I recently gave an update on a charity: water project I started in 2010 that raised over $5,000 to help build three wells in Africa.
Some of you may wonder how it happened. Outside of a lot of prayer and generosity, it was a simply telling a compelling story (over and over again) that people wanted to be a part of. Below are the 12 steps I took to create a successful online fundraising campaign.
Some of these steps may be out of your control, some may need tweaked for your campaign, and some may need thrown out all together. Nonetheless, best of luck on your exciting adventure.
1. Find a worthy cause. Review the organization you are planning on supporting. Make sure they are credible, reliable, and have documentation and tax receipts for donations. Check out Charity Navigator, a site that reviews non-profits based on their efficiency.
2. Tell a compelling story. This is key. Without a backstory explaining why they should give, people will hold onto their cold hard cash or give it to a more worthy cause. Here’s a link to my charity: water campaign with a compelling story on the left side of the page.
3. Help donors experience the need. Put the reader into the shoes of those being helped. Encourage potential donors to imagine what life is like for those you’re giving to.
4. Have a reachable (yet challenging) goal. People are motivated by a goal–it gives them something to rally behind and be a part of. Choose a goal that’s not easy to meet but isn’t (completely) impossible to reach either.
5. Give a suggested donation amount. Tell people what you’d like for them to give. It’s difficult to know if you should give $10, $100 or $1,000. Remove the guesswork. In my charity: water campaign, over 70% of the donations were for one of the suggested amount of $22.
Over 70% of donations were for the suggested amount
6. Use a platform that tracks donations, if possible. charity: water has a great bar that definitely motivated people to get to each next level. You’ll notice lots of odd dollar amounts at each $1,000 mark to get to the next one. If donations can’t be tracked online, use your blog, website, or social media to keep givers (and potential givers) updated on the campaign’s progress.
7. Set a deadline. Without a deadline, there’s no sense of urgency, and it will be tough to cross the finish line on your goal.
8. Invite everyone you have a relationship with. Don’t spam people. Anyone you have a legitimate relationship with is eligible here, and you know more people than you think.
9. Email is key. I sent an email to 117 people, and I’m sure you can think of at least 100 people by scrolling through your email contacts. charity: water confirms that email is the key to the most successful campaigns. I sent 3 emails over the span of 3 months to those I invited to be a part of the campaign. First I sent an invitation with a compelling story about why I was raising money, the second time was a reminder and quick update, and the third time was letting everyone know we’d crossed the line and reached the goal together. Here is a PDF of the exact emails I sent out.
10. Put it everywhere. I changed my Facebook default picture, my Twitter profile and picture, my email signature–every thing that people would see to talk about charity: water for the two and a half months when I was raising money.
11. Thank profusely. Send written thank you notes if possible because nothing quite compares to gratitude via snail mail. If you aren’t able to (more likely, don’t want to) do that, send follow up emails or thank people on Twitter and Facebook. Let them know you’re grateful for what they’ve done to help.
12. Remind, remind, remind. People are forgetful. If you run into someone who says they want to donate and a few weeks go without a donation showing up, send a personal follow-up email just reminding them they mentioned wanted to participate. That’s why a second email is critical too.