Ok, let’s give credit where it’s due. You’ve resisted the siren song
of the fundraising tactics of yesteryear. Charity galas and bake sales
SOUND really fun – for the people attending them. For the people running
them, they’re the culmination of weeks or months of planning, logistics
and hassles so that people can give you $1.50 for the banana bread you
spent $10.00 on ingredients for.
Until recently, busting your butt in order to raise money for your
cause was expected. And a lot of the time, when people hear the term
fundraising they subconsciously feel the ‘raising’ efforts should be
akin to raising a barn. Or one of those giant jugs upside-down onto the
water cooler when no one’s around to help you, without spilling half of
it onto the office carpet/the front of your pants (awkward). That is to
say – pretty freakin’ tough. But raising money online means fundraising
doesn’t have to be like that.
The arrival of online fundraising has made raising money so much
easier. It almost feels criminal, posting bigger returns for less effort
and, maybe, the fact that running it from a computer makes you feel a
bit like you should be selling Nigerian investment scams. But that
feeling quickly fades away when you realize that the easier it is for you to raise money online, the more your cause benefits.
Less time is wasted on the tedious elements of offline campaigns
(there’s gotta be a pretty lopsided ratio between the amount of money
raised and the amount of cut-eye from people who open their door to
someone carrying a clipboard) and more people reached through the
ever-growing tentacles of the world wide web (Twitter? Facebook?
Anyone?). Along with the undeniable convenience of donating through the
click of a mouse as opposed to the click of your high heels up the
walkway to a dinner at the local community center, as they pinch your
baby toes and you wish you’d just bought the ticket (it’s for charity,
of course) and stayed home in your cozy, cozy slippers. All of this
translates into a more efficient campaign and a bigger donor base full
of happy people more likely to give their support and rally behind your
cause.
So friend, good for you for realizing this, and readily embracing the
world of fundraising online. Clap clap! Gold star! Smiley face!
Whatever makes you feel best appreciated. But now that you’ve got your
online fundraising campaign all set up and ready to go, there are a few
tricks to take it from “what a success!” to “YEEEEAH BABY PEOPLE ARE ALL
OVER THIS!!”
A Multiple Appeal Series: Send out several messages
over the course of a period of time as a part of a cohesive campaign, as
opposed to a standalone appeal. It not only serves as a reminder to
people to give, but lets you approach them in a less aggressive way –
you have more chances to talk to them, explain the cause, etc. It’s been
shown that in a multi vs. standalone appeal, peoples’ response time was
higher and average gift was greater. So give it some salad and boiled
chicken and spread your message a little thinner.
Deadline-Driven Appeals: Tapping into peoples’
innate fear of due dates? Giving them a deadline for donations is more
effective than open-ended appeals and reaps greater rewards. In fact,
the average gift amount is almost double in some cases. So whether your
deadline is tethered to an actual event for your cause or it’s the
anniversary of that time your Chihuahua played with a rolled up potato
bug for the whole afternoon (and you laughed and laughed), specific
dates spark a bigger reaction when raising money online. Who knew?
Matching Gifts: We’ve all seen it before: “If we
reach $2,000 for the One-Eyed Wallaby Foundation, the Two-Eyed Wallaby
Foundation will match it to bring us to $4,000!” Maybe not that specific
example, but promising a matching donation has been a proven motivator
for both response rate and gift amount from donors. Most likely because
it makes people feel like they’re doing more with what they give since
anything they donate is literally doubled. This is also a great way to
introduce deadlines into your online fundraising campaign. For example,
“Whatever amount we reach by February 12 will be matched! We won’t stop
until every wallaby gets an eye”.
Dollar Goals: This is the least effective out of all
four on its own, but is great to use in combination with others as a
solid goal for people to connect themselves to. For example, setting a
deadline to reach a dollar goal and then sending out multiple appeals up
until that deadline would be a tour de force of raising money online.
Leave no tactic unturned!
The fact that you’re online in the first place is a great step in
turning your fundraising campaign into a successful, ever-reaching
Megalodon version of what it would be offline. Not only is online
fundraising quicker, easier, and more expansive than its offline
counterpart, but there are lots of ways to easily tweak your campaign to
ensure more support and more donations from your growing donor base. So
pat yourself on the back and throw out your comfortable “walking shoes”
that you secretly know give you a bad case of the cankles. Your
door-to-door days are over!
For free fundraising tools that will help you effectively raise money online for
your online fundraisers, you can create, manage, and track the success
of an unlimited amount of fundraising campaigns today by using a robust
online fundraising platform. Fundraise with ease for your cause’s
fundraiser now by using these free and easy to use, fundraising tools.
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