Donation Websites – How To Set Up a Donation Websi
Donation websites are used to accept donations from donors for a variety of reasons so unless you decide to use a free donation website, learning how to set up a donation website is something you need to master.
Donations from friends, family and close associates are commonly solicited for causes like illness, weddings, automobile accidents, loss of insurance, animal care and rescue, extended hospital stays, etc.
Regardless of the reason, learning how to set up a donation website is the first step to being able to accept online donations.
Fortunately, learning how to set up a donation website is easy.
Any donation website you decide to set up should have a large “donate now” button included in a prominent location in every web page of the site to simplify the donating process.
Other than the cost of website hosting, the domain name and any advertising associated with your site, operating costs for a donation website is minimal unless you are unable to perform routine HTML coding yourself. Then additional costs for a website designer are applicable.
The basics of setting up a donation website is the same as any other website.
First you need to choose a domain name that is SEO friendly and directly associated with the reason you are asking for donations. This is necessary so potential donors can more easily find your site and understand what your donation site is all about.
For example: If you are soliciting donations for money to pay for your sick dog’s operation whose name is Elmo. Choose a domain name like elmosoperation.com if it is available. If it is already taken, use hyphens to separate the domain name (elmos-operation.com).
Next, unless you already have one, sign up for a PayPal account so you can accept donations.
Among other features, an account with PayPal will allows you to to generate “Donate Now” buttons for your website.
Keep your donation websites simple. It’s not necessary to include a lot of fancy graphics, etc. that may cause your web pages to load slowly.
All you need to do is set up three basic HTML web pages.
- The “Home” page.
- The “About” page which should be labeled “About the Cause”
- The “Donate Now” page to accept the donations.
1 – Your Home page will have links to the other two pages and should explain to your visitors who you are and why you are asking for donations.
Keep it simple and try to keep the word count to a minimum. 350 to 450 words is more than adequate.
You can include a couple of photographs of your sick dog “Elmo” on the home page so potential donors can more easily relate to why they are donating but keep pictures to a minimum.
Set up a menu bar on the left side or on the top of your Home page with links to the rest of the pages of your donation website.
Pick a large, brightly colored “Donate Now” button and make sure it is prominently displayed on your Home page. Your “Donate Now” button is linked to the “Donate Now” page.
2 – Next create an “About” or “About the Cause” page for your donation website.
As the name implies, this page should contain the reasons why you are asking for donations.
Give your visitors a detailed explanation of the purpose for your request, how the money will be used, a little bit about your organization (if you have one) and about yourself so they understand that your cause is legitimate and just.
Unfortunately there are a ton of so called charities that keep the majority of funds raised for themselves.
Some nonprofit charities are nothing more than fronts for fund raising companies that bankroll their exorbitant “start up” costs, charge extraordinary high rates and can eventually drive legitimate charities into debt.
Your “About the Cause” page should alleviate any illegitimate concerns that a potential donor may have about the use of their donations.
3 – Lastly you need to create a “Donate Now” page for your donation website.
Reiterate and explain to the reader again why you need a donation and what will be done with the money that is donated.
Place another “Donate Now” link on this page that takes the donor directly to the PayPal site so they can finalize their donation. You can generate this link through PayPal after your account has been set up.
Once you understand how easy it is to set up a donation website, you will probably not need the services of a website designer.
