I was asked the other day which I thought was the most compelling fundraising website.
My answer — and I respect we all have our idiosyncrasies — is Charity:Water.
Why?
1. Very appealing graphically, clean as a whistle, one of the simplest nonprofit homepages (and design throughout) I’ve ever seen.
2. Very compelling use of images — especially video (and I’m talking vivid exceptional video you can’t stop watching) — and music to tell their story … throughout the site.
3. Very well constructed, novel “birthday” fundraising campaign (who could resist clicking on a Will Smith video?!), coupled with very concrete “day-to-day” donate ask.
4. Excellent use of “share” and personal fundraising campaign tools.
5. Just the right amount of information, in easily digestible form, to elicit a gift; but plenty more info available if I want to dig into the issues and program. In other words, this site raises money first, then permits self-education.
Here’s my impression of what happened to build this site. A very creative small group of infants were kidnapped and raised from birth without any exposure to books, brochures or any print media. Instead, at an early age they were introduced to computers, music, pictures and video, and someone explained what the “world-wide web” was, perhaps using some terrific graphics. Then they were told stories and shown all about Charity:Water. And finally they were asked to design a website that would deliver Charity:Water’s message, presenting an organization and program that they had never seen presented in print.
The end result is something elegant and highly visual … fun to browse … and compelling.
Of course, that’s all from the outside looking in. Maybe the site is a huge flop. But looking at Charity:Water’s growth from zero in just a few years, I don’t think so.
But Charity:Water is just my pick. I’d love to hear yours.
Tom
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I love your pick – and wholeheartedly agree! But my impression differs from yours. I’m betting a huge factor in Charity Water’s success lies in the fact that they were never immersed in nonprofit culture. This is direct marketing – pure and simple – and what every nonprofit website should strive for.
Ahhh I misunderstood the title of your post, you meant best fundraising site designed for the masses. The best site I have ever seen was designed specifically for one donor. They were always informed when their site was updated with content that kept them informed of the impact their money was having. That site raised millions and millions because of the constant attention that key donor got. But I agree Charity Water is cool for now.
I’m a huge fan of Charity:Water also. Other sites I often refer people to for “good” fundraising examples are Project Hope and the Children’s Hospital Foundation .
Charity:Water has a fantastic fund-raising concept and does a wonderful job of pulling people into their every day life and mission. One disconnect that I have is how mis-marketed their website and media campaigns are. I have NEVER heard about or seen a charity:water campaign other than in a media write up like this one. I haven’t seen a tweet, email marketing piece, Facebook post by a friend, NOTHING — so, where is all this success happening?
It clearly is happening, but who is their target audience… what age group is supporting them; are these donors sustainable or one trick ponies?
I loved the example you shared and their innovative personal fundraising campaign. I feel so guilty now that I didn’t participate!! Thank you for the reminder that a community requires more investment.
I love the design and story/information integration of these sites:
http://www.feedingamerica.org
http://www.safekids.org
For a smaller regional organization, I also love this site for it’s beautiful clean design and use of video: http://www.midohiofoodbank.org/
I think http://www.SimpleRegistry.com is the best fundraising website out there. Why? It was easy for us to get specific on where the donations were going and it is the cheapest (3.5%). The design is very clean and user friendly. How much do some of these other sites skim off the top? That is an important question.
I submit End4Hunger: http://www.end4hunger.org/
Its simple, straightforward, and gives you a clear and easy set of 4 steps to take to end hunger.
Throwing another one out there that is very compelling: http://www.smiletrain.org/site/PageServer?s_src=BANNER_Dictionary04
Hey all,
As a bit of an insider, i can tell you that charitywater.org was designed exclusively by Viktoria Harrison over the last few year in-house at charity: water. Vik was their second employee.
Here’s a short video of Vik talking about the brand and website:
http://www.shatterbox.com/video/charity-water
I’ve got to say as a long time supporter & fan of Charity:Water what they have done is nothing short of amazing. The website looks great, very clean & easy to navigate, with enough information for the casual browser to want to make a donation, and loads more information for someone that wants to know more. You feel that you really connect with the charity & the people they are helping, especially the photos.
One thing they have been clear about upfront is that 100% of donations from the public go to the water projects, nothing is skimmed off for them, they run on donations from those giving to specifically to cover their operating costs. All their financial’s are on their website & it is very transparent, you always know where your money is going, literally. A lot of the projects have GPS coordinates & info about the area it is going to, so you can see the people on the receiving end as it were.