*Update!  Congratulations to Ramon Castillo who won $500 for have nearly 250 donors in 10 days!  His story is truly an inspiration.  On December 20th, he returned to the jewelry store owned by his family to find his wife being robbed at gunpoint.  His bravery nearly cost him his life, landing Ramon in critical condition.  His friends and family have now raised over $18,000 to help with all of the costs associated with his recovery.  You can help this Houston Hero by donating here.

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Finally. A way for the holidays to bring out everyone’s competitive side.  And you won’t even have to fight angry crowds of holiday shoppers to participate in this amazing contest!

For the last 10 days of 2010, (December 22^nd through December 31^st) fundraisers on GiveForward can compete to win an extra $500 for their cause!

The fundraiser that has the highest number of donations received between December 22^nd and December 31^st will win $500 towards their fundraising efforts!  Easiest contest requirements ever, huh? It doesn’t matter if your fundraiser is just starting out or in its last few weeks; anyone can participate and anyone can win!

We’ll keep you updated on the standings to see who’s in the lead.  By the time 2011 is here, we’ll be making a $500 donation to the winner’s fundraising page- what a way to ring in the New Year!

Questions? Comments? Just want to spread some holiday cheer in our general direction?  Contact us anytime at info@giveforward.com

Happy Fundraising,

The very merry GiveForward Team

Hint: This works as a great icebreaker at holiday parties when you are stuck talking to your long lost cousin-in-law [once removed] and you’ve hit that awkward silence way too early.

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!