Fundraising Trends and Predictions for 2021

First off, congratulations! We made it through 2020 together. We had to learn a lot as fundraisers and find new ways to engage donors and share our message. A big part of that was moving to virtual fundraising campaigns. Many of our client organizations successfully did that and raised a lot of money for year-end campaigns.

If you find yourself asking, “Can we just move on with it already?”, you’re not alone. Many nonprofits are still struggling to develop a successful fundraising strategy during COIVD. Let’s take a look at how online fundraising and virtual fundraising trends are shaping up for 2021.

Spring Fundraising Campaigns Are Going Virtual

Unfortunately, the move back to in-person fundraising events is not happening as quickly as we might like. With the spring season quickly approaching, most people do not see a way for groups of people (especially large groups) to meet safely. Therefore, most organizations will need to plan for virtual fundraising campaigns this spring. The good news is that we’ve got this – we know it works, you just need the right people, action plan, and tools to make it work.

Here are some great virtual fundraising campaign ideas for this spring:

Online charity auctions
Online fundraising raffles (when allowed by your state or governing region)
Virtual walkathons or daily walking activities
Virtual galas or concerts

Easily Handle Virtual Fundraising Events with Our New Platform

In 2020, we launched a new, free platform for online and virtual fundraising campaigns. From mobile giving with digital wallets, to live stream integrations and text to donate (in the US only), we have you covered. See what we can do for your organization’s online fundraising campaigns.

Start a Virtual Fundraising Campaign

Summer Fundraising Events Are Heading Outdoors

Many organizations are hoping to wait until the warm weather comes around and host events outdoors. While this is a great idea – don’t forget to take safety precautions and have a backup plan in place if you need to go virtual or lower capacity at the last minute.

Here are some event ideas that work well outdoors and with social distancing in place:

Charity golf tournaments (See our blog on safely conducting golf tournaments during COVID).
Walkathons or hikeathons
Bikeathons
Sporting clay shoots

Fall Fundraising’s Promise

At this point, it’s looking like organizations may be able to do hybrid or in-person events by fall. Fall is a long way off and we can see it happening with the vaccine rollouts and programs starting. Still, there will be a “new normal”, and organizations should be prepared with safety protocols and a virtual option just in case things change suddenly. Unfortunately, all types of large-scale events will be one of the last things to go back to normal, so you will likely need to keep your event capacity numbers lower than you might like.

Conclusions on 2021 Fundraising

If you want to host a successful fundraising event in 2021, it’s time to stop waiting to see what happens and start planning your event! Successful fundraising events in 2021 will likely be smaller and perhaps virtual or hybrid events.

While we here at DoJiggy cannot wait for large in-person events to resume, the good news from 2020 is that we know virtual events can and do work. Good luck and let us know how we can help!