Posted by: Kerry Houchin, Marketing Coordinator

It should come as no surprise that nonprofit donations are down. According to the Center for Nonprofit Management, 50.6% of nonprofit organizations are seeing a decrease in donations. Not only are organizations seeing fewer donors but also smaller donations from existing donors. To make matters worse, administration costs are on the rise.

Nonprofit workers clearly have their work cut out for them. My suggestion? Focus more efforts toward online marketing. Online giving worldwide hit the $10.44 billion mark in 2007, and it currently represents nearly half of all nonprofit donations.

Here are some tips on using the Internet to increase donations:

Stay in touch with donors via email. Send a monthly note reminding them to make a donation and show what donations are helping to accomplish.

Optimize existing PPC advertising campaigns. Cut out keywords that aren’t getting any impressions. Focus efforts and bids on keywords that relate to donating or giving, and be sure to keep your organization’s goals in mind while creating keywords.

Utilize social media. Facebook and MySpace pages are easy to create, can give prospective donors a more in-depth look at the organization, and can be an extremely efficient communication tool. YouTube videos are also easy to post, and can reach people on a more personal level than photos alone. Blog postings are also a great way to create a giving community and can help drive donors to your other social media sites.

Optimize your website. Creating more donation calls to action on your website and simplifying the online donation process are effective ways to increase the number of donations you receive.