Optimize, Test, Repeat

Too often nonprofits unwittingly interrupt the process of recruiting new online donors and securing those critical first gifts. The problem invariably stems from not having clear online fundraising goals. The results of fuzzy goals are confusing donor experiences and higher donor abandonment. Is your goal to get the most gifts at the highest amount, bring in the maximum number of new donors at any gift level in order to get their e-mail addresses for donor cultivation or verify the effectiveness of your communication program focused on increasing the lifetime value of your relationships? Or is your purpose something else entirely?