In recent years, “affiliate marketing” has become a buzzword in the digital marketing space, particularly among individuals and for-profit organizations. However, your nonprofit can also get in on the action, especially if you have a broad audience on your website and other digital marketing channels! There are plenty of organizations that offer these types of programs (known as charity affiliate programs or affiliate fundraising programs) that cater to nonprofits.
In this guide, you’ll learn how to get started with affiliate fundraising. We’ll cover the following topics:
- What is a charity affiliate program?
- Benefits of Charity Affiliate Programs
- Best Affiliate Fundraising Programs
In addition to joining standard charity affiliate programs, your nonprofit could partner with a platform that serves as a medium for engaging in affiliate marketing. At ShopRaise, we connect nonprofits with e-commerce businesses through our online shopping and gift card fundraiser platform, allowing both groups to experience the benefits of affiliate fundraising with less hassle. Let’s dive in!
What is a charity affiliate program?
A charity affiliate program (or affiliate fundraising program) is a form of affiliate marketing in which a nonprofit promotes another organization—either for-profit or nonprofit—to its community in exchange for commissions. The nonprofit can then put the unrestricted revenue they earn toward any of their organizational expenses (including overhead costs!), which is why this is also referred to as affiliate fundraising.
For example, let’s say you create a social media post to promote an upcoming walkathon fundraiser. In the caption, you recommend that participants bring a water bottle and sunscreen and include a link to your affiliate fundraising partner’s website alongside those product mentions. When your supporters click the link to buy those items, a percentage of their total sales goes back to your nonprofit.
What makes charity affiliate programs stand out is that the organizations who offer them are interested in supporting a good cause. They understand that the commissions your nonprofit receives will go toward furthering your mission and that you’ll be marketing your organization’s efforts alongside their offerings.
Benefits of Charity Affiliate Programs
Charity affiliate programs are a win-win situation for both your nonprofit and the organization offering the program. Some of the key benefits you can experience by joining one of these programs include:
- Spreading awareness of your cause to the organization’s existing constituents, making it more likely that they’ll support your nonprofit.
- Forming new connections with businesses to further your impact and lay the groundwork for potential future sponsorships.
- Bringing in year-round unrestricted funding you can use to cover any expenses in your annual budget—whether they’re related to your programs or operational costs.
- Diversifying your revenue streams, which provides additional financial flexibility and sustainability for your organization, conveniently and at no additional cost to you.
For organizations that offer charity affiliate programs, the main advantages are gaining access to a new marketing channel and adding another type of corporate social responsibility to their model. This way, they spread the word about their offerings and boost their reputation, which both contribute to expanding their constituent base.
Best Affiliate Fundraising Programs
When choosing an affiliate program for your nonprofit, make sure to partner with an organization that appeals to your supporters because you can only receive commissions if they’re willing to engage with them. Additionally, consider the program’s commission model and whether your partner organization’s values align with your nonprofit’s mission.
To help start your research into charity affiliate programs, let’s look at some of the top options you could consider:
Featured Charity Affiliate Fundraising Solution: ShopRaise
ShopRaise is different from traditional affiliate marketing because instead of joining a program directly through a single business, your nonprofit will partner with a fundraising platform that has access to a wide network of online retailers. The best part is that many of your supporters probably already shop at these businesses, so they can contribute to your nonprofit without going out of their normal routines or spending any extra money.
How It Works
Your nonprofit can engage in affiliate fundraising through ShopRaise in three easy steps:
- Sign up for ShopRaise. ShopRaise’s experts will walk you through the onboarding process, handle negotiations with retailers, and even create a branded landing page for your nonprofit.
- Spread the word. Leverage your nonprofit’s website, email marketing, flyers, and social media to provide instructions for getting started and regularly remind supporters to shop for your cause. ShopRaise can also help with this step by designing a variety of branded templates for your communications.
- Track results. You’ll be able to view fundraising data as supporters make purchases so you can thank your top supporters and adjust your marketing strategy in real time. ShopRaise protects shoppers’ privacy by limiting the details your nonprofit sees to just their names and the total amounts they’ve raised—only the shopper will know exactly what items they purchased.
To participate in your fundraiser, your supporters will shop online pretty much as usual, with the only difference being that they’ll use ShopRaise’s app or browser extension as they make purchases. They’ll pay the same prices for items and have access to the same discounts they would have otherwise, and a percentage of their total sales (up to 10% depending on the retailer) will go directly to your nonprofit.
In addition to the online shopping fundraiser, ShopRaise offers a second affiliate fundraising opportunity as of 2023: gift card sales. Supporters can buy digital gift cards from more than 200 retailers through the Gift Card Store in the ShopRaise app, and a portion of each sale goes back to your nonprofit. Shoppers can even use the fundraising gift cards they purchase in the online shopping portion of the ShopRaise app to increase their contribution.
Over time, supporters’ online shopping and gift card purchases put together will add up to significant contributions for your nonprofit!
Why ShopRaise Stands Out
ShopRaise isn’t a traditional charity affiliate program, so it offers unique benefits to both nonprofits and supporters. It’s free to join, has a user-friendly interface, and can scale with your nonprofit. Also, it works for a wide variety of fundraising organizations, including:
- Traditional 501(c)(3) nonprofits
- K-12 schools
- Sports teams
- Clubs and community groups
- Faith-based organizations
On the supporter side, the main benefit is that rather than buying items they may not have purchased otherwise, they can contribute to your cause by making everyday purchases from many of their favorite retailers. There is no additional cost or work required on their end!
Other Top Charity Affiliate Programs
If you want to join a more traditional charity affiliate program, you can start your research with these organizations:
GreaterGood
GreaterGood is a network of online stores that are registered fundraisers for Greater Good Charities. Purchasing from these stores supports nonprofits that serve people, pets, and the planet. They’ve raised more than $80 million for good causes through sales of clothing, accessories, beauty products, food, home and kitchen supplies, and more.
GreaterGood’s affiliate program offers a tiered commission structure in addition to the wide range of products that supporters can choose from. Shoppers can contribute both to your organization and to Greater Good Charities when purchasing from GreaterGood stores.
Commission Rate: 2%-8%
Fundraising.com
Fundraising.com has supported nonprofits in their revenue generation efforts for more than 30 years. They offer a variety of fundraising products and guides that organizations can incorporate into their strategies.
The Fundraising.com affiliate program provides opportunities for nonprofit networking as you’ll earn commissions for promoting fundraising guides and online campaigns. The program also has a second tier where affiliates work together with the organization to sell co-branded products.
Commission Rate: 10%
CARE International
CARE International is a confederation of 21 nonprofits that have been working to fight global poverty, injustice, and gender inequality for more than 75 years. Their locally-based solutions have now been implemented in more than 100 countries.
CARE’s affiliate program is available internationally and is also a networking opportunity that drives support for these organizations. When working with an organization like CARE where you create donation opportunities for another nonprofit, make sure to continue promoting your own donation channels as well.
Commission Rate: 6.4%
Plan International
Plan International is another organization working to end global poverty. Founded in 1937 and active in more than 80 countries, most of their efforts are currently focused on children’s access to education and food, as well as gender equality initiatives.
Plan International’s affiliate program is also focused on driving donations, which comes with the same benefits and challenges as CARE International’s program. These donations can benefit millions of children worldwide and form helpful relationships.
Commission Rate: 4%-7%
Donorbox
Donorbox is an all-in-one fundraising platform. While they focus on creating online donation pages, their solutions also work for crowdfunding campaigns, text-to-give, and donor management.
Donorbox has a number of nonprofit professionals in their affiliate program network. They provide helpful technical support to affiliates as they gain referrals and earn recurring commissions.
Commission Rate: 15%
Omaze
Omaze is a donation platform raising funds for Charities Aid Foundation America. They put a unique twist on donating by incentivizing giving with the chance to win major prizes like vacation packages and new cars.
You’ll earn commissions for each donation/contest entry that Omaze receives through your referral links. Omaze also incentivizes their affiliate program by offering the potential for increased commission rates over time.
Commission Rate: up to 12% baseline.
Better World Books
Better World Books is a socially conscious, for-profit online bookseller. Customers around the world buy new and used books on their website while funding their commitment to literacy and sustainability. Better World Books has donated more than 35 million books, raised more than $34 million for libraries and literacy initiatives, and reused or recycled more than 450 million books.
While the Better World Books affiliate program has a slightly lower commission rate than some other programs, they offer unlimited referrals and stock thousands of popular books. So, each individual you refer can easily buy multiple books each time they visit the site and help you earn more.
Commission Rate: 5%-8%
Ivory Ella
Ivory Ella is an online retailer that sells clothing and accessories with a distinctive elephant design. Since their founding in 2015, they’ve donated 10% of their net profits to Save the Elephants and other wildlife conservation nonprofits and have contributed more than $2 million to these causes in total.
Similarly to some of the other programs on this list, supporters can contribute to your nonprofit and other charitable organizations if you join Ivory Ella’s affiliate program. Ivory Ella provides helpful commission tracking through several third-party affiliate program management sites.
Commission Rate: 5%
The Linux Foundation
The Linux Foundation is the global nonprofit dedicated to promoting the popular Linux operating system and allowing software developers to collaborate on other open-source coding projects. The foundation also offers certifications and training courses to help users keep up with the latest in programming.
Although the Linux Foundation affiliate program requires affiliates to promote niche products, the commission rate is one of the highest among charity affiliate programs. Plus, the foundation offers free commission tracking tools and various discounts.
Commission Rate: 20%
Charity Affiliate Programs: The Bottom Line
Charity affiliate programs can help your nonprofit bring in ongoing revenue through commissions and expand your network through partnerships with other organizations focused on supporting charitable causes. Although traditional affiliate programs have their benefits, not all of them will be right for every nonprofit. Do your research and consider trying other methods of affiliate fundraising as well, such as ShopRaise.
For more information on how your supporters’ shopping can support your nonprofit’s mission, check out these resources:
- Ethical Shopping: How to Change the World With Your Wallet. Discover how you can leverage consumers’ interest in making an impact as they shop to fundraise for your organization.
- Passive Fundraising: How to Earn Extra Revenue (+5 Ideas). Explore the world of passive fundraising, including participating in charity affiliate programs, in more detail.
- Starting a Gift Card Fundraiser: The Complete Guide. Learn everything you need to know to launch a gift card fundraiser for your nonprofit and the benefits it can provide.
