How to Scrape Fundraising Platform Data for Informed Decision-Making?

How-to-Scrape-Fundraising-Platform-Data-for-Informed-Decision-Making

In the modern digital era, the landscape of fundraising has undergone a significant transformation, primarily due to the proliferation of online platforms. These platforms have many features and pricing models, giving fundraisers and charitable organizations many options. The choice of the right fundraising platform holds paramount importance as it directly impacts the ability to optimize donation collection and streamline campaign management.

It is imperative to engage in the process of scraping and comparing data from various fundraising platforms to make a well-informed decision. It entails meticulously examining each platform's intricacies, encompassing fees, features, and pricing structures. With this knowledge, fundraisers and charitable organizations can effectively navigate the digital fundraising landscape, selecting the platform that best aligns with their unique goals and financial considerations. In essence, this fundraising data extension empowers them to make data-driven decisions that maximize the effectiveness of their fundraising campaigns, ultimately translating into more substantial support for their charitable causes. This blog will briefly describe how to scrape fundraising platform data.

List of Platforms

We will focus on the following fundraising platforms:

MyFundraiser.com.au: MyFundraiser is an Australian fundraising platform that empowers individuals, groups, and organizations to raise funds for various causes. It offers user-friendly tools, customizable campaigns, and transparent pricing. Scrape MyFundraiser.com.au fundraising platform data for informed decision-making.

Chuffed.org: Chuffed.org is a global crowdfunding platform designed specifically for social causes. It offers various pricing structures to suit different campaign needs and provides a platform where individuals and nonprofits can raise funds for their charitable endeavors. Hence, scrape Chuffed.org fundraising platform data for optimized fundraising.

GiveNow.com.au: GiveNow is an Australian online donation platform facilitating easy and secure giving to charities and nonprofits. It simplifies the donation process and enables donors to support their chosen causes with minimal fuss. Scrape GiveNow.com.au fundraising platform data for comparative analysis.

GoFundraise: GoFundraise is an Australian fundraising platform known for its comprehensive features, including event management, peer-to-peer fundraising, and donor engagement tools. It offers various ways to raise funds for charities and nonprofits. Scrape GoFundraise fundraising platform data for data-driven insights.

EverydayHero.com.au: Everyday Hero is an Australian platform that enables individuals and teams to create fundraising campaigns for charities, events, and personal causes. It simplifies the process of connecting donors with their chosen causes. Scrape EverydayHero.com.au fundraising platform data for competitive advantage.

GoFundRaise.com.au: GoFundRaise offers a range of fundraising solutions, including crowdfunding, event fundraising, and workplace giving. It provides versatile options for organizations and individuals to raise funds effectively. Scrape GoFundRaise.com.au fundraising platform data for platform selection.

MyCause.com.au: MyCause is an Australian fundraising platform that caters to individuals, nonprofits, and charities. It offers customizable fundraising pages and tools to engage donors in supporting various causes. Scrape MyCause.com.au fundraising platform data for efficient resource allocation.

Fundly.com: Fundly is a global crowdfunding platform that supports personal and nonprofit fundraising initiatives. It provides user-friendly features and mobile compatibility for donors and fundraisers. Scrape Fundly.com fundraising platform data for fee assessment.

GoFundMe.com: GoFundMe is a famous global crowdfunding platform for personal and charitable causes. It allows individuals to create campaigns and receive support from a vast online community. Scrape GoFundMe.com.au fundraising platform data for performance evaluation.

Humanitix.com.au: Humanitix is an Australian ticketing and event management platform that donates booking fees to charity. It supports organizations in running events while contributing to social causes. Scrape Humanitix.com.au fundraising platform data for cost optimization.

TryBooking.com.au: TryBooking is an Australian event ticketing and registration platform. While not primarily a fundraising platform, it simplifies event management and can be helpful for charity events. Scrape TryBooking.com.au fundraising platform data for donor retention.

EventBrite.com.au: Eventbrite is a global event management and ticketing platform. Like TryBooking, it is versatile for event organizers, including those hosting charity events. Scrape EventBrite.com.au fundraising platform data for customized campaigns.

Galabid: Pricing details for Galabid are pending, but it is known for its silent auction and fundraising solutions, offering a unique approach to event fundraising. Hence, scrape Galabid fundraising platform data for real-time insights.

List of Data Fields

List-of-Data-Fields

Pricing

1. Fees:Each platform's fees, including platform fees, if any.

2. Credit Card Fees:Credit card processing fees can significantly impact the amount received.

3. Default Tip:Whether the platform includes a default tip for donors.

4. Revenue Model:Explains how each platform generates revenue, such as tips, platform fees, flat fees, or a combination of these.

5. Donor Fees:Determine if donors ask for additional fees and, if so, the amount.

6. Total Amount to Charity and Donor:Calculate and compare the total amount received by the charity and the amount paid by the donor, factoring in all fees, tips, and charges, using a $100 donation as a reference.

Features

1. Ticket Sales:Whether the platform allows for selling event tickets.

2. Donations:The ability to accept one-time or recurring donations.

3. Silent Auction:Support for conducting silent auctions for fundraising events.

4. Team-Based Fundraising:Capability for creating and managing team-based fundraising campaigns.

5. Integration with Google Analytics/Meta:Determine if the platform integrates with Google Analytics or Meta (formerly Facebook) for tracking and analytics.

Primary Method of Data Collection Methods

Using Python libraries like BeautifulSoup and Selenium to gather this valuable data, you can use web scraping for fundraisers. Here's a simplified outline of the process:

Identify Target Web Pages:

Locate the specific web pages containing each platform's pricing and feature information. Set Up Your Scraping Environment:

Install the required Python libraries (e.g., BeautifulSoup, Selenium).

Configure a web driver (e.g., ChromeDriver for Selenium) for automated browsing. Scrape Data:

Write scripts to navigate to each platform's relevant pages.

Extract data elements such as fees, credit card charges, default tips, and feature information. Store the collected data in a structured format, such as a CSV file or a database.

Data Comparison and Analysis:

Utilize data analysis tools (e.g., Pandas, Excel) to compare the collected data comprehensively.

Calculate and visualize pricing differences, fees, and feature availability.

Report Findings:

Present your findings clearly and informally, aiding fundraisers and organizations in making informed decisions.

Informed Decision-Making

With the collected data and comparisons, fundraisers and charities can decide which fundraising platform aligns best with their goals and budget. This knowledge empowers them to maximize the impact of their campaigns and effectively support their causes.

Here, we will scrape the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform as an example.

The crowdfunding platform GoFundMe provides public access to the most recent 1000 donations for each fundraiser, displaying them in a scrollable list. While private payment-related details are not accessible, users can view the donor's public display name, the donation amount, and the timestamp. Modern crowdfunding data retrieval commonly utilizes REST (REpresentational State Transfer) web services for communication between the user interface and the site's backend. By directly interfacing with these web services, it enables the scraping of nonprofit platform data of publicly available user-generated content, such as social media posts or lists of fundraiser donations. Here's a brief guide on creating a basic GoFundMe donation scraper using Python and this technique.

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We can harness the built-in developer tools featured in most major browsers to uncover the inner workings of web services powering platforms like GoFundMe. In Google Chrome, for instance, this involves accessing the "Developer Tools" found in the "Developer" section of the "View" menu and subsequently selecting the "Network" tab. Similar functionalities exist in other browsers.

Within these tools, we can scrutinize the requests sent to and responses received from the platform's underlying fundraising website data collection services. Typically, these responses are formatted in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) and easily parsed by most modern programming languages, including Python. In the case of GoFundMe, fetch the donation list by invoking a URL like

Within-these-tools,-we-can-scrutinize-the-requests-sent-to

The returned JSON includes s a references dictionary, which, in turn, houses a donations list containing dictionaries with donation details and associated metadata.

Notably, the limit parameter determines the number of donations retrieved in each request, with a maximum limit of 100. To obtain the complete list of the 1000 most recent donations, multiple calls (up to 10 times) are necessary. Here's an example illustrating how to retrieve donations for a specific GoFundMe fundraiser using Python:

Notably,-the-limit-parameter-determines-the-number-of-donations

The provided code snippet retrieves the most recent 1000 donations for a selected fundraiser or all donations if there are 1000 or fewer. Store the data in a CSV file featuring columns for donation amount, donation timestamp, the GoFundMe user's display name (or "Anonymous" for anonymous donors), currency, unique donation ID, and additional attributes. While this example is essential, it can be enhanced, especially considering that GoFundMe offers a list of the most significant donations, occasionally including donations beyond the most recent 1000.

This charity fundraising platform scraping technique are is exclusive to GoFundMe. As mentioned earlier, most modern platforms hosting user-generated content follow a similar architecture, making the methods discussed here broadly applicable. However, you can scrape these platforms and compare the data likewise. It's important to note that fundraiser data scraping tools may require updates when platform operators modify features, redesign the interface, or implement other changes.

Feel free to reach out to iWeb Data Scraping today for comprehensive information! Whether your needs involve web scraping service and mobile app data scraping services, we have you covered. Don't hesitate to contact us to explore your unique requirements and discover how our data scraping solutions can provide you with efficiency and reliability.

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