Online fundraising is critical to nonprofit growth in 2026 and beyond, as supporters look for new, unique ways to engage with your organization that bypass physical limitations. The convenience and reach of online fundraising is unmatched, which provides unlimited new opportunities for nonprofits to reach new audiences and significantly increase donations.

The guide provides ideas on different types of online fundraising, best practices for your nonprofit, and new ways to implement online fundraising strategies to expand your reach and bring more eyes than ever to your mission.

What is Online Fundraising?

Online fundraising is the process of raising donations for nonprofits through online tools such as social media, websites, email, mobile apps, and more.

Types of Online Fundraising

There are a couple different types of online fundraising, with some tailored to a specific initiative, and some that run year-round to bring steady revenue.

• Campaign Based-Fundraising: A strategic, time-bound effort to raise a certain amount of money for a specific cause, initiative, or project.
• Event-Driven Fundraising: A fundraising approach where nonprofit organizations raise money and awareness through specific events, such as galas, auctions, walkathons, etc.
• Passive and Evergreen Fundraising: This type of fundraising is a low-effort, “always-on” strategy that allows nonprofits to generate consistent revenue without interference.
  • Passive fundraising programs once set up require little maintenance. They can include corporate gift matching programs, round-up programs at grocery stores that round up credit card transactions to the nearest dollar, and cashback programs that donate a percentage of online purchases to a nonprofit.
  • Evergreen fundraising campaigns remain relevant year-long and aren’t tied to a specific season. Sponsorship programs that provide ongoing support for a specific animal, child, or project and monthly giving programs fall under this category.
• Social and Community-Focused Fundraising: This type of fundraising prioritizes equity, social justice, and community impact over individual donors. The community is placed at the forefront of the campaign, recognizing that the organization, community, and donors must work together to solve a broader systemic issue affecting the community.

20 Online Fundraising Ideas

Here are 20 different online fundraising ideas for your nonprofit to consider testing to reach new audiences and further your mission:

1. Crowdfunding Campaigns: An online fundraising method that collects small donations from a large number of individuals to support a specific project or initiative. Crowdfunding campaigns are typically created due to an urgent need within a set timeframe.
2. Monthly Giving Drives: Monthly giving drives are campaigns pushed by nonprofits to recruit new monthly donors. Monthly giving is the key to long-term, sustainable revenue, and converting one-time donors into monthly givers can have a great impact on donor retention and donor loyalty.
3. Matching Gift Drives: Strategic fundraising campaign that encourages donors to submit donations for corporate matching to multiply the impact of a donation.
4. Peer-to-Peer Challenges: Peer-to-peer campaigns are one of the most effective forms of online fundraising, where supporters organize personal campaigns to raise money on behalf of an organization. Supporters then leverage their personal networks of friends, families, colleagues, etc. to raise money, often using channels like social media for maximum reach.
5. Online Auctions: These are virtual fundraising events where supporters bid on donated items such as goods, experiences, services, etc. through a website or mobile device rather than an in-person auction.
6. Virtual Galas: Similar to a traditional gala, virtual galas are digital fundraising events that use interactive software and livestreaming to engage donors, share impact, and raise funds through a number of smaller events within the gala.
7. Telethon Livestreams: These are modern fundraising events where nonprofits broadcast for a certain number of hours (or even days!) on streaming platforms to solicit immediate online donations. These events often have a host running the livestream and updating live on the progress towards the event fundraising goal.
8. Virtual Walks/Runs: A virtual walk/run is a remote-friendly fundraising event where participants can complete a set distance (such as a 5K or 10K) at their own location, pace, and time, while raising funds via a peer-to-peer campaign. These events allow for broad participation across the country, while creating a sense of community amongst participants.
9. Virtual Workshops: Virtual workshops are live, interactive online sessions designed to educate participants on a specific topic. These sessions use video conferencing and provide expert education to train constituents and increase accessibility.
10. Hashtag Challenges: A hashtag challenge is a social media campaign that encourages users to create and share content using a specific hashtag to boost awareness, engagement, and fundraising. For example, the #IceBucketChallenge to raise awareness for ALS lead to over 2.4 million videos and $220 million raised.
11. Instagram Donation Stickers: An Instagram donation sticker is an interactive feature within Instagram Stories that allows users to ask their followers for donations for registered nonprofits directly within the app. Nonprofits on Instagram are approved to use Meta’s Fundraising Tools, and must create an Instagram Business account to be eligible. Nonprofits will then receive donations through PayPal Giving Fund, with enrolled nonprofits receiving donated funds quicker.
12. TikTok Fundraising Challenge: Nonprofits can leverage social media trends such as dancing or sharing personal stories with a specific hashtag to raise awareness and donations for a specific cause using TikTok. Participants can utilize tappable stickers in their videos or start a livestream to encourage others to donate.
13. Online Game Tournaments: Nonprofits can host competitive, online video gaming events that raise money by encouraging donations through incentives and sponsorships.
14. Virtual Trivia: Virtual trivias are engaging, low-cast online fundraisers where participants can join via an online conferencing platform for an interactive, themed quiz for different prizes. Through ticket sales or sponsorships, nonprofits can raise funds in an interactive, low-cost way.
15. Social Media Scavenger Hunts: Social media scavenger hunts are fundraising campaigns where participants complete certain tasks such as finding hidden items, visiting key spots, or performing certain actions and then posting photos/videos with a particular hashtag to social media. These scavenger hunts help increase visibility and provide a fun way for the community to engage with your mission and interact with other supporters.
16. Digital Raffles: Digital raffles are virtual fundraisers where supporters purchase tickets online to receive raffle prizes. These replace paper tickets and in-person raffle events, allowing for broader reach and automatic, random winner selections.
17. Online Merchandise Store: Online merchandise stores are digital shops on your website used to sell branded apparel, custom products, etc. to raise money. These stores can be used to increase brand awareness as well, by promoting branded items that supporters and volunteers can purchase.
18. Gift Card Fundraising: This is a low-effort, year-round fundraising effort where supporters can purchase gift cards at face value from nonprofits. Retailers often sell gift cards to nonprofit organizations at a discount, which allows the organization to keep the difference. This method of fundraising is often widely used by schools, churches, sports teams, etc.
19. Email Automations with Behavioral Triggers: When donors continuously engage with your nonprofit through actions such as opening emails, volunteering, signing up for an event, etc., an automation should trigger that sends them a friendly email to consider donating. Tracking donor interactions on a comprehensive, all-in-one CRM can help you see exactly when donors are engaging and when the time is right to reach out to them.
20. Text-to-Donate Campaigns: These are mobile fundraising methods where organizations reach donors via text to ask for a donation, and donors text a specific keyword (like “GIVE”) to receive a link to a donation form. This allows donors to quickly give from their cell phones and can be a highly effective strategy for urgent fundraising needs.

How to Choose the Best Online Fundraising Ideas for Your Nonprofit

Not every online fundraising idea will be right for every nonprofit organization and deciding which strategies to focus on and which to table for the future will help ensure alignment with your resources, audience, and revenue goals.

Determine Your Fundraising Goal

Before selecting an online fundraising strategy, define what your fundraising goals are. Are you looking to launch a new initiative? Grow monthly donors? Increase average gift size? Engage the community through a fun activity?

Once your goal is determined, it will be much easier to select an online fundraising strategy that fits best. For example, if your goal is to acquire new donors, social media fundraising challenges would be a great opportunity to reach a new audience.

Evaluate Your Audience Size and Current Engagement

It’s important to take a look at your current audience and identify what strategies will work best for them. Ask questions like:

• How large is my email list?
• Do we have active social media engagement?
• What’s our average open rate?
• Are there particular communication channels that our audience prefers?

Once you determine what your current audience looks like, you can tailor your strategy accordingly. For example, a small, highly engaged audience may succeed more with a tailored peer-to-peer campaign instead of a large, virtual event.

Assess Your Staff and Budget Capacity

Not all online fundraising ideas are built equally, and there are some that will require significantly more time, energy, and budget than others. Consider factors like staff bandwidth, budget, and technical needs before deciding on a fundraising strategy.

If you have lower staff capacity and low budget, focus on low-cost and low-effort strategies such as:

• Social Media Campaigns
• Monthly Giving Drives
• Text-to-Donate Campaigns

If your staff has the bandwidth and budget to test more time-intensive strategies, consider:

• Virtual Galas
• Multi-channel Peer-to-Peer Campaigns
• Virtual Auctions

Best Practices and Trends for Online Fundraising in 2026

The future of online fundraising is about refining strategies, building better donor experiences, and finding unique ways to engage the community while building a steady fundraising engine.

Here are some of the best practices and trends in 2026 to master online fundraising:

Mobile-First Fundraising

Over half of nonprofit website traffic now comes from mobile devices, meaning it’s no longer optional to optimize your website and donation forms to mobile – it’s a necessity. Be sure your donation forms load quickly, contain between 3-5 fields max, contain buttons that are thumb-friendly, and allow using digital wallets.

AI-Powered Personalization

Utilizing AI smartly can help your nonprofit personalize and improve your fundraising strategies, but the key is to make sure donors feel seen, and not just that they’re being delivered automated communications. AI can be used to analyze behavioral data, giving history, demographic data, and more to tailor specific communications, while also keeping human storytelling at the forefront.

Recurring Giving as the Revenue Driver

Recurring giving is the key to long-term, sustainable fundraising growth. Monthly givers are known to give more overtime, have a higher lifetime value, and provide a predictable stream of revenue that your organization can count on. Each of your online fundraising campaigns should allow the option to join a monthly giving program, highlight the monetary value of impact per month, and include “join the community” language.

Nonprofits that focus on optimizing their online fundraising strategies and trying new things are the ones that will reach vast new audiences, develop a steady fundraising revenue engine, and engage donors in creative ways. Finding the right online fundraising methods for your nonprofit will unlock a world of new opportunities to discover revenue streams and unique ways to further your mission.