Get your kicks in 2026… with six online fundraising tips

Online donations have forged ahead of traditional offline fundraising as the default way to give money to charity: 60% of all charitable donations made in 2025 happened online.

To make the most of this growing opportunity to engage and convert donors using digital channels, charities should tap into six trends that will dominate in 2026:

New donor experiences: Technology is making new donation models cheaper and faster to roll out. Micro-donation (round-up) prompts at retail checkouts is one such model that’s taken off. This year, we’re likely to see the rise of tangible giving: a physical return from an online donation, such as a shareable certificate for planting a tree or sponsoring a piece of land – see World Land Trust’s ‘Buy An Acre’ appeal.

Totalisers are another innovation to watch: we’ll soon be rolling out our own version, a real-time digital tool which displays how close a campaign is to reaching its target, prompting further donations. Trying new ideas no longer costs a fortune or takes an age, so charities can feel confident experimenting with new fundraising features.

AI will reshape strategy: AI will shift from experimental to everyday use in 2026. Charities need to make sure they’re ready to seize the moment. For instance, AI-driven data analysis can quickly pinpoint the best time to prompt individual supporters to make an increased donation based on past giving behaviour.

Meanwhile, agentic AI is simplifying and enhancing donor experiences. For instance, when a donor asks, “Support something that helps young people local to me,” AI can find the right cause, complete a donation and even set up regular giving – all in real-time.

Truly personal journeys: Fully personalised donor journeys – beyond campaign emails that simply name the donor – are no longer a pipe dream. Personalisation, such as donation prompt values that make sense to individuals based on their previous gifts, or named thank you messages on donation pages, make donors feel valued and eager to give again. It also boosts engagement: Battersea allowing supporters to shape their journey by choosing to support cats or dogs is a great example. Most charities remain behind the curve in this area and will need to raise their game in 2026.

Combat fast-rising costs: We’re hearing a lot about the increasing cost of donor acquisition campaigns, particularly for charities using Facebook and Google to target new supporters. Rising ad fees may be unavoidable, but improving conversion rates when donors land on your site will boost ROI. Whereas the average conversion rate for individuals clicking on the donate button on a charity website is only 12%, using an online donation platform to optimise donation pages can boost that figure to between 30% and 50%. Make the donor’s destination engaging, and your donation forms work harder, and you’ll create compelling and frictionless journey that convert more potential supporters.

Soft opt-in’s a game changer: The Data (Use & Access) Act 2025 extends ‘soft opt-in’ to charities, following strong lobbying from the sector. This is a game changer: the legislation makes it easier for charities to send marketing communications to contacts without explicit consent; for example when someone is making a donation. The DMA calculates the rules could unlock donations worth £290m each year. As part of a checklist to support soft opt-in, charities should review their comms plan to make content personalised, relevant and useful. If you’re successful, be prepared for greater volumes of donor data – and have a CRM plan that keeps them engaged.

Ensure your fundraising is secure: Cyber attacks were predicted to cost global organisations and consumers $1.2 trillion annually by the end of 2025. Charities aren’t immune; we’re helping a growing number make sure their systems are water tight for all payment methods – from debit and credit cards to digital wallets. Online security is complex and costly to get right, and highly damaging if there’s a breach. A good solution is outsourcing to a donation platform that can handle all aspects of payment security, rather than digital agencies or web developers as they don’t always undergo full audits.

Ultimately, it’s a challenging time, but the sector is in a strong place: CAF says UK donors gave £15.4bn in 2024, an increase on previous years. With digital donations surging, a significant prize is on offer for charities that kick their online fundraising strategy into a higher gear in 2026.

Vicky Reeves is founder and CEO of goDonate