4 Ways to Use Your Healthcare Website to Promote Fundraising

Fundraising is essential to support staffing, programs, supplies, equipment, and the other resources you need to continue serving your community effectively. However, as a healthcare fundraising professional, you know how challenging it can be to reach donors and secure long-term support.

Your healthcare website is one of the most useful tools to spread the word about your fundraising initiatives and get the community involved. Community members already visit your website for healthcare information and resources, making it a natural place to promote your fundraising efforts. 

Perhaps you’re preparing for a capital campaign and need to refresh your website to drive funding. Or, maybe you’ve recently seen a decline in online donations and want to reconnect with your digital audience. Whatever the case may be, we’ve compiled four tips to help you better promote fundraising using your healthcare website: 

1. Optimize your online donation page
2. Include compelling testimonials
3. Incorporate strategic calls to action
4. Highlight your grateful patient program

These tips will help you take a page out of the top nonprofit websites’ playbook to design an online resource that effectively grows your donor base. 

1. Optimize your online donation page

Enhancing your online donation page should always be the first step in improving your online fundraising strategy. Your giving page is the tool supporters will use to submit donations using a phone, tablet, or computer. A simple, streamlined, compelling donation page will help drive online fundraising. 

Bloomerang’s online fundraising guide offers the following tips for designing an engaging donation form that drives conversions: 

• Only ask the necessary questions. Keep form fields limited to just the questions that will allow you to process donors’ gifts, such as contact information, payment amount, and payment method. 
• Allow donors to give to a specific program. Donors may feel a strong connection to a certain program at your organization, especially if they participated in that program in the past. Give donors the flexibility to send donations directly to the programs that mean the most to them. 
• Offer a recurring donation option. Allow donors to turn a one-time donation into a recurring gift with just one click. 
• Provide several suggested donation amounts. Suggested donation amounts give donors an idea of the type of gifts you’re expecting, which makes it easier for them to choose the amount that’s right for them. Use your average donation amount as your lowest donation suggestion, and offer steadily increasing amounts from there. 
• Offer the opportunity to give in honor or memory of someone. Often, families of current or former patients are motivated to give to healthcare organizations that have cared for their loved ones. Give these donors the opportunity to dedicate their gift in memory or honor of someone. 
• Ensure the form is mobile-optimized. Make sure your giving page looks just as good on mobile devices as it does on computer screens. Make buttons and links easy to touch and ensure text is large enough to be read on smaller screens. 
• Make the form accessible. Your giving page (and all the forms on your website) should be completely accessible to all visitors. Use sufficient color contrast, make the form keyboard navigable, and include written descriptions of each form field outside of the answer boxes. These elements make it easier for individuals using assistive technology to complete your form. 

The Cleveland Clinic’s online donation page reflects most of these best practices: it enables recurring donations, offers several suggested donation options, permits donors to give in honor or memory of someone, and gives donors multiple program options to support. It even includes an FAQ section answering common questions, which is a great way to reassure donors and create an even smoother giving experience.

2. Include compelling testimonials

When asking for donations, it’s essential to give supporters a compelling reason to give. Potential donors should understand exactly what or who their gifts will support. 

By including community member testimonials on your website, you can introduce prospective donors to the real people who are positively impacted by your fundraising efforts. 

Kanopi’s healthcare website design guide offers these tips for creating inspirational testimonials: 

• Choose a main protagonist. Focus each of your testimonials on individual patients, volunteers, physicians, and other members of your healthcare community. Choosing just one main protagonist for each impact story will help donors feel a more personal connection. 
• Include first-person quotes. Let community members tell their stories in their own words. Weave first-person quotes into a compelling narrative. 
• Share videos, photos, or audio clips. Bring your testimonials to life with multimedia content. This type of content also helps break up long text blocks and make your web pages more engaging. 

The most essential aspect of your testimonials is connecting the person’s story to the positive impact of donations. For example, you might wrap up a testimonial by writing “6-year-old James was able to make a full recovery with the help of our donor-funded physical therapy program. Because of donors’ tireless support, James can now get back to playing his favorite sport.”  

3. Incorporate strategic calls to action

Calls to action (CTAs) are buttons or links that encourage people to take a certain action and lead them to a web page where they can do so. CTAs are an essential part of any fundraising offer because they help turn supporters’ motivation into real support for your organization. 

Your website should include a variety of CTAs leading to your donation page and any fundraising campaign landing pages. Make these CTAs eye-catching and relevant to website visitors by keeping these best practices in mind: Use bright colors and bold text. Choose a bold color from your organization’s brand color palette to serve as the background of your CTA buttons. Use bold text that stands out against the background to draw visitors’ eyes to these page elements. For example, check out this example donation CTA from the St. Jude homepage that stands out by using a different color than the other buttons:

• Be specific about what you’re asking visitors to do. Website visitors should know exactly what to expect from clicking on your donation CTAs. Use clear language, like “Donate Now,” “Become a Monthly Donor,” or “Help Fund Our Research.” 
• Include the donation button on high-impact pages. Incorporate CTAs throughout highly visible pages like your homepage or About page. For example, you could include a donation CTA in the top right corner of your main menu and make the menu sticky to ensure that it appears at the top of every page. 

Your website’s content management system (CMS) should support a variety of CTA types. If it doesn’t, consider switching to a user-friendly option like Drupal or WordPress. Work with a developer as needed to develop custom CTAs that speak to your organization’s unique fundraising needs. 

4. Highlight your grateful patient program

Former patients and their families have a strong connection to your organization because they’ve directly benefited from your care. That makes them some of your most passionate donors. 

A well-rounded grateful patient program is an opportunity for those who have received care from your healthcare institution to show their gratitude through donations. 

Create an informational web page highlighting the program and how to get involved. Include details about:

• What the program supports. Share specific details about the projects or programs supported by grateful patient donations. 
• Ways to get involved. Highlight opportunities beyond just donating. For example, the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Grateful Family Program page spotlights opportunities like Share Your Story, Honor A Caregiver, Fundraise for Children’s, and Make A Gift. Even if supporters can’t donate at the time, they can still show their support in other ways, such as contributing a testimonial or becoming a peer-to-peer fundraiser. 
• The nurses, doctors, and physicians involved in your program. Feature testimonials from healthcare professionals about what their patient relationships mean to them. When former patients see a familiar face, they may feel more motivated to donate.

Make sure all of your website’s fundraising pages, including your grateful patient program page, are supporter-centric. Keep the focus on potential and current donors and what their support means for other patients and your healthcare staff. Show your gratitude by including a donor wall or an appreciation video created with the help of patients, volunteers, and staff. 

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Hopefully, these tips will help you prioritize your healthcare website as a central tenet of your fundraising strategy. More and more, people are turning to digital resources for healthcare information and support. Incorporating fundraising initiatives into your website reminds supporters that your organization relies on their support to continue operating effectively in the community.