Do your potential donors know you’re a charity?

More than 90% of the arts sector marketers and development people I encounter in the course of my work are part of a registered charity. t’s the norm in the arts, not the exception, fundamentally dependent on the kindness of strangers.

In an article back in December, I shared ways to boost your online fundraising potential through your website. Since then, I’ve been talking about Google Ad Grants a lot lately  – that’s the free ad spend Google gives to charitable organisations for paid campaigns.

Something I didn’t talk about so much in that last article but have been talking about more in the light of my Ad Grants conversations is charity messaging.

To qualify for Google Ad Grants, there are a few hoops to jump through – and one of them is proving you’re enough of a charity to get the grants. For example, you need:

• Your charity number on your website
• A site that is not solely ecommerce and sales driven
• Information on your charitable mission and programmes, and how the sales you do make support them

This can be one of the first hurdles that arts organisations fall at: simply not making enough of a fuss about charitable status. If Google doesn’t know – while they’re paying close attention in an audit – how can your average visitor, scrolling on their phone and looking for tickets?

Do you actually tell people you’re a charity?

Something I see a lot in the website redesign briefs we receive are words to the effect of: “We need to better communicate our charity status and donation asks.”

Sites often drift towards the main commercial goals of selling tickets. This ends up being the priority in all the messaging, particularly on the homepage. You then get to the point where you’re barely mentioning your charity status at all.

You probably do have your charity number in the footer of your site, as Google requests, but you can’t rely on average users getting to the bottom of a page.  You probably have a Support Us item in your navigation, with a donate page tucked away another level (or more) deep.

Do you mention your charity status beyond that? Do you actually tell people that you rely on their support and donations?

If not, why not?

Maybe you’ve never thought about it.

Maybe you’ve not got round to it.

Maybe you want to appear successful through sales alone, without relying on donations.

Maybe you don’t have a website that allows you to.

I don’t know what your reasons are – they are yours and yours alone. I’m not here to judge. But if you want to start changing it, you can.

Telling your charitable story

Whether you can update your navigation or not, it all starts with content. Written words that explain that you are a charity – and that the support of ordinary people who walk through your doors – matter.

You don’t have to say you rely on it to keep the lights on – that’s a bit depressing even if it’s true. But if you tell people you rely on them to continue creating work and events, that’s exciting. That means they can have a direct impact on the things they love.

Tell people the ways they can support you, too. It’s not just one-off donations; it’s membership schemes, merchandise sales, gift vouchers, legacy giving, corporate sponsorship – and maybe more besides. While you should probably focus on a few of these primarily, don’t make people work too hard to find the others.

And tell people what their support does, too. I always like it when organisations show what a donation can be used for. Does my money pay for books for schoolchildren? Props for a show? Assistance and support for disabled artists?

Getting a sense of that real-world impact is so much more engaging than thinking you’re throwing money in a big pot to be spent on undisclosed running costs.

Most important of all, start this journey on your homepage. Regardless of what campaigns you run to which landing pages, it will still be your most common entry point, and where the storytelling needs to begin.

Balancing your charitable mission with your commercial aims

Even Google recognises you’re here to make money – that your charitable income streams go hand in hand with more commercial revenue. Striking the balance between them so one doesn’t distract too much from the other will always be important.

And it’s ok if fundraising plays second fiddle to commercial sales – just make sure it’s within reach throughout, without frustrating the journey. If someone wants to buy a ticket, let them. Fundraising steps should be a pleasant ask, not a hurdle to overcome.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it? But sometimes even the most obvious things need to be said. If you want people to know you’re a charity, tell them.