How to Set Up a Fundraising Goal Using Fundraising Thermometer

Posted on June 14, 2021

Are you using a fundraising thermometer for your nonprofit? Did you know that they are the easiest way to track your fundraising goal? Besides, they offer complete transparency about your nonprofit to your donors!

Most nonprofits are already using fundraising thermometers for managing their fundraising. If you have not started using one, it’s time you did too!

Here’s a quick overview of the fundraising thermometer:

What is a fundraising thermometer?

We know that a thermometer checks the temperature of something. On the same lines, a fundraising thermometer indicates how “hot” your fundraising campaign is! Simply put, a fundraising thermometer indicates the amount of funds your fundraising campaign has generated. It is essentially like a fundraising goal tracker that helps you assess how close or far you are from your fundraising goals.

It is a way of displaying to the audience using the symbol of a thermometer with the analogy of temperature rise. As the temperature in the fundraising thermometer moves from cold to hot, it indicates that the donations are getting closer to the target goal. So, the hottest temperature is reached when the fundraiser reaches its goal.

Fundraising thermometers are known by different names fundraising meter, donation thermometer, or goal thermometer.

Why must you use a fundraising thermometer?

1. Visual Confirmation of Donation

When a donor contributes to a fundraising campaign and he sees the rise in the reading on the fundraising goal thermometer, he gets a visual confirmation of his donation. It is an established fact that visuals have a greater impact on people.

This helps the nonprofit offer complete transparency to its donors. This goes on to build trust and loyalty among the donors.

2. Encourage Donations

When donors see the reading on the thermometer slowly inching towards its fundraising goal, they are motivated to donate more to speed up the process.

A fundraising thermometer is extremely effective in encouraging donors to help the nonprofit reach its goals.

When the nonprofit reach its goals, the donors feel good because they can see that they have played a part in this endeavor. It boosts the donor morale to know that they have done their bit for society.

This builds brand loyalty towards your nonprofit.

3. Effective in Engaging Niche Audience

When donors participate in a fundraising campaign and receive instant gratification for what they have done through the fundraising thermometer, they get a sense of fulfillment.

This is how it works. People like to see any task they take up getting completed. So, when they watch the fundraising thermometer proceed towards its goals, it fills them with excitement to track the progress. This engages them until the end of the campaign. Besides, when they feel that the thermometer is not progressing at the speed it should, they might even go an extra mile and add more to hasten the process.

Once the fundraising goal is reached, the donors feel a sense of personal achievement. They get a feeling of accomplishment on reaching a milestone. This also helps in building the community as donors feel that they have achieved something together, as a community.

4. Team Crowdfunding Thermometers Encourage Peer to Peer Fundraising

By using the team crowdfunding thermometer, you can ask your peer-to-peer fundraisers to set goals on their page. And, the progress on pages of different team members can be consolidated to indicate the overall progress of the fundraising campaign on your campaign page.

Fundraising thermometers are dynamic, in the words, they give live updates on the progress of the fundraising donations towards its goals. These real-time updates can be displayed on large screens at outdoor events for the participants to watch.

Live fundraising thermometers can also be integrated with devices such as tablets, mobiles, desktops, etc. for the convenience of the donors, staff, and others involved with the fundraising campaign.

Several brands create and market fundraising thermometers with different features. Besides these ready-to-use platforms, there are several DIY templates available that can be used to develop a nonprofit donation platform.

Here’s a guide to the features you need for your nonprofit’s fundraising thermometer:

• Choose a fundraising goal tracker that can be customized with your brand logo and colors.
• Optionally, you can choose a template that is aligned with the cause your nonprofit is supporting. This sends a reminder to your donors about the mission of your nonprofit and how their donations are going to be used.
• Ensure that the fundraising meter tracks donations with live updates in real-time.
• Check if the fundraising meter includes a “donor roll.” A donor roll displays new donations as and when they are added.
• It is recommended that you choose a donation tracker in which the anonymity of the donors is maintained.
• The fundraising thermometer must include the Text-to-donate code in addition to the campaign-specific code.

In case, you are looking for fundraising thermometer alternatives to offer something different to your donors, you could try the visual fundraising tracking option.

A fundraising thermometer essentially tracks the progress of the fundraising campaign in terms of the funds generated as it heads towards its ultimate goal. In visual fundraising tracking the basic concept is the same aka indicating the progress of a fundraiser but it is depicted through imagery. An image is created which gets filled up as donations are added.

Some examples of imagery used in visual fundraising tracking are using an image of a night sky that fills up with stars with each donation received. Optionally, an image of a tree can be used where a flower blooms each time a donation is added.

Imagery can be used in innovative ways to choose images that are aligned with the cause supported by the nonprofit. For instance, if your nonprofit is working on saving rainforests, you could use an image of a ground in which a plant/tree sprouts up every time a donation is made.

This concept is also effective in engaging the audience as it clearly indicates their participation in the fundraising campaign. The main advantage of this method is that it does not indicate the exact amount donated. This encourages participation by donors who are hesitant in donating small amounts. This is because they can view their donation in a symbolic form like a star or a flower without the exact amount being displayed.

Visual fundraising is able to attract more small donors. This approach gives the donors the satisfaction of having participated in a philanthropic venture even if they are unable to donate large sums of money.

However, this method suffers from the drawback that it lacks the transparency that fundraising thermometer offers. Also, in a fundraising thermometer the donors can view in numeric value the exact amount reached and how close or further the fundraising goal amount is!

Whether you choose a conventional fundraising thermometer or a visual fundraiser tracking, here are some tools that can simplify your task of creating the platform:

• Canva
• Venngage
• Microsoft Word
• Certain CRMs include built-in features that enable you to create fundraising thermometers.

In addition to these, you have the option of using an online fundraising platform like iConnectX.

Online platforms offer several benefits:

• These pre-designed platforms are ready to use. So, you can get started right away without investing time and effort in designing one.
• Online platforms are automated. Hence, they update the progress of your fundraiser automatically.
• These platforms can sync with multiple fundraising campaigns enabling you to track the progress on all of them.
• Online fundraising thermometers can be easily embedded on your website providing live updates to visitors on your website.

In Conclusion

Fundraising thermometers are the best way to build the trust and confidence of your donors. They encourage donations and help in community building. With healthy growth in philanthropy and giving worldwide, it is a good idea to invest in a fundraising thermometer for your nonprofit, if you aren’t already using one!

Connect with the Experts at iConnectX for more on fundraising thermometers to track your fundraising goals!