The Two-Click Activist: Getting donors to share on social media after a donation

Our donors are busy. They might not be able to volunteer at our foodbank or participate in a beach cleanup. But, they are donating. They care. And they're willing to do a little more - if you ask them. I call these the "two-click activists".

In today's digital fundraising landscape, nonprofits enjoy some of the highest social media engagement rates of any industry, beating out more than half of the industries represented in the benchmark report by Sprout Social, Inc. .

This means there's an opportunity to transform individual donors into vocal advocates for causes they support.

When can you do this? Right after they donate.

Using data from Fundraise Up , I looked at data coming from tens of millions of donations across thousands of nonprofits in various countries. So, it's a blended dataset. But powerful nonetheless.

Keep in mind: Every single donor was invited to share on social media after the donation...

How donors responded to this request to become a two-click activist depends on the dataset you look at. Let's look into the datasets that jump out...

The Power of Transaction Fees

When donors opt to cover transaction fees, they demonstrate a deeper level of commitment that extends beyond their initial gift. For example, we've seen that these donors, when giving monthly, actually retain longer.

Here's the two-click activist play: they're 50-100% more likely to share their donation on social media. This aligns with broader research by Candid showing that 29% of online donors cite social media as their primary inspiration for giving.

The Mobile Platform Divide

While iPhone users typically demonstrate ~30% higher average gift amounts ($58 compared to Android's $43), Android users emerge as unexpected champions of social sharing, doing so approximately 35% more frequently than iOS users. This mirrors broader platform usage patterns, where Android users show higher engagement rates across various social sharing metrics.

So, basically, where the Android donor lacks in donors, they make up for it in their willingness to share how proud they are of their donation.

As to why the gift average is lower? That's likely related to the fact that devices that run Android typically cost much less - sometimes a fraction - of an iOS 苹果 device.

The Frequency Factor

The data reveals a clear hierarchy in social sharing behavior among different donor types:

• Monthly donors share twice as frequently as one-time donors
• One-time donors share twice as frequently as annual donors
• Every-4-weeks donors show promising results but need more data for conclusive analysis

I don't think it's surprising that a monthly commitment gets the most social sharing engagement. But it's good to see it on a chart.

Strategic Implications for Nonprofits

This pattern, if useful, suggests nonprofits should adopt a dual-approach strategy:

1. Target Android users for awareness campaigns and social sharing initiatives
2. Focus on converting donors to monthly giving programs while encouraging transaction fee coverage

The data shows that 40% of Millennial donors are already enrolled in monthly giving programs, according to the Nonprofits Source , making them particularly valuable targets for social sharing campaigns. Additionally, with nonprofits having one of the highest social media engagement rates of any industry, there's significant untapped potential in leveraging donor enthusiasm for broader reach.

The Ideal Social Media Evangelist

Based on the comprehensive data, the optimal "Two-Click Activist" profile emerges as:

• An Android user
• Someone who opts to cover transaction fees
• A monthly donor
• Likely to be a Millennial or Gen Z user, as 71% of Gen Z supporters cite social media sharing as their primary way of supporting causes

Remember: When donors hit that "share" button, they're not just spreading awareness - they're validating their commitment and inviting their network to join a movement. In an era where social media engagement rates for nonprofits can reach up to 27 average daily engagements per post, these "Two-Click Activists" are becoming the cornerstone of viral fundraising success.

Some of these things are difficult to achieve, or sllightly dangerous if not done correctly. Use a platform that can handle these things out of the box, if possible, and has the results based on data ( Fundraise Up , for example) and has a vested interest in your success.

Look beyond the average gift, etc. and leverage this sort of data when you need to boost certain metricsm such as awareness of the brand or working in new geographies.