A charitable event is a viable option for a nonprofit looking to raise awareness and fundraising revenue. In fact, while peer-to-peer programs took a massive hit in 2020 due to the pandemic, revenue from the 30 largest programs still brought in $900.1 million last year, according to the PeerToPeer Professional Forum. With the return of in-person events, this number will likely skyrocket over the next year, as people are now yearning to participate face-to-face again. If your organization has a charitable event in the pipeline, and your goal is to get as many people in the door as possible, it starts with having the right content. And that starts with building your event website.
Look around you: Technology is in everything we touch. That being said, having a website is no longer an option when it comes to planning an event; it’s a necessity. Without a website, where can people go to learn more about your fundraising event and, even better, participate in the event and raise money for your nonprofit?
By having a website to promote its events, The Capital Pride Alliance was able to sell out of tickets to both events — The Capital Pride Honors and Official Pride Opening Party. The event website was a driving factor in spreading the word about its events and drove more engagement from supporters.
If you’re still considering whether or not it’s a feasible option to build an event website, read on to learn more about the reasons why you should be buying in.
- Keeps everything in one central location. Your event website will not only provide relevant information — who you are, why you’re hosting the event and where and when it’s happening — it can also be a place for people to register for the event. Take your website a step further by including call-to-action buttons — donate, fundraise and volunteer — to encourage people to take action immediately, especially while your event is top of mind.
- Gives your event more credibility. In today’s modern age, events look more legitimate when they are directed to a website that serves as an information hub for your event. Gain even more credibility by using your own organization’s domain name (e.g., https://www.scottcoffeerun.com).
- Makes it easy to make changes to your event. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that anything can happen and you have to be ready to pivot at a snap of a finger. If there are any changes to your event, you can easily make changes to your website and inform those who have registered for your event (and those who were planning to) without the added stress of having to reprint and mail anything.
- Widens your reach. Having a website can significantly expand your audience reach. Google is now everyone’s best friend, and it’s how people search for anything and everything. For instance, if someone in your local community is interested in a charitable event near them, your event will likely pop up at the top of their search results — as long as you’re using the right keywords, ensuring that your website is SEO-optimized.
- Urges more people to sign up for your event. A website is more than just a place for people to sign up for your event. By crafting the right messaging — getting the person emotionally connected to your mission — you’re able to take that person from interested to registered for the event. And if your messaging has touched that person enough, they’ll even fundraise for the event and encourage their friends and family to donate to your important cause.
- Assists with event promotion. Now that you’ve built an eye-catching website that’s ready to go live, you can now use the landing page to direct people to take action through all of your marketing channels — email, direct mail, social media or even face-to-face.
- Showcases all of your communication channels. In addition to assisting with your event promotion, you can integrate all of your marketing channels on your website. Include all of the ways to connect and communicate with your organization: email address, phone number and social channels.
- Promotes your brand. For someone to remember your brand, did you know it takes at least five to seven brand impressions? This means that you need to promote your brand repeatedly throughout your website. Not only that, you also have to make sure all of your branding matches (e.g., an updated logo on the homepage and an older version of the logo on the registration page). Inconsistent branding can potentially turn people away from your website. In fact, consistent branding increases revenue by 33%. So, when it comes to your branding, be intentional about keeping materials up to date.
- Gives you insightful information about your audience. In our digital age, we are able to get more insights on our audience than ever before. And with an event website, you get a birds-eye view on who comes, where they come from, which pages they’re clicking on and if they’re abandoning your website. This gives you leverage and allows you to make changes on your website based on user behavior.
- Offers insights on user experience. Now that you have an understanding of your user behavior, you also have an understanding of why your event may or may not be performing well. With the data, you can test your website to ensure users have a smooth experience. For instance, if they are abandoning your website at a specific page, you can test that path to see if there’s something blocking them from moving forward. Understanding the user journey is critical to keeping people engaged with your website, so they have a seamless experience, and there’s nothing preventing them from getting to their end goal: registering for your event.
As a nonprofit, GiveSignup | RunSignup offers each of your charitable events a free event website. With a unique, sophisticated and easy-to-use website builder, you can customize your event website with the finest details and use a design — either by using one of our templates or by using your own — to match your nonprofit’s look and feel. Plus, to get a sleek, well-designed website, you don’t need to be a web design expert or have coding experience. Our technology does the grunt work for you.
GiveSignup | RunSignup also has customizable features for your website — like the option to add photos, videos, a fundraising goal thermometer or a countdown clock — and includes a mobile and SEO-optimized website, data reporting tools, Facebook Fundraiser integration, email marketing and more!
Are you interested in all of these website capabilities, but are concerned about the potential costs associated with having such unique features? If you’re a nonprofit, the best part is that access to the plethora of GiveSignup | RunSignup tools is absolutely free. Learn more about GiveSignup here.