You’ve gotten some fundraisers to sign up, yay! But how do you move a fundraiser from page setup to being a top fundraiser for your cause? The best thing you can do is empower them to fundraise well by providing the support they need to succeed.
Here’s a few best practices to help you set your fundraisers up for success:
Ensure You Have Tools Prepared And Linked In Your Welcome Email
The Welcome Email is one of the most essential steps in the setup process for fundraisers. The welcome email is a personalized email from your organization to your fundraises that is sent right after they complete their fundraising page setup. There’s a few key components you’ll want to add that can best equip and engage them:
Thank Your Fundraisers: Your supporters have just chosen to make a big step from simply giving to your organization. Be sure to thank and celebrate them!
Tie Their Participation To Impact: Reiterate that their participation in fundraising for the cause directly makes an impact. Use “you” instead of “us” to put the emphasis on the fundraiser’s actions instead of your organization’s and remind them of any units of impact (such as $100 provides a girl education for a year) so they can set their own goals appropriately.
Provide Resources: Link to an external document that contains all the information you’d like to supply to fundraisers about the campaign, as well as a fundraising toolkit to help them fundraise for you. Here’s what you’ll want to include:
- Campaign Hashtag- track who’s talking about your campaign online by creating a campaign hashtag, and instruct your supporters to use it whenever they promote your campaign on social media.
- Campaign One Pager- Create a one page document with the details about your campaign which should include:
- Short description of campaign
- Explanation of your strategy
- Highlight your relevant programs
- Examples of your impact
- Any necessary info on sponsors and partners (such as if there’s a matching partner)
- Contact information for your organization
- Images and Logos: Provide your personal fundraisers with a selection of images they can use for the campaign, especially those that coincide with your campaign’s story.
- Social media planning: Pre-written social media posts fundraisers can copy and paste to their preferred social accounts, along with some suggested dates for posting
- Promotional materials: Be sure to include an example email they can use to promote their campaign to their email lists and any printable flyers or materials you’d like
For more details on creating a toolkit, view our guide Creating A Toolkit For Nonprofit Fundraising.
Call To Action: They’ve committed to raising funds for you and now have their own fundraising page- and they’re highly likely to contribute. Asking them to make a donation to “kick off” their fundraising page is effective in engaging them in fundraising further.
Provide A Point Of Contact: Some of your supporters may have never fundraised before, so some people may have some questions along the way. Provide one administrator’s name and contact information so they know who they can reach out to, and they know who will be reaching out to them. By establishing a point person, you show fundraisers that you’ve got their backs, and they’re more likely to feel confident moving forward!
This also helps to form a deeper relationship between your organization and your fundraisers- the more they trust you and feel supported, the more likely they are to succeed!
Tips For Engagement Throughout Your Campaign
Once fundraisers are onboarded with the help of your welcome email, you’ll still want to keep tabs and engage with fundraisers to help them throughout their fundraising process.
While the frequency of your communications can vary depending on the length of your campaign, here’s a few things you’ll want your point person to keep in mind to proactively engage fundraisers throughout the campaign:
- Regular check ins. Consider checking in with your fundraisers about once a week asking about how the fundraisers are doing and asking to see if there’s anything your organization can do to help.
- Provide additional support to those who need it. Fundraiser’s pages are automatically sorted from most funds raised to least funds raised. If you see some fundraisers particularly struggling, reach out to provide additional support.
- Keep track of fundraiser’s blog posts. If someone posted a good story, share it on your social media accounts! This will help encourage them to keep blogging, and blogs have been proven to help drive donations. Alternatively, if you’re finding your fundraisers aren’t posting blogs, shoot out an email encouraging them to share a story about why they’re fundraising for you.
- Send them insider information. People love to feel like they’re privy to information that not everyone receives. Let them know about what your organization is working on for the campaign too, and give them a peek into your world. Also, if you have any exclusive opportunities for fundraisers- keep them in the loop!
- Communicate any major campaign milestones. If your campaign reaches a milestone such as reaching half of the goal- send out an email to fundraisers to celebrate! Celebrating wins can keep fundraiser’s spirits high and let them know they’re part of a community that’s working together to accomplish goals.
- Share Additional Stories. With all the buzz around the campaign, bring your fundraisers back to the meaning of it all by sharing more stories about the impact they’re helping to create. This will encourage fundraisers to keep pushing through!
- Reminders. If there are any upcoming dates particularly important, take a minute to remind them! This will help them keep on track.
- Keep it social! Engage with fundraisers on social media and shout out to fundraisers that are doing well. Consider highlighting 1-2 fundraisers a week. They’ll feel extra special and it will reinforce that your organization is appreciative of fundraiser’s efforts, further developing your relationships with them.
Ready to start engaging fundraisers? Here’s how you can download your fundraiser data and start connecting with them!
Need to make edits to fundraiser’s pages? Here’s How To Manage Personal Fundraising Pages.
