Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Chapter 3: Getting the Donor Base to Come to You

In This Chapter

• Attracting visitors to start building a donor base
• Preparing your online strategy for attracting donors
• Moving your current supporters online and boosting activity
• Networking online for a good cause

Wouldn't it be wonderful if you could put up your site, post your mission statement, and then watch as the generosity of strangers poured in for your cause? Well, it can happen — but not quite as easily as that! Getting people to donate to your cause takes effort on your part, mixed with a little bit of time and skill.

Creating a healthy online donor base is similar to organizing any other major fundraising campaign or event: It requires event planning, the ongoing help of volunteers and staff, a good marketing campaign, and (almost) flawless execution. In this chapter, we show you how to transfer those offline fundraising skills to your online efforts.