Shop and Virtual Gifts
Create additional fundraising options with an online store.
What are the benefits of a shop?
Reach supporters everywhere
Your community can support you regardless of their location by sending an eCard to their friends and family.
Nurture and grow stewardship
With branded merchandise your supporters can feel part of your community and build a lasting connection.
Fundraise at anytime, all-year-round
Offer always-on fundraising options and boost your fundraising with additional merchandise sales.
See it in action
The way you build your shop and what you need for your cause will be unique to you. However there are often a few common elements that all shops possess. Here’s a few sites we love to get you thinking about how to create your own. We’ve included what you can apply to your own site and the key features they use.
Vinnies | Christmas eCards
Scottish SPCA | Virtual Gifts
SCHF | Merchandise
Pink Hope | Merchandise
Jesuit Mission | eCards
What's possible with a shop?
Create a store
Sell all your eCards, gifts and merchandise from one central location.
Embed products
Embed a Shop module onto any content page to display merchandise to sell.
Reward fundraisers
Offer exclusive merchandise from your fundraisers login dashboards.
Categorise products
Curate your product offerings into themed or campaign shop pages.
Sell at registration
Help supporters spread the word by selling exclusive merchandise at sign-up.What you can sell
Merchandise
Sports Wellness Pack by Pink Hope.
Examples:
- T-shirts
- Water Bottles
- Laces
Virtual gifts
Hedge Hugs by Scottish SPCA
Examples:
- Guides
- Certificates
- Event Packs
eCards
Help A Farmer E-card by Jesuit Mission
Examples:
- Birthdays
- Christmas
- Thank yous
Wishlists
Toy Package by Odyssey House.
Examples:
- Fundraising for items;
- Projects
- Services
What are the key features of a shop?
Style your shop with unique branding
Your domain
Create a shop as part of your own branded site, either as a shop category or as a content module on any page.
Your brand
Create your shop’s look and feel with your platform’s unique branding, including your own fonts, colours, logo and more.
Give your supporters choice
Delivery options
Add shipping options for physical products or set up customised emails for digital purchases.
Product variations
Add unique product options such as sizing, designs and colours, or tailor stock levels and create limited edition items.
Customise your shopping experience
Personalisation
Add the personal touch to your eCards by giving the option to add the recipient’s name and a message from the sender.
Tailor your checkout
Build your checkout experience and the information you need, including form fields, optional donation and marketing opt-in.
Create a seamless checkout
Payment methods
Give supporters a range of payment options to suit them, including PayPal, Apple Pay and credit card.
Optional donation
Add an optional donation with custom donation handles to boost your fundraising at checkout.
Boost sales with exclusive promotions
Promo codes
Create unique promo codes for specific events, launch sales, or to give valued supporters a discount for their patronage.
Short links
Create easily shareable short links to promote your shop. These can be used to shorten Google Analytics tracking links.
Keep track of your sales
Reconcile your transactions
Manage sales and stock levels with easily identifiable transaction records in our reporting modules.
Stock management
Keep track of stock levels to manage your distribution and products will become unavailable when sold out.
How to design your shop
Focus on your audience
Design your shop and develop your product range based on your audience’s needs and interests.
Ideas you could try:
- Identify your most engaged audiences and create personas based on their key interests. Understanding their interests and behavioural triggers will help you make smarter strategic decisions. For example, if fitness events perform strongly for your cause, consider branded water bottles, laces or race vests.
Create themed products
Choose a campaign thread or branding to give your merchandise a consistent and recognisable identity.
Ideas you could try:
- Focus on what you want to be famous for and curate products around those sentiments. Knowing what makes your cause unique (& believing in it) will make it easier to naturally cascade products across your range.
Consider national holidays
Offer products that are related to relevant national holidays or cultural events. Look for opportunities to offer donations in-lieu with giving traditions e.g. cards; chocolates.
Ideas you could try:
- Choose holidays where your cause is most needed, culturally relevant or when your audience is most likely to give. Religious holidays for example are great opportunities to sell products such as ecards. Think outside the box and be creative.
Integrate with your campaigns
Consider which products are relevant to event participants and build them into your supporter journey communications.
Ideas you could try:
- Offer event exclusive products. Consider whether you could add discounts, gamification triggers or free rewards for fundraising and participation.
Choose high quality imagery
Take photos that make your products look as good as possible. Consider how they look alongside each other and make the most of white space.
Ideas you could try:
- Always use the highest quality photos and ensure continuity across every image. Including content of your supporters using your products can help provide social proof.
Write copy that sells
Give your products clear yet appealing descriptions to give your supporters the confidence to make an informed purchase.Â
Ideas you could try:
-
Write an elevator pitch to explain why a supporter would buy your product. In as few words as possible say what the product is, the benefit of them buying it and the impact their purchase will have on your cause.
Dates for your diary
Here's a few dates to keep in mind and how you could get involved.
New Year's Day
1 January
Water bottles
Laces
Valentines
14 February
Chocolates
Valentines cards
Easter
March - April
Easter activity packs
Easter cards
Mother's Day
March - May
Flowers
Mother's day cards
Father's Day
June-September
Father's day cards
Funny socks
Halloween
31 October
Spooky activity
packs
Giving Tuesday
29 November
Thank you cards
Christmas Day
25 December
Stocking fillers
Christmas cards
Get help and support
Whether you're new to us, or an existing user, we'll help you get your eCard or merchandise campaign up and running.
Choose the level of support you need, either from building your own campaign and following our tutorials, or working with our Professional Services Team who'll do the heavy lifting for you.
As a Funraisin user, you can always get in touch with our Support Team anytime you need if you have a question.
Where to find help guides
Ready to get started? Head over to our Knowledge Base and we'll walk you through how to create a shop. We'll cover: creating shop products, creating virtual gifts. shop categories, shop module updates and creating promo codes.
Professional Services for everyone
I'm new
New to Funraisin and want to explore the possibilities of fundraising with us? With years of experience across fundraising, events and tech, our team is on hand to help you find the right fit for you. Your creativity is the only limit and we can't wait to see where you'll take your charity next.
I'm an existing user
If you’re planning an exciting new project or just want to revamp your site, our Professional Services team is here to help. With years of industry expertise and a passion for making change possible - you couldn’t be in safer hands. Your ideas inspire us everyday and we always accept a challenge.
