Learn How This Donation Button Strategy Helped Hope for New York Exceed Their Year-End Goal

Each month, get inspired by a unique and timely campaign that shows exactly how to use the Classy giving platform to the fullest.   

Year after year, the giving season remains the most active time for nonprofits. This Best in Classy year-end campaign example visually breaks down how your organization can capitalize on the generosity of the holidays to raise more for your cause.

Hope for New York’s year-end crowdfunding campaign combined a powerful donation button strategy with compelling storytelling and recognizable branding to achieve 104% of their 2020 year-end fundraising goal.

Executing a successful year-end fundraising campaign means not only driving supporters to your site, but also seamlessly guiding those supporters to make a gift on your donation page. Your donation button is a key ingredient in that recipe.

Walk through each step of how Hope for New York strategically incorporated donation buttons throughout their year-end crowdfunding campaign and incorporated a number of other best practices to raise more for New York City families in need amid COVID-19.

Download Your Guide to Year-End Fundraising

Meet Hope for New York

Mission: To mobilize volunteers and financial resources to support nonprofit organizations serving the poor and marginalized in New York City

Cause Sector: Human Services

Employee Count: 15

Location: New York City, New York

Years on Classy: 4

Connect with Hope for New York on Instagram

Discover More Top Performing Campaigns on Classy

See a Strong Year-End Crowdfunding Campaign in Action

To provide New York City families with everything they need for the holidays, including toys and basic necessities, Hope for New York set out to raise holiday funds to give grants directly to their nonprofit affiliates.

Explore how Hope for New York’s seamless user experience supported their ambitious goals and learn how to bring these strategies to life at your organization.

Method: Hope for New York’s dedicated year-end crowdfunding campaign immediately drew donors in with its bright and cheery holiday theme, recognizable branding, and eye-catching visuals. Supporters were met with a brief, yet powerful video in the hero block that clearly defined the problem they were trying to solve, identified what the organization was going to do to improve upon it, and how each donation would make a tangible difference to their city-wide beneficiaries.

Presented with the opportunity to have every gift matched, dollar for dollar, up to $15,000, donors were motivated by a sense of urgency to double their impact. Multiple donation buttons across the page presented more opportunities to give. Each button’s distinguished design and strategic proximity naturally led donors to complete their gifts with ease.

Strong visuals in the hero block, background, and custom text blocks supported the organization’s narrative of bringing holiday magic to those in need. Live interactions with donors were prominently displayed on the activity wall, generating social proof of others having supported the cause and strengthening donors’ sense of connection.

Rounding out their donor experience with modern payment options, including credit card, ACH, and Google Pay, helped boost conversions and allowed for easier on-the-go transactions.

Tools That Made It Happen:

Hope for New York chose Classy for its year-end fundraising campaign because of the platform’s flexibility and advanced design tools that made it possible to communicate their unique mission and timely goals.

Their team took advantage of the following Classy capabilities:

• Customizable, mobile-optimized landing pages that allowed for donors anywhere, on any device, to become a part of their story.
• Advanced design tools that brought their holiday vision to life through an engaging hero block, compelling copy, consistent branding, and more.
• Custom text blocks that created the perfect place for additional donation buttons to live.
• A donor activity wall that helped scale outreach by providing a way to respond directly to each donor after they made a gift.
• Digital wallet payment options that offered a modern transaction experience that donors trust.

Request a Classy Demo

The Value of a Strong Donation Button Strategy for Your Nonprofit

Nonprofits’ sustainability depends on the generous donations of passionate supporters. In order to deliver on the demands of your organization year over year, converting these supporters into loyal donors is critical.

A compelling campaign landing page is important, but creating a seamless path to give may be the difference between surpassing your goals or potentially falling short. The less time your supporters have to spend searching for the donate button, the more likely they are to see the process through.

Think creatively about your donation button placement to quickly and conveniently guide new and existing donors through the checkout flow with ease.

Learn How to Elevate Your Fundraising on Classy

More Takeaways to Boost Your Year-End Fundraising Results

1. Make the Most of Multiple Donation Buttons

Strategize how your organization can incorporate multiple donation buttons across your campaigns. By offering numerous ways to give, your supporters are more likely to take action as they watch your campaign unfold.

Do It on Classy

Customize your landing page to incorporate multiple call to action buttons. You can also customize the copy on each button with Classy’s advanced design tools to remind donors of the why behind your campaign.

2. Tell Your Story 

Illustrate the problem your organization is attempting to solve and articulate the solutions you hope to achieve with the support of your donors. Forge emotional connections with your community by digging beneath the surface to explain why your ask is timely, meaningful, and worthy of support.

Do It on Classy

Easily personalize your copy, incorporate attention-grabbing visuals, and add custom text blocks to continue building a larger story arc for your campaign in just minutes. Pull photos and video from your organization’s own media library, or tap into our built-in library of free, high-resolution Pixababy stock images to include on your campaign and donation pages.

3. Make an Impression With Consistent Branding

Use your brand to tell people who your organization is, what you want to accomplish, and what makes you unique. The more clearly this comes across, the closer donors feel to your mission.

Create a formal brand guide to set the foundation for your campaigns and marketing materials to ensure the same look and feel are carried across all platforms.

Do It on Classy

Carry your logo, brand colors, font, and tone of voice to each new campaign to help boost brand recognition and strengthen donors’ trust. Enter your exact color hex codes on Classy to ensure brand consistency across all pages.

4. Engage With Donors (and Donations) in Real-Time 

Make donors feel noticed and appreciated when making a contribution to your campaign. A prompt, personalized message of appreciation posted in direct response to a donor’s gift is an effective way of showing your supporters how much you value their generosity.

Do It on Classy

Classy’s activity wall serves as a digital hub of communication between donors, fundraisers, and administrators to encourage real-time engagement and connection. Keeping your community connected in this way not only provides an instant feeling of acknowledgement, but also helps scale outreach as campaign momentum picks up.

5. Always Offer a Recurring Giving Option 

Develop a strong recurring giving program to establish a predictable stream of revenue to lean on during slow seasons or uncertain times. These reliable donations help to maximize annual contributions, increase donor lifetime value, and boost donor retention.

Do It on Classy

Incorporate a recurring giving option on your donation forms to engage more supporters, or launch a targeted recurring giving campaign with ease. Tailor your suggested donation amounts to reflect your unique donor base and segment your outreach with the help of Classy’s custom data reports, like the Returning One-Time Donors report.

With Classy’s latest recurring frequencies and end dates, nonprofits can now offer even greater control and flexibility to both new and existing donors.

6. Let Donors Pay the Way They Choose 

Take note of the 80 million people who prefer digital wallets because of their convenience. Upgrade your donor experience by embracing modern payment options in your year-end campaigns.

Donating through PayPal or Venmo captures the interest of 55 percent of donors who share that they would likely donate through these methods if offered. Make donors feel like your organization is a seamless extension of their everyday purchasing behaviors to increase their chances of donating to your cause and encouraging their inner network to do the same.

Do It on Classy

Introduce digital wallets, mobile payments, and bank transfers to your donor base with Classy Pay, our seamless integration with Stripe. Backed by industry-leading fraud protection, Classy Pay allows your nonprofit to keep security front and center for all transactions. Also take advantage of its low-cost transaction fees, automatic credit card updating, and more.

Additionally, offer your donors the opportunity to donate cryptocurrency to receive the tax benefits and make a true impact. Classy’s Crypto Giving Fund currently lets donors give Bitcoin, Ethereum, and USD Coin to nonprofits in the food relief, hospitals and health, and community support cause sectors.

Learn More About Donating Crypto on Classy

More Donation Buttons, More Opportunities to Give

Get smart about how you’re driving your year-end appeal by supplementing each ask with a strategically-placed donation button. Providing a bridge between your campaign landing page and donation form not only helps to increase support for your cause this season, but also into the new year and beyond.