Raising money for charity is such a rewarding experience, but it can be challenging even at the best of times. Everyone needs a bit of inspiration to uncover new and wacky ways to raise money for a good cause. Here are some fundraising ideas to raise money online.
Gone are the days of traditional avenues to raise money, like the classic bake sales and washing your neighbor’s car. These days you can fundraise online. Now, that doesn’t mean that it is going to be easy sailing from here – it takes dedication and innovation to raise funds and it all starts with a great fundraising idea.
It’s time to discover your hidden talents, brush off your dusty creative hat, and get going with some ingenious fundraising ideas to raise money online. So how can you get started?
Online Fundraising Websites
Want to empower people to fundraise for your organization hassle-free? Send people to online charity fundraising sites and encourage people to fundraise in their own time. Give them plenty of ideas to get started and help them get set up, but set them free to have fun and fundraise.
A classic tried and tested way to fundraise online is through online fundraising websites like gofundme and Indiegogo. People can fundraise for a trip for a charitable cause or for a specific charity just by uploading a profile and the amount they want to raise.
- The great part about these online websites is that it boosts visibility so anyone can see a request and donate.
- People can write a profile outlining what their cause is, what they are planning to do with the money, and how they will raise it. People can put a little bio about themselves to let people know about the real them.
- Explain how people can use incentives to raise more money online, like once they reach a certain amount of money, they will shave their hair off or not speak for a couple of days! If people get creative they will be rewarded.
- Use your charity’s social media accounts to promote your online fundraisers and thank them for all their hard work.
Interactive Video Fundraising
Thanks to the power of social media fundraising, there has been an influx of viral videos and charity content. Remember the ALS ice bucket challenge? Once someone was nominated to the challenge, they donated to the ALS charity. This was an innovative way to raise money online while raising awareness around the illness.
- You can try and come up with your own challenge that focuses on challenging people and raising awareness.
- The world of social media is a powerful thing so why not use it to fundraise?
- People love sharing videos online – try to add an element of humor to it too.
Personal Fundraising Emails
Emailing people from your own name with a personal touch is a great way to reach a lot of people and fundraise on behalf of a not-for-profit. It shows that the organization has a friendly face.
- People are more likely to donate after receiving a personal email.
- Use people’s data to make sure that you are targeting emails correctly.
- Think about the email sequence and how you can tell a story to raise funds.
Webinars
Raise money through the power of knowledge. If you, or people in your organization, are experts in a certain topic area, then why not use this to fundraise and make some extra money online?
- Webinars can be fun to run and are relatively low cost.
- Promote your webinars to your email list and through your social media channels.
eBooks
If you are a skilled writer then why not spend some time writing your very own charity eBook? You can sell this online to raise awareness and use the profits to raise money for vital projects.
- Write a book that raises awareness about your cause and work.
- If you have a charity blog, then you can use this to promote or sell your ebook. Post previews and excerpts.
- If you are not into the writing scene then you can hire freelance copywriters or authors. Could a celebrity author get involved and contribute with a foreword?
Fundraise With Venmo
Venmo is revolutionizing the way we share and transfer money. So how can you use this to raise money online for your organization?
- Anyone that uses the app is displayed on Twitter, showing that they have used the app recently. One charity decided to write a personalized message to each person asking for a cent to go towards charity. If you want to hear more about how they did it then take a look at this article.
- This is a great example of making online fundraising easy for people.
Open a Charity Store
Go against the traditional forms of fundraising and open an online store to raise money for charity.
- You can sell a variety of things online, like second-hand goods, your own fashion line or handcrafted items that people have made themselves. Personalize your products to make them unique and interesting and the best products are ones that are connected with your charitable cause (like furry animals for an animal charity).
- A quick and easy thing to sell is simple products like mugs and pens branded with your charity’s logo or branding.
- Setting up an online store can be pretty expensive and complicated, and this is the biggest turn-off for most considering this as a fundraising idea. However, there are e-commerce platforms like Shopify that make it easy and inexpensive to start your own online store on your existing charity domain. You can pay only a small fee every month and it gives you the perfect way to easily open a store.
The internet offers the opportunity to reach a wide audience and is the perfect avenue for people to raise money online. Raising money online is a good way to explore new and innovative ways to fundraise and it can be relatively low cost to run.
What ways do you like to fundraise for your charity? Join the conversation in the comments below.
