What is a donation conversion rate?

A conversion rate measures how many visitors take the action you want. For donations, it's the percentage of people who reach your donation form or button and finish giving. If 100 people see the ask and 4 donate, that's a 4% conversion rate.

Conversion is shaped by friction and trust: how many steps the donor goes through, whether the page looks credible, whether the ask is clear, and whether the donation happens on a site they recognize. Fewer steps and a familiar, branded page generally convert better.

Keeping the donation on your own site — rather than redirecting to a third-party page — removes a hand-off that can lose people. It's one reason an embedded widget can convert better than a link out to a separate platform.