Highlighting the donation button in the Donor Portal

Making the "Make a new donation" button more prominent in the Donor Portal did not increase giving.

What we tested

Existing supporters are some of a nonprofit's most valuable donors. They've already chosen to support your mission, making them one of the most likely groups to give again.

The Donor Portal is designed to help supporters manage their giving and stay connected to your organization. We wanted to understand whether making the path to a new donation more visible could encourage more repeat gifts from returning supporters.

To test this, we increased the visual prominence of the "Make a new donation" button on the Donor Portal home page. The functionality remained exactly the same, only the button styling changed.

The goal was simple: make it easier for supporters to notice opportunities to give again.

Hypothesis

If we restore visual emphasis on the “Make a new donation” button, conversion to a new donation after a Donor Portal visit will rise by 7%, because a more prominent button makes the option to give again easier for returning supporters to find.

Test setup

Duration	45 days
Timing	September–October 2025
Audience	~157,000 Donor Portal supporters
Group split	• 50% control (existing button styling) • 50% test (brighter, more prominent button)
Key metrics	• Conversion to a new donation • Recurring cancellation rate • Average Revenue Per User (ARPU)

Key results

The visual update did not produce a statistically significant improvement in any key metric.

No statistically significant change in conversion to a new donation
No statistically significant change in average revenue per user
No statistically significant change in recurring cancellation rate

Because no meaningful impact emerged during the test, it was stopped early so traffic could be allocated to higher-priority optimizations.

Conclusion

The hypothesis was not confirmed.

Making the "Make a new donation" button more prominent did not increase repeat giving, revenue, or supporter engagement within the Donor Portal.

While the change made the call-to-action more visible, visibility alone was not enough to influence donor behavior.

As a result, we kept the existing design and will continue exploring new ways to encourage repeat giving from existing supporters.

What this means for you

Not every visual tweak shifts donor behavior, and knowing what doesn't move the needle is just as valuable as knowing what does. This test didn't deliver a lift, but it did keep a change that wouldn't have helped from reaching your supporters.

But that's exactly why we test. Every optimization is validated with real donor behavior before it's rolled out, ensuring your supporters only see changes that genuinely improve fundraising outcomes.

We'll continue exploring new ways to help nonprofits generate more revenue from existing supporters while keeping the donor experience simple and effective.

→ Explore how the Donor Portal helps supporters give again.