Accountraising

Accountraising is a term describing fundraising practices that rely on user accounts on digital platforms to manage donors and campaigns. It focuses on account-based donor engagement, where donors create profiles, track contributions, and receive personalized communications.

The term is not widely established in formal scholarship; it appears mainly in industry discussions about platform-enabled fundraising and data-driven donor relations.

Core features include user registration with donor profiles, secure payment integration, support for recurring gifts, and analytics dashboards that measure donor lifetime value, retention, and campaign performance. Communication is often personalized via segmentation and targeted messaging based on profile data and donation history.

Applications span nonprofits, educational initiatives, and civic campaigns that operate online campaigns. Benefits include improved retention, streamlined receipts and tax documentation, and the ability to mobilize networks through referrals from accounts.

Challenges include privacy and data security, consent, and regulatory compliance; reliance on platform providers; potential exclusion of individuals without digital accounts; data governance and ethical considerations.

See also: crowdfunding, donor management, CRM, online fundraising.