructions for getting through the rigamarole – was I able to make my own donation.

But I believe a lot of folks just gave up completely.

Here's why:

1. The online donations button was on the homepage, but below the fold.
2. That link went to their ‘Get Involved' page, through which you had to scroll to nearly the bottom to arrive at a number of choices, which included ‘General Donations'.
3. The ‘General Donations' link opens a new window and goes to a list of recent donors, along with their pledge amounts. That information is more obvious and potentially more interesting than the tiny Donate button on the right side of the page.Listing donors' names and the amount of their contribution is a huge faux pas in and of itself. Not everyone wants their information to be known and at very least, the charity should give donors the option to remain anonymous.

   Also interesting is their ‘Raised to Date' amount, which differs from the amount shown on the homepage, i.e. $4,370.00 on the Donate page versus $3800.00 on the homepage. That slight discrepancy should make anyone stop and think about the validity of the charity and their donation collection process.

4. When you click the ‘Donate' button, you are taken to a sign up / login form – which should be off-putting to anyone who is smart enough to question online payment processing. Seriously, who is 2mev.com?
5. Only when / IF you scroll down a bit, might you see the Guest option…
6. Which does NOT work…
7. So, if you haven't given up completely by this point, you go back and Register, find the donation form at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar and then finally make your donation
8. Then, rather than being sent to a THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATION page, you see….
   

   Thank you for registering for the Giants Head Grind.

   For more information or general inquiries, please visit giantsheadgrind.com

   Start your own fundraising campaign! Prizes will be awarded to those who raise the most for this great cause. To get you started, we have created a fundraising pledge page just for you. All you need to do us CLICK HERE to personalize it and start sharing with your friends and family!

   HUH?

   There were hundreds of friends and family members at his ‘Celebration of Life' memorial, and so VERY many more folks who couldn't be there — and everyone was aware of the family's donation request.

   Yet the charity's ‘Raised to Date' figure increased only slightly in the week following my friend's passing and I have no doubt that it was the site's errors that had a negative impact on the charity's bottom line.

   So, what can be done to increase online donations made?

   I'm SO glad you asked! 🙂

   • Place 3 (THREE) donation buttons on the homepage.

     1. The first one should go right beside the ‘Home' button in the primary navigation.
     2. Move the picture of Giant's Head Mountain below the “JOIN US AGAIN IN 2015!” paragraph to move the ‘Donate' button above the fold. ‘Above the fold' material appears without a user having to scroll down the page.
     3. Place a Donate link in the right-hand sidebar on every page – also above the fold.

     For example, visit Water.org to see where their donation buttons are located on the site.

   • Use Paypal to accept donations.

     Paypal is a trusted online third-party payment processor for people all around the world.

     Make it easy for people to support your cause with PayPal's Donate button. You can get set up to accept credit card or PayPal donations in as little as 15 minutes. You can accept donations in 22 currencies from 203 countries across the globe.

   I can only HOPE that the local charity reads, understands and acts on my request to make the process simpler for their potential donors.

   Did you find this post informative and useful? If so, please share it with others! If you have a comment, question, or suggestion, please leave a comment below!

   Cheers,