Fundraising Over Easter - Is Your Church Ready?
April 2025
At Dona, we see a significant spike in donations gifted through our digital donation machines and online webpages throughout the Christian period of Lent, and especially over the busy Easter week. Churches that are well prepared for the increase in visitors receive a significant proportion of their annual donation income during this important season.
Easter is one of the most spiritually significant times of the Christian year, drawing people to church to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. With increased attendance—both in-person and online—churches have a unique opportunity to engage with congregations, new visitors, and even lapsed attendees, in a meaningful way.
The Easter season’s themes of renewal, sacrifice, and generosity naturally inspire giving, making it an ideal time to encourage donations for church ministries, outreach programmes, and community support efforts. Many people are more open to giving during Easter as an expression of gratitude and faith, and churches can use this momentum to fund important initiatives that will impact lives long after the holiday is over.
Advanced preparation is the key to successful fundraising over Easter
This is both to ensure you have the right infrastructure in place to empower visitors wishing to support your church, and to inspire generosity through carefully considered campaigns.
Here are some key strategies to leverage digital donation technology, storytelling, and engagement to make the most of this important fundraising period for your church.
1. Install Enough Donation Machines for Your Expected Visitors
- With fewer people carrying cash, it’s essential that your church is ready to collect donations via card, contactless and phone.
- Digital collection plates, such as Dona’s portable donation machines, can be passed around during the service to give congregations the option to pay by card.
- Install donation terminals on stands at entrances and exits, and by key points of interest around the church. Votive candles, side chapels and significant relics, works of art or by stained glass windows can all be inspiring places to prompt generosity from visitors.
- People don’t like to queue to donate during busy times, so it is essential that you have enough machines to catch the flow of visitors. Dona data shows that one donation terminal per 50 donors present is the optimum ratio.
- Dona organisations with two donation machines fundraised 263% more than organisations with only one machine in 2024
2. Collect Gift Aid
- Make sure your digital and online giving technology is set up to collect Gift Aid, increasing donations by 25%.
- With Dona donation terminals, donors only need to register for Gift Aid the first time they give. Subsequent donations using the same card will automatically have Gift Aid applied.
- On average, 40% of donations gifted using Dona are given with Gift Aid, although some churches collect up to 80% of donations with added Gift Aid!
- Sharing clear instructions with your congregation about the benefits of registering, and encouraging repeat donations through the Dona system can all help to boost your church’s income.
3. Optimise Online Giving
- Ensure your church’s website has a clear, easy-to-use donation page with multiple giving options to empower people to pay with credit or debit cards, PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay.
- At Dona, we supply a free online donation webpage to every charitable organisation that uses Dona donation machines.
- Customise your donation webpage with a range of Easter-themed campaigns, to inspire greater engagement and generosity.
4. Add Seasonal Campaigns to Your Donation Machines
Programme your donation machines with Lent and Easter-themed campaigns and challenges to inspire giving.
- Try a “7-Day Easter Challenge” to encourage members to donate a small amount daily throughout Holy Week.
- Encourage congregations to think differently about how they approach their Lenten sacrifices with a “40 Days of Giving” challenge.
- Other Easter-themed donation campaigns might include ideas such as “In the Sprit of Resurrection”, “Give in Honour of Christ’s Sacrifice,” or a “From Cross to Community” fundraiser to draw attention to causes your church is supporting more widely.
- Boost your overall donations with a matching gifts challenge, encouraging your donors or local business groups to match contributions up to a certain amount.
- Dona donation terminals can be programmed with up to 20 separate campaigns.
5. Update Your Donation Machines with Easter Branding
- Create eye catching Easter-themed screensavers for your donation terminals to inspire engagement with your most important seasonal campaigns.
- Add your church’s logo and branding, pictures relating to your causes, or celebrate your church team to highlight all the hard work they do.
- Each Dona donation terminal can be easily customised with up to 5 screensavers. Using different displays on different donation terminals can be a great way to drive engagement for specific causes.
6. Use QR Codes on Posters and Pamphlets
- Place QR codes in newsletter or email bulletins, pew cards, or on screens during services, leading directly to your online giving page or Dona donation webpage.
- Dona’s free donation webpages all come with a free QR code that you can print out and place around your church to give people a quick way to access your online giving options
7. Increase Average Donations
- Customise the “Suggested Donations” feature on Dona donation terminals and your church’s online donation webpage to encourage generosity. By raising suggested donation amounts, donors can be inspired to donate more than they would usually give in cash.
- The average donation given on Dona donation terminals in 2024 was over £12, while the average donation given via Dona donation webpages in the same year was over £41!
- Consider suggesting higher amounts on your donation webpage, where people can be inspired through in-depth messaging to donate more impactfully to your most important causes.
8. Leverage Social Media and Email Marketing
- Share your Lent and Easter fundraising campaigns through social media and email newsletters to your community.
- Compelling stories shared via video testimonials from beneficiaries or church members can be particularly impactful.
- Provide links to your online giving page, or Dona donation webpage, so that your community can support your campaigns more easily.
- Post engaging live-streamed messages, devotionals, and fundraisers on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram to update your followers on the success of your campaigns, and motivate them to help you reach your targets.
9. Celebrate Your Impact Through Reports and Thank You Messages
- Show how past donations have made a difference through infographics, testimonials, and videos.
- Host a “Behind-the-Scenes” livestream showing how donations support outreach, missions, or church activities.
- Send a personalised thank-you email to donors to reinforce gratitude and encourage future generosity. Dona donation terminals and online webpages allow you to send automated thank you messages to keep your audience engaged.
- Use Dona’s “Keep in Touch” feature to allow donors to opt in to marketing messages for updates on how your campaigns are progressing.
Prepare for the busiest church attendance days during the Lent and Easter period, which typically include:
1. Ash Wednesday (Start of Lent)
- Marks the beginning of Lent, a season of fasting and repentance.
- Many churches hold services where worshippers receive ashes on their foreheads as a sign of humility and reflection.
2. Palm Sunday (Sunday Before Easter)
- Commemorates Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem.
- Often features special processions and the distribution of palm branches.
- Marks the start of Holy Week, drawing higher attendance.
3. Maundy Thursday (Thursday Before Easter)
- Commemorates the Last Supper and Jesus’ command to love one another.
- Some churches hold foot-washing ceremonies and Holy Communion services.
4. Good Friday (Friday Before Easter)
- A solemn day remembering Jesus’ crucifixion and sacrifice.
- Many churches host special services, Stations of the Cross, or meditative worship.
- Often a high-attendance day, especially for Catholic and liturgical churches.
5. Easter Sunday (Resurrection Sunday)
- The biggest church attendance day of the year for most churches.
- Celebrates the resurrection of Jesus with joyful services, baptisms, and special music.
- Attracts both regular attendees and those who visit church only a few times a year (e.g., “Christmas and Easter Christians”).
Other Notable Days in Lent
- Holy Saturday (Easter Vigil): In some traditions (especially Catholic and Orthodox), this night is a time of deep reflection and celebration of new life through baptisms.
Sundays in Lent: While not as busy as Easter, these Sundays often see a small uptake in attendance as people engage in Lenten commitments.
Dona Donations can help Christian groups, charities and organisations collect donations from the Easter period with secure, compliant and easy-to-use contactless donation terminals. Dona’s online management portal offers a host of HMRC-friendly reports, analytics and tools to customise your donors’ experience.
To find out more, complete our enquiry form or call us today on 0203 488 5038.
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