Optimized Donation Suggestions

Optimized Donation Amounts let Mightycause suggest the donation amounts on your donate page, based on your organization's own giving history. The goal is to help you raise more per gift without adding any steps for your donors.

Optimized sits alongside the existing Basic and Custom options in the donation form editor. You can switch between them at any time.

Turn on Optimized amounts

1. Open the donation form editor for your organization.
2. Find the suggested amounts section. Next to Basic and Custom, select Optimized.
3. Choose your setting for each giving frequency. One-time and monthly gifts are set separately, so you can use Optimized for one and Basic or Custom for the other.
4. Save your changes.
5. To see the live amounts, open your organization's donate page. The form editor preview shows placeholders for Optimized, not the actual amounts.

Tip: Optimized amounts update over time, so you may see different amounts on different visits.

How the amounts are chosen

Our recommendation engine looks at the amounts donors typically give to your organization and builds a profile of your giving. It then applies a few rules so the amounts look clean and sensible:

• Amounts appear in ascending order.
• Amounts are rounded consistently.
• Amounts are spaced apart, so the options aren't bunched together.
• Amounts stay within safe minimum and maximum limits.

A few more details:

• One-time and monthly gifts get different amounts. People tend to give differently when they commit to a recurring gift.
• Donors see 3 or 4 amounts per frequency, depending on the recommendation.
• Amounts are set per organization, not per donor. Everyone visiting your donate page sees the same suggestions for a given frequency.
• Amounts are recalculated regularly, during low-traffic times, so they reflect your most recent giving patterns.

Where donors see Optimized amounts

For now, Optimized amounts appear only on your organization's main donate page. These places keep using Basic amounts:

• Fundraiser pages
• Team and event pages
• Embedded forms
• The donation widget
• The add-to-cart dialog

We plan to bring Optimized amounts to more pages in a future release.

What donors experience

Donors see Optimized amounts just like any other suggested amounts. There are no special labels, and nothing tells donors the amounts came from machine learning. As with Basic amounts, donors see only the dollar values, without descriptions like the ones you can add to Custom amounts.

Built-in safeguards

• Never below the minimum. Every suggested amount respects the platform's minimum donation amount.
• Never above $1,000. We want every donor to feel welcome, whatever they can give. Optimized amounts never go above $1,000, and lower amounts are always included. To ask for larger gifts, use Custom amounts.
• Works with little or no history. Newer organizations, or those with fewer gifts, still get recommendations. The engine uses patterns from similar organizations, such as others on Mightycause or in your cause area, as a starting point.
• Checkout stays the same. Only the suggested amounts change. There's no pre-selected amount, no extra messaging, and no extra step for donors.
• You stay in control. Optimized is optional. You can switch back to Basic or Custom amounts at any time.

The research behind it

We built Optimized Donation Amounts with a specialized data science partner. Together, we analyzed hundreds of thousands of donations across more than 900 nonprofits. That data included thousands of cases where an organization changed its suggested amounts, so we could compare donor behavior before and after each change.

Two findings shaped the feature:

1. Suggested amounts get picked more often. For amounts up to about $500, donors chose an amount 65% to 101% more often when it was shown as a suggestion.
2. Higher suggestions didn't stop people from giving. Raising suggested amounts did not lower the share of donors who completed their gift.

Together, these results mean suggestions can be set a little higher to raise more per gift, without discouraging donors.

We also tested economic factors like interest rates, unemployment, and disposable income. None had a notable effect, so they aren't part of the recommendations.

Frequently asked questions

Can I preview the amounts before donors see them? The form editor preview shows placeholders. To see the live amounts, visit your donate page after turning Optimized on.

Can I use Optimized for one-time gifts but not monthly gifts? Yes. Each giving frequency has its own setting.

Are amounts personalized for each donor? Not at this time. All visitors to your donate page see the same amounts for a given frequency.

Will my donors know the amounts were suggested by machine learning? No. Donors see the amounts like any other suggested amounts. Whether you use Optimized, Custom, or Basic is always your choice.

Why don't I see Optimized amounts on my fundraiser or event pages? In this first release, Optimized amounts appear only on your main donate page. Other pages use Basic amounts for now.

Share your feedback

We'd love to hear how Optimized Donation Amounts work for your organization: changes you notice in donor behavior, questions about the suggested amounts, or ideas for improvement. Submit a request to let us know.