I didn’t become a fundraiser on purpose. Like so many of you, I woke up one day with “raise the money” added to the corner of my job description, as if it were a simple box to check. What followed was my impact-report-fake phase: long hours, chronic pain, and a lot of “I’ve got this!” energy covering a constant hustle.

Then something shifted. I trained as an executive coach, dove into behavioral design, and started applying what I was learning about brains, bodies, and behavior to fundraising. I went from 50-hour weeks to 25, and our revenue more than tripled. Most importantly, fundraising began to feel different. I stopped treating it like convincing and started treating it like what it really is:

Great fundraising isn’t an ask, it’s an offer.
It’s an invitation into a story donors already want to be part of.

In this blog, I’ll show you how to turn that belief into practice—on your donation page. We’ll look at the three levers that drive every gift, how small tweaks in flow and story create trust, and the quick wins you can implement this week to see results. By the end, you’ll have a roadmap to design giving experiences that feel human, seamless, and inspiring—so generosity becomes easier for both you and your donors

The Three Levers Behind Every Gift (and How Your Page Uses Them)

If you’ve been to my trainings, you’ve seen BJ Fogg’s Behavior Model: Motivation + Ability + Prompt. People act when all three converge in a moment.

• Motivation – Do I want to do this?
• Ability – Is it easy to do this right now?
• Prompt – Is there a clear nudge to do it?

Most teams try to solve every conversion problem by rewriting copy (Motivation). But many “low conversion” issues are actually Prompt (unclear CTA) or Ability (too many fields, clunky payment flow). In a world where we’re pinged 47,000 times a day, the smallest snag breaks the moment. Your donation page must meet donors at the exact second they’re ready, especially on mobile, and say: You belong here. Here’s the next step.

Your Page Is Already Telling a Story. Is It the Right One?

A donor reads your email about belonging and community… then lands on a page that asks them to “Continue as Guest.” Mixed messages create friction. Consistency across email → social → landing page creates critical trust that inspires giving.

During a recent webinar, Scott Cross from iDonate shared two data points I can’t stop thinking about:

• A partner saw $350,000 raised during Race Across America; 90% came through their iDonate page, with a 20% increase in recurring revenue and 18% more recurring donors after improving mobile friendliness and flow.
• Connie Maxwell optimized their gift array with clear impact statements and consistent visuals across channels and saw a 144% increase in revenue and 1.8× higher average gift. (They’ve since adopted iDonate’s pop-up form, and the early results are strong; pop-ups often raise 50%+ more than traditional forms when used well.)

Those wins are the compound interest of small, behavior-savvy choices.

Map the Donor’s Emotional Journey (Not Just the Form Fields)

Storytelling works because it moves us biochemically: we attend to the challenge (a little cortisol), then open into care and connection (oxytocin). Your giving moment lives right there, at the turn from concern to care.

How to reflect that arc on the page:

1. Short & Sweet Narrative: Lead with one or two crisp sentences that answer “Why me? Why now?” You’re not writing an eight-page paper; you’re creating just enough curiosity to say yes.
2. Quantified Impact: Pair amounts with outcomes (“$70 outfits a student with new shoes,” “$150 adds a backpack and clothes,” “$275 covers a full sponsorship with supplies”). This translates empathy into agency.
3. Legitimate Urgency: No cringey countdowns. Use relevance. “We’re 38 donors away from fully funding every new mentee starting November 1.” Close a real gap.

And keep the emotional promise continuous. Whatever your email is promising, the landing or donation page should feel the same, not like someone accidentally ended up on the wrong website. 

Cure Experiential Blindness (So the World Prompts Your Donors)

Quick exercise: have you ever learned a new term and then suddenly seen it everywhere? That’s your brain building a fresh mental “bucket,” which then catches future signals. In campaigns, we can create this effect by teaching one unforgettable, sticky truth donors can’t unsee. When their world repeatedly reflects that truth back, the environment helps prompt giving, long after your email.

Add a single, vivid “can’t-unsee” fact, image, or micro-story to your page copy. Done right, it keeps reinforcing your cause between touches—and makes your CTA feel timely instead of pushy.

Quick Wins You Can Implement This Week

You’re busy. It’s end-of-year. Let’s get you leverage.

• Make the CTA unavoidable. “Donate,” “Join monthly,” or “Sponsor now” belongs in the header/nav and again near the gift array. Don’t bury the lead.
• Default to monthly (thoughtfully). Invite recurring by default with a quick explainer (“Predictable monthly gifts mean students never hit a waitlist”). Let people toggle easily.
• Use social proof. Recent donor activity or one-line testimonials answer the identity question: Do people like me do things like this? (Spoiler: yes.)
• Reduce fields & clicks. Every extra keystroke is an exit ramp. Remove nonessential fields. Keep the amount visible throughout. Auto-format when possible.
• Be truly mobile-first. Most giving moments are on phones—and often away from wallets. Offer digital wallets and save-friendly flows.
• Try a pop-up form for campaigns. When paired with clear messaging and respectful timing, pop-ups regularly outperform embedded forms.
• Nudge smartly. Gentle abandonment prompts (“Want to finish your gift?”) and post-gift upsells (“Make this monthly?”) add meaningful revenue without pressure.

Tech that Matches Your Intention

I often say: good fundraising is the work. You’re building movements, not just meeting budgets. That’s why your tools matter. With iDonate, the behavioral science we talk about becomes practical: mobile-ready design, clear CTAs, flexible payments, optimized gift arrays, pop-up forms, social proof, and the ability to keep your message consistent end-to-end.

When your offer is strong and the path is smooth, donors don’t have to fight through friction to express their values. 

Want more? Watch the Webinar Replay 

If you want to go deeper into all of the content we shared here, watch our webinar: Show Don’t Tell: Crafting Donation Pages that Inspire Action and Maximize Giving. Fill out this brief form to get access to the webinar.  

We’ll dig into Motivation–Ability–Prompt, map the donor’s emotional journey, and share quick, proven fixes you can deploy before end-of-year—without a full website overhaul.

iDonate is one of the fundraising tools that makes those Ability and Prompt pieces ridiculously doable: clean, mobile-first flows, flexible payment options, optimized gift arrays, and clear CTAs that stay consistent with your campaign. When those foundations are right, your copy can actually work.

The story you’re telling is already powerful, let’s make sure your donation page tells it, too.