2.  Promote Promote Promote! The more you promote your fundraising page the better it will do. Here are the best ways to promote

• Email everyone you know! Even if you haven’t spoken to them in years, you’ll be surprised at how many people will decide to donate when you ask.
• When you email your friends and family ask them to share your page with their friends and co-workers using the “Tell-a-friend” button on your page.
• Set up a Facebook group that includes a link to your GiveForward fundraising page.  If you have a Facebook account definitely set up a group.  This has been far and away one of the most successful strategies for our users.
• Add the URL from your fundraising page to your email signature
• Add the URL to your AIM, Gchat or Facebook status message

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.

4.  Fundraise Strategically. While we definitely recommend telling everyone you know about your fundraising page, before you send out that mass email to everyone in your contact book, first send out an email to your absolute closest friends and family.  This is one of the most important tips for success! The reason you want to do this is because your inner circle of friends and family will be the most generous and will help you build momentum for your fundraiser by setting the tone for subsequent donors. For instance, if your first five donors each give you $100, future donors will view this as the appropriate donation size and will be more likely to give this or a similar amount as well.  Read more about fundraising strategy.

5. Start with a modest fundraising goal and adjust upward as needed.  One of the keys to online fundraising is building momentum.  Your friends and family will be more inclined to give if they think their contribution will help you reach your goal.  By setting a modest goal for yourself and quickly reaching fundraising milestones like 10% and 25% of your goal you can build a lot of momentum and get your donors excited about your efforts.  On the other hand, if you set your goal too high, some people will be discouraged from donating because they’ll view your goal as unattainable and will feel like their $25 or $50 donation won’t really make a difference.  Read more about why people who set modest goals end up raising more money.

6. Offer your donors a chance to win a prize! A great way to get people to donate is by offering them a raffle prize. For instance, when you email your contacts you might include in the email that you will be raffling off a $50 gift card to Starbucks [or whatever gift card you choose] to the first 25 people to donate. This creates extra incentive for those people who are on the fence about donating.  Read more here.

7. Get your story in the media. Your local paper will usually be more than happy to write about your fundraising efforts if you ask.  The more exposure you get, the better your fundraiser will do.  Check out our simple tips to learn how to get your story in the paper.

8. Make your campaign go viral. The most successful fundraising campaigns are the ones that go “viral” on the internet.  The results can be incredible with hundreds of people donating across the country and raising thousands of dollars for a cause.  Although not every campaign will go viral, here are some tips to help get you there:

• Make sure to get off to a good start with a big donation off the bat.  This will give you great momentum and get people excited about your campaign.
• Ask friends and family to spread the world.  When you send out your email appeal, make sure to ask your contacts to share your page with their friends co-workers.  They can do this in a couple of ways:
  • Use the “Tell a friend” button on your fundraising page.  Using the Tell-a-Friend button allows them to share your page on Facebook, Twitter and with their email contacts.
  • Or ask people to simply forward on your email with the link to your fundraising page.
• Start a Facebook group with a link to your fundraising page.  Invite all your “Facebook friends” and ask 5 “real life friends” to invite everyone they know to your group as well.
• Create a 24 Facebook Awareness Campaign where everyone donates their status message for one day.  Learn how here.
• Get Bloggers involved.  If you know any bloggers ask them to blog about your fundraiser.  Get them involved and they can get others in the blogosphere involved as well.

9. Thank your donors. Make your mom proud by displaying your good manners and thanking the people who have supported your fundraiser.  When you create your fundraising page, you can draft a thank you message that automatically goes out whenever someone makes a donation.  Additionally, you can send a thank you email to each donor individually by logging in to your account and clicking on the “My Donors” tab.  From there you can send personalized thank you emails to your donors.  Thanking each donor individually is an especially good idea if you plan to fundraise again in the future and hope to ask the same people.

10. Have Fun! Last but not least, always remember to have fun.  Fundraising shouldn’t be a chore.  It should be a fun activity.  If you’re having fun with it, your positive energy becomes contagious and will make friends and family want to donate.