Charity fundraising has been done for years, but the way in which it is carried out has certainly evolved over the years – and now, thanks to digital innovation, it’s essential that charities of all shapes and sizes are making the most of the technology available to them.

Social – or peer-to-peer – fundraising involves your supporters being more active and becoming fundraisers on your behalf through online fundraising pages that can be linked up with social media sites to engage with people they know on topics close to their heart, helping to drive donations.

You’ll also need your own solid social media presence, essential for those in the third sector as social sites are free to use – so will only cost you your time.

Of course, you can organise paid ad placements to help draw attention to your fundraising campaigns, but for small nonprofits working to very tight budgets, the likes of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter can yield very positive results if in a savvy fashion.

Make sure you engage with your supporters and followers on your social networks, and make regular updates to help boost interaction with younger audiences.

Remember that people are very digitally minded these days and this means that they’re becoming more demanding online, asking more from organisations in terms of your interactions with them. It’s important to make sure that it’s easy for people to donate online and enter into discussions with you on important topics.

What you should avoid doing is paying for social media tools without a proper strategy in place – a strategy that includes detailed information on your demographics and where they’re likely to be found online. Otherwise, it may be a lot of hard work for very little return.

Get in touch with non profit recruiting agency The Right Ethos to find your next opportunity.