Do you ever get emails for a fundraiser you didn’t even sign up for?
For example, you may not remember giving to a fundraiser set up on Facebook, but because your email was entered in, it was added to their marketing list all the same.
Donors – current or potential donors – do not like this.
It’s not just platforms like Facebook: other platforms also share all their donor data with its many, many partners. As outlined on the GiveWP blog: you give to one Facebook donation, and that data can be used for others to contact you.
In short, using a SaaS fundraising platform comes with many drawbacks. With a third-party platform:
- You typically pay a fee to use them
- They own your data and content
- You’re restricted on the types of fundraisers you can host
- You’re limited to their design restrictions
Instead, you could own your own data by building a WordPress site and using an all-in-one fundraising plugin.
Before we talk about how WordPress and a plugin like GiveWP can mitigate the risk of data sharing, let’s talk about the importance of protecting the privacy of donor data and why you don’t want it shared.
How is donor data shared?
When you give to a fundraiser and enter your personal information, it becomes donor data. Donor data is most often shared with (at least) the donation platform people use and sometimes their partners as well.
When that data is shared, other fundraising campaigns can begin marketing campaigns to your donors – fundraisers they didn’t sign up for.
Obviously, this can turn off donors and make them not trust you or want to donate to you again. After all, they came to give to you, and now their information has been sold.
How does this happen? Typically, in the terms and conditions, as well as the privacy policies, free SaaS platforms have clauses that mention that your data could be shared with third-party partners. If you’re using a free SaaS platform, make sure to read the terms and policies carefully before signing up or consenting to anything.
Use WordPress with GiveWP to mitigate this risk
If you want to protect donor data (and you do!), then one solution is building a fundraising site on WordPress.
WordPress is a highly secure and safe platform that gives you complete control. Meaning that anything you put on your own website is yours. No one can access your site information, and you hold the copyright of your content.
WordPress is also quite simple for beginners. The sidebar and dashboard functions help you
quickly create posts and pages, change the look of your website, add navigation menus, and more.
For this reason, WordPress is a great way to turn a website into a fundraising platform. When you create a WordPress site and integrate a plugin like GiveWP, your WordPress site becomes a complete fundraising platform. You’ll have all the forms, analytics, and reporting features you need to run a successful campaign. And, of course – donor privacy.
Adding GiveWP to your site won’t change the privacy settings of donor data. You, the site owner, will retain complete control over how and when donors are contacted. This protects your donors from third-party spam. Any email or update they’ll receive is from you, not third-party fundraisers.
Data Privacy is Here to Stay
Protecting donor data as a nonprofit must be a top priority now and in the future. As more people are aware of how data privacy works, more donors will be turned off by the fact that their information is shared between fundraising platforms and their partners.
GiveWP is the desired solution for data privacy. Since GiveWP works by turning your WordPress site into a fundraising platform, your site remains completely yours. With the ability to customize forms, as well as add on recurring donations, peer-to-peer, and tribute giving, you can create custom, specific, and secure fundraisers that will inspire your donors.
If you want to see it for yourself first, take a peek at the live demo and see how a WordPress fundraising solution could work for you.