4 Exciting Digital Fundraising Trends To Embrace This Year

Posted by Jordan Morris on 28 February 2025

The way you raise money for your organization is constantly evolving. Gone are the days of relying solely on traditional bake sales or high-end galas to achieve your funding goals (though these fun events definitely have a place in a well-rounded fundraising strategy!). Nowadays, the name of the game is digital fundraising.

Also referred to as online or virtual fundraising, digital fundraising uses online technology to raise money for a specific cause. According to Cornershop Creative, there are several benefits to embracing digital fundraising, such as saving money on traditional fundraising costs, getting a rapid response in times of crisis or extreme need, and expanding engagement beyond geographical borders.

If you’re ready to experience these benefits, you first need to understand the current digital fundraising trends that are turning donors’ heads and getting them excited about making a difference. Get started by reviewing our roundup of tried-and-true trends that you can use in 2025!

1. Mobile-First Fundraising

Mobile-first fundraising allows you to meet your donors where they’re at—their smartphones! After all, the Pew Research Center reports that 91% of Americans own a smartphone. Further, Americans spend an average of 5 hours and 16 minutes daily on their phones.

This is good news for your organization—if you can learn how to grab your supporters’ attention through mobile fundraising, you can connect with them regularly and raise more money and awareness for your work.

Here are some strategies to increase your chances of securing donations from smartphone users:

• Optimize and maintain your donation page with mobile devices in mind. Your online donation page is where all the action happens with mobile-first fundraising, so ensure you’re prepared for mobile visitors. The page should be responsive, meaning it adjusts automatically to different screen sizes. Also, make sure the page loads quickly and elements like forms, buttons, and images are easy to navigate.

• Design a text-to-give campaign. With this type of fundraiser, your organization sets up a mobile donation number and shares a special keyword with its supporters. When they text that keyword to the donation number, they’ll be prompted to follow a link to make a donation. Ensure the keyword you pick is easy to remember and type out. For instance, “Give4CancerResearch” is easier to remember than a long scramble of random numbers and letters.
• Allow supporters to participate in events from their phones. Consider hosting virtual events that supporters can participate in from wherever they are. For example, with an auction, you can use online auction software to allow donors to bid from their mobile phones and notify them when they’ve been outbid. You can also use livestream technology to interact with mobile participants.

2. Matching Gifts

Many fundraisers find it challenging to balance the need to raise more money for their causes while being mindful of how often they ask donors to give. Donor fatigue is a real issue that can quickly become an insurmountable challenge for organizations that fail to find the right balance.

Matching gifts offers a creative—and lucrative—digital fundraising solution for organizations and donors alike. Through this form of corporate philanthropy, donors’ employers financially match donations donors make to your organization.

Here’s how the process works:

1. A donor gives to your organization.
2. The donor checks their corporate matching gift eligibility using a matching gifts database on your organization’s website.
3. After confirming that their employer offers matching gifts, the donor fills out any necessary online forms provided by the database tool to kickstart the matching process.
4. The donor’s employer reviews the forms and confirms the donation with the nonprofit.
5. The company sends the nonprofit a donation.

Every company’s matching gift program will look a little different. Employers have different rules for what types of nonprofits they’ll match gifts for, the types of employees eligible to use the programs (for example, full-time employees versus part-time employees), and the ratio at which they match gifts. Most companies will match at a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio, but some will offer a 3:1 ratio!

Here’s an example to illustrate what matching gifts can do for your organization: Say Shayla, an employee at Deloitte, gives $50 to your nonprofit. She finds out she’s eligible for a 1:1 donation match and submits the required paperwork to the company. A few days later, your organization receives a check for $50 from Deloitte. The matched gift has essentially doubled the amount and impact of Shayla’s gift without requiring her to reach back into her wallet!

To take full advantage of matching gifts, you need to market them effectively. Create a page on your organization’s website that explains the process, and encourage donors to check their eligibility when you promote your digital fundraising campaigns. You can even shout out donors who take advantage of matching gifts on your blog to inspire others to do the same.

3. Recurring Giving Programs

A steady source of revenue is essential for sustainable, long-term success. This is best achieved by tapping into multiple streams of fundraising dollars all at once, and one of the most popular digital types is a recurring giving program.

With recurring giving programs, donors can opt into giving your organization a set amount of money each month. And though this typically means donors give a smaller amount of money each time they donate, that amount adds up over time. According to Double the Donation, the average monthly gift is $24, which results in an annual donation total of $288. This is actually more than the average one-time donation amount of $115!

To set up a recurring giving program, revisit your online donation page. Offer an option on the page to turn a one-time gift into a recurring gift. This will allow your donors to “set and forget” their donations so that they’re billed monthly and don’t have to take any further action.

Also, consider creating a recurring giving society to build a community around your program. You can offer recurring donors perks like exclusive newsletters or early access to event tickets, which will help them feel seen and valued for their consistent contributions.

From time to time, you should also check in with your recurring donors to ensure their giving details, such as payment information, contact information, and giving amounts, are current. This can serve as a great touchpoint for encouraging donors to level up their giving or just to say thank you for all their support!

4. AI-Powered Donor Engagement

By now, your organization has at least heard about the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in nonprofit fundraising and marketing strategies. Or, maybe you’ve even tried out some popular AI tools like ChatGPT yourself! After all, research shows that nonprofits are embracing AI faster than for-profit organizations.

There’s no doubt that AI is here to stay, so whatever your level of adoption has been so far, consider strengthening your digital fundraising efforts by embracing it further. One of the best places to start is using AI for donor engagement.

Two types of AI can help you connect with your donors and pave the way for better fundraising results:

• Generative AI, which creates original content, such as copy, images and video.
  • Examples: ChatGPT, which offers written responses to user prompts, and DALL-E, which can create original images based on user prompts

• Predictive AI, which analyzes data and offers predictions or recommendations based on that data.
  • Examples: AI features in your CRM that allow for marketing automation or donor segmentation

Predictive AI tools can help you better understand who your donors are, what they value, and how best to reach out to them. Some tools can even recommend how big of a donation to ask for, when to ask for it, and how.

Generative AI tools are best for helping you shape your messaging, whether you need to write personalized fundraising appeals for a dozen major donors or create a series of Facebook posts for an upcoming fundraising event.

A word to the wise: While these AI tools offer nearly endless possibilities for improving your donor engagement strategies on a vast scale, proceed with care and apply a critical eye to any output an AI tool provides you with. You know your organization and its community best! Plus, the human touch is always going to be an important part of fundraising, even in digital spaces, and your donors deserve messages and experiences that feel personal and genuine.

Digital fundraising is the new frontier for any type of organization that relies on fundraising. And by staying up to date on digital fundraising trends like the ones described above, you can ensure that your future fundraising campaigns are primed to help you achieve your goals and build relationships with those who support you.

Jordan Morris

Givergy

Jordan joined Givergy after studying Politics with International Relations at the University of York. He has over two years experience within the charity sector working as a face-to-face fundraiser and as a constituency campaigner. After experiencing the sector from within and knowing first-hand the impact digital solutions can make to fundraising strategies, Jordan is now dedicated to innovating the way charities fundraise to ensure they maximise returns from every fundraising campaign.