Cultural Content – Creating an effective online donation ask

How Art UK grew its online giving, by Rachel Mapplebeck

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Today I’ve got a guest post about online giving. It’s written by cultural consultant Rachel Mapplebeck. I was excited to work with Rachel on a Cultural Content as I’ve seen so many cultural sector websites where the Support page gets negligible views. The sector seems a way behind both charity and for-profit organisations in better utilising online donation. Here Rachel shares her advice and top tips on growing online individual giving and creating effective donation messaging drawing on her recent work with fundraising strategist Nicole Newman for digital-first art education charity Art UK.

Over to Rachel…

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Cultural organisations in the UK are facing a fatal funding gap right now. Public funding is shrinking, while corporate support is hard to secure and can carry reputational risks.

But our arts organisations are loved and enjoyed by millions, and many have grown significant audiences online. Can they now mobilise these digital audiences to regularly donate?

ArtUK.org – growing online giving

Art UK gives everyone free digital access to the UK national collection of art in public museums and other institutions. Rich in content, artuk.org has hundreds of thousands of artworks, and thousands of stories to explore. The platform has an impressive audience of 5.4 million users a year.

However it receives no regular public funding, so the charity is looking to improve its financial resilience and sustainability by diversifying income sources and increasing low-level giving.

Although it has tested membership schemes in the past and has an existing pool of around 2,500 warm low-level donors, it hadn’t yet significantly penetrated and converted a meaningful proportion of its users into regular givers. The conversion to donating was 0.02% of Art UK’s web visits annually – a very low proportion considering the number of repeat visits and demographic of its audiences.

This untapped potential of low-level regular givers from Art UK’s large and growing audience is seen as a sustainable source of income for its future.

Online fundraising and memberships – the external context

Art UK is operating on a model closest to the ‘Contributions’ subscriptions model i.e. ‘help keep us free by donating’, similar to The Guardian or Wikipedia. However, there was previously no consistent and compelling supporter ask for audiences to give. There were also no monetisation opportunities being exploited, for example offering premium content for a fee, or selling audience data.

For charities the motivation to join or donate is cause-driven. Donors and members want to know that the organisations they support are making a difference, and the subject, and the community they represent, is of interest to them.

Research highlights several ‘catalysts’ for successful donor and membership recruitment and retention, and the importance of a real understanding of audiences, as well as best practice examples of online donating. These include:

• a compelling mission and values

• targeted, highly personalised communications

• donor-focussed user journeys; and a stewardship strategy that deepens engagement with the organisation.

Best practice examples of online donor user journeys we looked at included the following:

• Sadler’s Wells, whose ‘lean’ approach in donor-focussed journeys on mobile devices is paying off. It uses simple language and structure on its Support Us page, with clear options in terms of the level of gift to choose from. Only essential content is included with the ask. Then there is a one-step process for payment which is easy, frictionless, and designed mobile-first.

• Leeds Heritage Theatres site has outperformed others for donations, especially on mobile which accounts for 60% of transactions. Their approach is different, instead using impact-focussed content, supported by strong images and graphics. They have clear and repeated calls to action throughout their donations-focussed content pages, and it’s not one ask, but many which are tailored to specific initiatives and themes.

Case for support template – 7 things to always include

Creating a compelling ask for why people should donate to your cultural organisation is incredibly important. On your site honing this copy to the succinct essential elements creates the template for a donate page hub, which other content and communications channels can draw from and point to.

Here’s what I think you should always include:

1. Your headline and standfirst - who you are. Don’t forget the obvious! Spend time whittling this headline ask and the standfirst description of your organisation to as few words as possible.

2. What you do and why. Explain the important work you do and the reason why you need to do it.

3. The problem you’re solving and the impact you’re making. What’s the issue you’re addressing out there in the (cultural) world? What difference are you making?

4. Your current work and emotional cause. This is the chance to talk about what you’re working on right now. It can offer a tangible, memorable example which has the ability to emotionally connect with potential donors.

5. Why you need support. This could be the place to say how much it costs to run your organisation or deliver your work. Show the value for money you provide and why every donation makes a difference.

6. The jeopardy. What would happen if you didn’t exist?

7. The ask – Call To Action (CTA). And finally your ask - and thanks - for considering donating to your organisation.

Accompanying this copy will be a donation form with a fully-tested, frictionless online giving journey, prioritising regular (rather than one-off) giving by direct debit. The Donate page and other channels and related content can be enlivened through the selection of well-chosen images and pull quotes.

What we did at Art UK

You can find Art UK’s case for support on its Donate page.

What are the results?

For Art UK, making these changes to its online giving is already making a difference. After just a few weeks, daily average donations were hitting £366 per day, getting closer to reaching their £400 target.

Average donation levels are up, with a significant proportion of donations being made from our suggested regular giving amounts, showing that those price points are working well. Social media and e-newsletter content do have a positive effect on Art UK donation levels, channels that were not previously utilised for regular giving messaging. Plus, an expanded range of new payment methods is encouraging donations, while the new easier journey for claiming Gift Aid is seeing an increase in take-up.

Rachel Mapplebeck is a cultural consultant who puts audiences at the centre to help grow arts organisations. Throughout her career, she has gained a breadth of experience and expertise across marcomms, digital development and content across multiple platforms, fundraising, membership, research and insight, brand and design, policy and public affairs, and sustainability.

Nicole Newman is a fundraising consultant who helps arts and education organisations develop sustainable fundraising programmes and improve their fundraising potential.