When supporters land on your website, can they easily find their way to make a difference to your cause? Does the experience make them feel like they’ve arrived at a platform built for them? Whether they are prepping for a marathon, or looking to tribute a lost loved one through a donation, they arrive with a specific purpose.

The Three Ways Supporters Fundraise 

Online fundraising is made up of three distinct pillars of activity. Each one represents a different kind of supporter showing up for your cause in a unique way.

1. DIY Events (30% of Online Fundraising)

These are fundraising events run by your supporters themselves, without your team having to manage them. A friend group doing a weekend hike. A local business hosting a trivia night. A supporter shaving their head. DIY fundraising is community-powered, and when it’s easy to set up, it expands your reach far beyond. 

 2. Signature Events (40% of Online Fundraising)

These are events your nonprofit owns and runs, such as galas, community walks, and sleep-outs. They are high-visibility, high-intent moments, and your digital infrastructure needs to support them properly with easy registration, custom fundraising pages, team tools, and real-time totals. 

 3. Third-Party Events (30% of Online Fundraising)

Think city marathons, open sporting events, and large-scale challenges. Participants often choose which charity they fundraise for at the point of registration. If your charity is listed and the sign-up experience is smooth, you capture that support instantly. 

Together, these three pillars make up the full picture of how your supporters want to engage with you. 

The Cost of a Disconnected Experience 

One number stands out in particular: The average direct donation is $147. The average DIY fundraiser raises $3,420.

This difference highlights what happens when a supporter actively fundraises on your behalf rather than simply making a one-off donation. It happens when they are dedicated enough to set up their own DIY initiatives, making it even more impactful than standard, charity-led signature events. It happens when a supporter has a clear, personal path to rally their community around your cause, which means it depends on your fundraising platform making that journey seamless. 

Just as notable: in our recent survey of DIY fundraisers, 50% said it could have been easier to discover how to fundraise for their chosen charity. Half of the people who already wanted to fundraise couldn’t easily find the way in. 

What an All-In-One Fundraising Portal Changes for You 

A fundraising portal isn’t just a better donate page. It unifies all three fundraising pillars into one white-label destination, ensuring every supporter can give in their own way. 

We built a fundraising portal for the Melanoma Research Alliance (MRA), one of the world’s most impactful cancer research institutions, with a single goal: one place, every pathway, zero friction. Their community is as diverse as their impact. Whether they are survivors, grieving families, athletes, or recurring donors, they all care deeply, but they don’t all give the same way. 

The fully integrated, white-label fundraising portal gives each of them a pathway built for their specific moment: 

• Personal fundraising pages — set up in minutes, fully branded, easy to share 
• Team fundraising — for groups, workplaces, and community challenges 
• Recurring giving — for supporters who want to be consistent, long-term champions 
• In Memory campaigns — for those who want their grief to fund something meaningful 
• In Celebration — for those turning a life milestone into an act of generosity 
• DIY Event hosting — for those who want to bring their community along 
• Challenge fundraising — for those motivated by a personal physical goal 

It’s a seamless, mobile-first experience that stays true to the MRA brand. See it in action here. 

Beyond MRA, we’ve applied this framework to help the Mark Hughes Foundation empower their supporters with similar “give your way” choices. We integrated features designed to deepen supporter engagement, including custom donation forms, gamification badges, and automated supporter journeys. 

For the World Expeditions Foundation, we adapted the portal structure differently to meet a unique challenge: managing 31 distinct global projects. Instead of a single pathway, this structure acts as a central gateway to individual micro-sites, allowing supporters to fundraise for specific regenerative projects that align with their personal travel experiences and values. 

The Numbers Behind the Decision 

• Fundraising portals raise an average of $319,376 per year 
• Individual fundraising pages created through a portal average $1,330.67 per fundraiser 
• Peer-to-peer supporters raise 23x more than direct donors on average 

These figures represent the size of the opportunity that a disconnected or limited platform leaves behind. 

The best place to start is an honest look at your current supporter experience through your supporters’ eyes. We’ve created a free Supporter Experience Scorecard to help. 

It’s a simple, practical 5-minute self-evaluation covering your giving options, supporter journey, and platform experience. It will give you a clear picture of where your digital fundraising stands today, and what your biggest opportunities are.

We build performing fundraising portals for charities across the world. Every portal is tailored to your brand, connected to your website, and built around the full range of ways your supporters want to show up for your cause. 

Curious what an all-in-one portal could look like for your charity?  

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