GiveForward users new and old can benefit from reading the six online fundraising tips our Co-Founder Ethan Austin provided in his guest blog on StepByStepFundraising.com. Ethan based these steps on the things he has seen since GiveForward’s inception. Many of them came from GiveForward users themselves, so you know they’re good ideas. Now stop reading this blog for a few minutes and go read that one.
1. Personalize your fundraising page as much as possible with a heartfelt description and lots of photos. The fundraisers who do the best are the ones who really make an effort to tell their stories. Explain to your donors what you are raising money for and why it is so important to you. If your friends and family see that you are passionate about your fundraising efforts, they are more likely to give and give generously. More tips on how to personalize.
2. Promote Promote Promote! The more you promote your fundraising page the better it will do. Here are the best ways to promote
3. Send email or facebook updates to your friends and family. One of the single most important tips to online fundraising is to be persistent. While some people will donate the first time you ask them, the reality is that it will take at least 2-3 friendly reminders before the majority of your friends and family open up their wallets for you. Fundraisers who keep their donor base engaged with frequent updates tend to be the most successful. Read more here about how and when to send out email/Facebook updates.
read more…
This week’s fundraising tips come from Connie Stofko of Fundraising Assets. Fundraising Assets provides fundraising clients with services such as newsletters, websites, e-mail campaigns, print campaigns, etc.—whatever they need. Connie writes appeal letters, press releases, and a variety of other materials for nonprofit organizations. She’s an award-winning writer with over 25 years experience, and she graciously took the time to give us some great ideas!
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When you’re asking for donations, you need to do two things:
1. Tell an emotional story.
2. Tell people how the money they donate will be used.
This is no different from what nonprofit organizations must do in their fundraising appeal letters. However, for personal fundraisers, the storytelling may be easier. You’re raising money because someone you know needs help, or because you’re personally excited about the work of a charity. Make sure you tell people that emotional, personal story.
Here is an example of how a nonprofit organization, Friends of Night People did a good job telling a personal story:
Lynn came to us on a Sunday evening. She had no food or money, just one bag of clothing. She had no place to stay. Lynn was depressed after having spent the previous night in what she described as ‘terrible conditions.’ She felt alone.
The first thing we did was feed her and let her know we care. Then we found Lynn a safe place to stay until Monday morning. On Monday other human service agencies would be open and we could put her in touch with people who could also help her. We did not leave that evening until we were assured she would be able to begin her tomorrow with strength and hope.
And another good example from the Ronald McDonald House of Buffalo:
“If Alyssa didn’t get the surgery, she could die,” said her mother, Crystal Arnold. “If the Ronald McDonald House wasn’t here, we couldn’t afford to come to Buffalo.”
The letter continues to tell in detail how the Ronald McDonald House of Buffalo helped the out-of-town family during their visits to Buffalo to get treatment for their little girl’s medical condition.
There are a couple of things to notice here:
1. We tell a personal story.
We didn’t say, “Many people come to Friends of Night People because they are poor and hungry.” We told the story of Lynn and put a face on the problem.
2. We explain the solution.
For the family with the little girl who needed medical treatment, the solution was staying at the Ronald McDonald House. While we do address the girl’s health problems, that’s not the focus of the story. The focus of the story is how the Ronald McDonald House helped the family.
Make sure you tell your audience how the money they donate will help the problem you have outlined. Sometimes it’s easy to explain. For example, the money may be used to buy a motorized wheelchair for Alysha Jones. In other cases it might not be as clear. For example, you may be raising money in the name of someone who has died. You might have to explain that the money is going for research into a cure for people who, like your late friend Jimmi Adams, have been diagnosed with cancer.
To tell a good story, make sure you “put a face on the problem.” And don’t forget to tell your audience how their donation will help the person in your story (or people like that person).
One fundraising strategy that many of our users have found really successful is offering prizes to their donors to create a little extra incentive to donate. Often times, this can be great way to reel in potential donors who are sitting on the fence about donating. (i.e. those people who may have overlooked your emails in the past or may not have donated otherwise).
Although you many think this tactic too closely teeters on the border of bribing, the reality is that in most successful fundraisers, people donate for a number of different reasons. Sometimes people donate because they feel really connected to your cause. Sometimes they donate just because they want to support you as a friend. And then other times, people donate because they want to win a prize.
If it helps, think about it this way: you are fundraising for a great cause, your friends want to help you reach your goal, and someone along the way gets an iPod, gift card, etc. I’d say it’s a win-win-win situation all around!
So, here’s how to create your promotion:
Timing of the campaign
Remember to have fun with it.
**Please note: Each state has different rules regarding raffles, so please check your state’s regulations on fundraising raffles before you decide to do this. GiveForward is not a non-profit organization and does not hold responsibility for individual raffles.
This week we have a special fundraising tip of the week. We asked one of our users, Amy Cowin, who raised $30,000 on GiveForward for her sister’s kidney transplant to write about her experience an
d share with everyone how she did it. Here’s what she had to say:
On April 2, 2009, I donated my left kidney to my one and only sister to save her life. Jessica was in renal failure, also known as kidney failure and needed a transplant. Upon completion of testing, Jessica was cleared for surgery and listed on the transplant list. In hopes that I would be a match to donate one of my kidneys, the hospital did some testing on me. Most of the testing was done, when the hospital called Jessica to let her know that the transplant process was going to be stopped. This meant that until Jessica received Medicaid, which could take at least three months to get or until we could pay for the transplant up front there would be no kidney transplant any time soon. Upon hearing this discouraging news, I jumped into action to start raising some money for the transplant.
Not knowing exactly what to do or where to go to get started raising money, I turned to Facebook. I wrote a somewhat frantic message to a small group of close friends and confidants, specifically chosen based on their various capabilities, knowledge and connections to different facets of the business world. Original message sent on Facebook:
Subject: “NEED HELP ASAP”
“Hi,
I’m sure most of you know that Jessica needs a kidney transplant and she will be taking one of mine. Unfortunately we have had some major problems with insurance and have hit another bump in the road. I need to figure out how to raise some money asap. If any of you know how to do this through Facebook or know of someone who knows how to do this let me know. The insurance will only cover $30,000 and the whole transplant will cost over $100,000. The rest we will have to pay out of pocket, which we definitely do not have. The hospital will not move forward if they don’t think we can pay for the transplant. She cannot wait another 3 months for a kidney.
PLEASE let me know!
Thanks so much,
Amy”
Within three hours I had responses from my friends, some were how they wanted to help me, times we could meet up to figure out ideas and websites to look at, including the one I chose to host my fundraiser, www.giveforward.org. The GiveForward website had everything I needed to start fundraising almost immediately. I spent three intense hours on Give Forward to make sure I had all of the information that the website required, such as a description of why I was fundraising, pictures, where the money would be going, a timeline, and much more. This process helped me strategize, organize and get excited about fundraising; because fundraising is a daunting task, especially for medical purposes.
I wanted to raise up to $100,000 in less than 90 days. In three hours of having the fundraiser published online, I had over $5,000 in donations. I didn’t raise the $100K like I set out to do, but I did raise $30,000 in less than 30 Days. Here are a few of the strategies that helped me raise $30K in 30 Days.
Fundraising Tip of the Week #13: If your fundraising goal is relatively small (<$500) bump it up to $500 to help capture larger donations.
I am riding in an upcoming bike-a-thon to help Chicago public schools go green. The fundraising requirement for the ride is only $200.
However, to make sure I make the requirement, I’m setting my goal to $500.
Here’s why…
Most people typically make contributions that are anywhere from 1% to 10% of your total fundraising goal.
So if I were to send an email out to friends telling them I had a fundraising goal to $200, I would likely receive a bunch of $10 and $20 donations. With such a small goal, no one is going to donate $50 or $100 because it would seem like too big of a contribution.
However, if I bump my goal up to $500, I’m now way more likely to get some of those $50 and $100 donations. So now instead of having to get 20 people to donate $10 to help me reach my $200 requirement, I can have four people donate $50 and I’ll have met my requirment for the ride. Easy peazy…
If you set a high fundraising goal for yourself, ($3500+) you are likely going to have to get some donations from people outside your immediate circle of friends and family. The way to do this is to be extraordinary.
Why be extraordinary? Well, because being ordinary just isn’t going to cut it these days. Sure, Grandma and Grandpa may donate to your campaign simply because they like you, but let’s face it, friends of friends, and strangers are only going to donate if you can knock their socks off by showing them how dedicated you are to your fundraising effort.
So what makes someone extraordinary? Well, being extraordinary can mean anything. It can mean participating in a physical challenge like running a marathon, or rowing across Atlantic. Or it could mean creating a heartwarming video or great description for your fundraising page. It could even mean doing something goofy like growing a mustache or shaving your head for charity. Whatever you decide to do, the key is showing your donors that you are passionate about what you are doing and you are willing to do whatever it takes to raise money for your cause. read more…
Here’s a quick and easy way to create a little extra awareness for your fundraising campaign.
Add a link to your personal fundraiser page to your email signature. You never know who is going to see it and decide to donate.
To add a signature in Gmail, click on the “Settings” link.
Fundraising Tip of the Week #7
You can add a lot of dimension to your personal fundraising page and raise more money by adding a YouTube video. If you are a little hesitant about writing producing and starring in your own video, trust me, you don’t have to be Steven Spielberg to do this. It’s pretty simple. Here’s how to do it in three easy steps.
I recently got a good fundraising tip from Steve Mackel who runs MarathonTraining.TV and SoCalRunning.com and has been fundraising for charity for the past thirteen years.
Steve told me how important it is that people put up a good picture of themselves on their personal fundraising pages. I couldn’t agree more.
The reason you want to do this is because it helps you make a personal connection with your donors so they’ll feel more engaged in your efforts and want to help you out by donating some big bucks to your fundraising efforts.
Any close-up of you showing off your pearly whites is good, but when possible, you should make your photo related to your fundraiser. For instance, if you’re raising money for charity by growing a mustache, add a picture of yourself with mustache to make your donors chuckle. Or, if you’re training for a marathon and you have a photo of yourself in all your high tech, dry-fit Super NIKE awesome jogging gear use that as your photo. It will show your supporters that you are working your butt off to reach your goal (and if nothing else that you look good in a track suit).
Photo of yours truly growing a mustache for cancer research. Going for the 1970s Olympian Mark Spitz look.
Photo of Ben Kobren at GiveForward’s Run for a Reason 2008 (NYC)
This is a good example of a photo that would work. If you are good at photoshop, just substitute your face in for Ben’s and tell people that it is you.
If you’re not good at photoshop….
Here’s how to add a Super-Awesome Photo of Yourself to Your Fundraising Page:
Step one: When you are logged in hit the button that says “Edit Fundraiser” (or “Start Fundraising” (if you don’t already have a fundraiser page).
Step two: Upload super-awesome photo of yourself from your computer.
Step three: Get lots of money from your donors.
Step four: Bask in the awesomeness of your photo.
