Nonprofit and university websites have made significant strides in the past several years to improve the accessibility of their websites. Web accessibility means that your organization’s website pages, including your online donation page, are usable and legible for all visitors. 

Making your donation page more accessible involves following accessibility guidelines, but it also includes your efforts to make your donation form more visible and recognizable across your website and other digital platforms. 

Specifically, we’re going to look at four ways to craft a more accessible donation page: 

1. Follow accessibility best practices.
2. Make your donation form mobile friendly. 
3. Use calls to action to drive traffic. 
4. Ensure your branding is accessible. 

‍

Offering supporters an accessible, easy-to-use donation process is the first step of your overarching donor stewardship plan. When your donation form is easy to use, donors will face fewer barriers to giving, providing them with a positive experience. 

1. Follow accessibility best practices.

The first step in making your organization’s online donation page more accessible is following the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). These are universally-recognized regulations for creating web content that’s usable for all. 

When it comes to nonprofit and university web accessibility, these guidelines provide a clear checklist to review when updating your organization’s website. Here are just a few of the features your online donation page should include, according to the WCAG: 

• Alt text for images
• Captions for videos
• Simple navigation
• Descriptive form labels 
• Sufficient color contrast (at least 4.5:1 for normal-size text and 3:1 for large text) 
• Keyboard navigation functionality
• Descriptive section headings and labels

A WebAIM study of the top 1,000,000 home pages found that the most common accessibility errors include low-contrast text, missing alternative text for images, and empty links. The study points out that addressing just a few of these most common errors would significantly improve accessibility across the web. 

The same concept is true for your organization’s donation page. Just a few quick updates can dramatically improve the accessibility of the page, making it available to a wider audience. 

2. Make your donation form mobile friendly. 

Another aspect of making your donation form more accessible is ensuring that it’s usable on all devices. This includes desktops, tablets, and mobile phones. 

Bloomerang’s guide to donation page best practices recommends the following tips for creating a mobile-friendly donation form: 

• Use a minimalist design. Keep the form uncluttered and use plenty of white space to eliminate distractions. 
• Optimize and compress images. A fast load speed is critical for mobile websites, and compressing images greatly improves their load speed. 
• Ensure text and images resize properly. View and edit your donation page in the mobile format to make sure all images and text resize properly. 

With a mobile-friendly donation page, your audience members can give online whenever they want without having to pull out their laptops. 

3. Use calls to action to drive traffic. 

Calls to action (CTAs) are links, buttons, and other digital elements you use to direct traffic to your online donation page. CTAs make your donation form easier to find, reducing the time required to submit an online donation. 

Your digital fundraising strategy should include a variety of CTAs across your online marketing platforms, including: 

• Links in your website’s navigation menu and homepage buttons
• Social media posts with links to your form
• Email updates that include buttons and links to your form

Use eye-catching colors and large font sizes to make your donation page CTAs stand out. Also, make sure any buttons you create follow the recommended WCAG color contrast guidelines. 

You can also use strategic wording to vary your CTAs. For example, instead of saying “Donate Now” on every CTA, you might say “Show Your Support” or “Leave a Legacy.” This catches donors’ attention and helps draw the connection between their donations and your organization’s ability to make a positive impact.  

4. Ensure your donation page includes your organization’s branding. 

Supporters will feel more comfortable filling out your donation form when it’s fully branded to your organization. Including your organization’s branding makes it clear that donors’ gifts will go directly to your organization. 

Familiar branding makes your donation page more trustworthy for supporters, especially first-time donors who aren’t as familiar with your organization’s donation process. 

For example, your donation form should feature your organization’s recognizable:

• Logo
• Fonts
• Colors
• Tone of voice

Ensure that these branding elements adhere to accessibility standards. For instance, make sure your font is large and legible, use simple language in your written copy, and ensure there’s sufficient color contrast between your brand’s foreground and background colors. Include accessibility policies in your web style guide so that all of your online branding is uniform and accessible. 

Creating an accessible donation page can improve your organization’s fundraising results for any campaign, from your annual fundraising efforts to your giving day and more. Your accessible donation page will make your giving options available to a broader audience, creating a more user-friendly experience for your supporters. 
‍

About the Author

‍Ann Fellman, the Chief Marketing Officer at Bloomerang, Ann is responsible for the company's overall thought leadership, brand, marketing, and community outreach programs that work to strengthen relationships with customers and the broader nonprofit community. Ann brings with her more than 24 years of experience in business-to-business (B2B) marketing in the technology industry, including time spent working at a nonprofit organization.