Promoting your fundraiser with a widget can really help increase traffic to your page.  What is a widget and how is this magical creature supposed to help your fundraiser?  Good question.  A widget is a little box that you can paste in your blog or website that gives people a sneak peek at your fundraiser.

If you don’t have a blog, ask your friends to post the widget on their blogs or websites.  This is an easy way for them to show you support and help spread the word about your fundraiser.

Actually getting the widget into a blog or website may seem a little scary to those who aren’t very familiar with ‘code’ or the language that tells your computer what the widget should look like, but I promise it isn’t as bad as it seems.  Don’t worry, until I started working with GiveForward widgets and their code kinda scared me too.

So how does it work exactly?  Well first go to a fundraiser page and click on the link that says “Grab this fundraiser’s widget!”.  That link will lead to a window that looks like this:

Once this window opens, copy the code on the right.  Next, go to your blog or website and paste it into your main text entry box.  Once you’ve pasted this code, preview it to ensure it looks correct.

Not sure where your main text entry box is?  Check with your blogging service.  Here are a few links to some of the main blogging services and what they say about adding widgets:

• WordPress
• Blogger
• Tyepad
• Live Journal

If you’re anything like me you are bolting out the door right about now in order to try and get your taxes post-marked by today.

Once the anxiety and adrenaline has subsided I have an idea to make you feel better; take a tip from one of our donors and use the refund you get to make a difference by donating it.

GiveForward has so many amazing fundraisers on our site that could use any extra help, whether $5 or $50.  Need some inspiration?  Head over here and browse some of the extraordinary people raising money for everything from chemo treatments to medical equipment.

Happy tax day!

(Important note: you can’t claim these donations on your taxes but you can claim them for good karma.)

Fundraiser organizers will see new functionality starting this week.  We are excited to share that we are now assigning a personal fundraising coach to each fundraiser started on GiveForward.

What does this mean for users?  It means you get the exact level of personal attention that you want.  Is this your first time fundraising?  Our coaches are

happy to help you figure out the next steps and share their tried and true fundraising tips, just email them at info@giveforward.com or give them a call at 312-957-6113.

Are you an old pro at fundraising and just want someone to call on if you get stuck?  They’re there for that too.

Plus having a personal fundraising coach also means you get a nice glossy photo of your coach with your introductory email.  Always a nice perk.

We hope that you guys enjoy working one-on-one with our coaches as much as they enjoy working with you.

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).

If you want to raise a lot of money for your fundraiser, instead of starting with a large goal like $5,000 or $10,000 it’s better to start with a small goal like $1,000 or $2,000 and then periodically adjust your goal upwards if and when you come close to hitting your fundraising target.

There are a couple reasons for this:

(1) A smaller goal will help you build momentum for your project.

People are more eager to contribute to your fundraiser when they see that you are making progress towards reaching your goal.  For instance, if you set a relatively low goal like $500 even a small number of contributions will affect your percentage raised.  In this example, let’s say you get your parents and your grandparents to each donate $100 on the first day of your fundraiser, you’re already 40% towards your goal before you even start asking other friends and family members.  This will make you look like a fundraising machine and will encourage others to jump on by contributing to your cause.

(2) The second reason starting with a small goal is helpful is because people like to see that their donation is making a difference.

If your goal is $1000, a $25 or $50 donation makes a real difference.  If your Aunt Thelma donates $25 she gets excited because she gets to see that her donation just moved you 2.5% closer to your goal.  On the other hand if you set your goal at $10,000, you might scare off potential donors like Aunt Thelma who might feel like their $25 donations are too small to make much of a difference.

If this strategy has worked for you in the past, we’d love to hear from you.  Comments and questions are always welcome.

Until next time,  Happy fundraising!

- Ethan

The single most important thing you can do to ensure a successful online fundraising campaign is to make sure your first five donors all give big-money donations.

Why is this so critical to your fundraising success? Well, it has to do with something I call the law of monkey see, monkey do.

When people visit your fundraising page, one of the first things they do is check out the donor list to see who has given and what the average donation size is.  Then they donate a similar amount. If they see that most people they know are donating between $50-$100, then they will likely donate between $50-$100 as well. On the other hand, if they check out your donor list and see that most people are donating between $10-$20, then they’ll probably donate between $10-$20 too.

To ensure that your first five donors all give nice big donations, make a list of the top five people you expect will be the most generous donors (e.g. Mom and Dad, Grandma and Gramps, maybe your spouse, a godparent or a close family friend).

Once you pick your “fave five,” ask them in person, call them, or send them an email asking them to donate X amount.  Tell them that you need their help to get the ball rolling and explain to them that if they donate X amount, subsequent donors will be more likely to donate X amount as well.

After your “fave five” have all donated, should you begin contacting your next closest group of friends and family and asking them to donate.  After the people in group # 2 have donated, you can start asking people in your next closest group of friends to donate, and so on and so forth…

Once you have a good number of donations on your page, you can then send the mass email to everyone in your contact book.  By this point, you’ll have a lot of momentum and people will be more inclined to donate.

My sister recently ran a half-marathon and used this exact fundraising strategy to raise $2500 for cancer research.  Before she sent out a single email, she personally asked some of her closest friends and family members to donate $100 each.  After they had all donated, she sent an email out to a second group of friends, but didn’t ask them to donate any specific amount.  Nevertheless, a good majority of them donated $100 as well because everyone else prior to them had already given that amount.  Within a week, and without ever sending out a mass email to everyone in her contact book, she had raised over $1000.  The strategy works really well.  You just have to be a little patient.

I hope this first tip is helpful. Until next week, happy fundraising!

If you’re like me, you probably make a new year’s resolution every year, stick to it for about a month and then slack off or lose interest by the end of January or early February.

So I recently asked my friend who always sticks to his resolutions how he does it.   He said, “I make myself accountable to others.”  This makes perfect sense. Once you are accountable to others you have an obligation to others to stay on track.

One good way to make yourself accountable is to create a new year’s resolution “motivation fund” by asking your friends and family to donate on your behalf to a non-profit that is related to your resolution. For instance, let’s say you are trying to quit smoking. Ask your friends and family to help you raise $1500 for the American Lung Association or some similar non-profit.  Once they have each donated $50 or $100 to your fundraiser, you have an instant support group to help keep you motivated, not to mention an angry lynch mob that will jump on you the minute they find you are cheating.

New year’s is right around the corner and that means it’s time for new year’s resolutions.  Well, this year at GiveForward our new year’s resolution is to help more of our users reach their online fundraising goals.  That’s why we’ve decided to start a new section of our blog called the Fundraising Tip of the Week where, starting in January, we will provide a new fundraising tip or strategy each week to help you become a fundraising rock star.  That’s 52 tips in 52 weeks for the low, low price of FREE!! (1000% lower the newstand cover price)

And while the tips are scheduled to start in 2009, we’re even going to throw in an early sneak preview bonus tip coming out tomorrow…So now you get 53 weeks for the price of none.  Good Deal, right?

Anyway, until tomorrow, here’s wishing you all a grievance-free Festivus!

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