*MSConcepts.com does NOT partner or have a direct affiliation with the GoFundMe.com platform. There are many others out there, and you can use these steps to help create a successful campaign on any platform! Please do your research before committing to any platform!
GoFundMe is the world’s largest crowdfunding platform, with over $3 billion raised so far. Signing up is completely free and every donation is yours to keep, whether or not you reach your goal. While it’s free to launch your campaign, fees are deducted from each donation.
Before you get started, here is an overview of what to expect when you start a campaign.
Sharing and Managing Your Campaign
- After you have finished creating your campaign (link at the end of this article), it’s time to start sharing with your friends and family!
- Your friends and family can still share your campaign with their extended networks even if they are unable to donate. This can help you gain more exposure and also establish credibility for your campaign.
- Each time you receive a new donation, you will be notified via email so you can thank your donors.
Creating a Campaign Title
Creating a click-worthy campaign title in 30 characters or fewer can seem challenging. Here are 4 tips to help you craft the perfect title:
- Make It Personal
- Keep It Simple
- Proofread
- Excite Your Donors
With these tips, you can create an attention-grabbing title in 30 characters or fewer!
How To Tell Your Story
Here are some tips to help you tell your story so you can be on your way to a successful campaign.
How to tell your story in the campaign description:
- Break it up. Paragraphs and bullet points work wonders when trying to make something easier to read and understand.
- Bold, underline, italicize when you’re trying to drive your most important points home.
- Tell it from the heart. Be honest and direct with your supporters.
- Post pictures and videos. Images help your supporters feel connected to your campaign.
Get to the “WHY.” Let your friends and family know why this cause is so important to you.
- Explain exactly how the money it will be spent and how it will help you.
- Show appreciation. Remember to thank your friends and family for taking the time to read your campaign and support your cause.
- Encourage questions. Let your donors know that you’re happy to answer any questions they might have.
Tips
Running a GoFundMe campaign takes time, effort, and creativity. While you’ve probably done a great job of sharing your campaign link with your social network, here’s a list of 10 out-of-the-box ways to share your campaign. Remember: the success of your campaign will depend on how effectively you share it.
- Create a campaign hashtag. This is a way to build social media awareness around your campaign. Some ideas we’ve loved in the past are #willathewarrior, #reunitethetaylors, and other tags that ignite interest.
- Create a Facebook Event specifically for your campaign. Invite all of your Facebook friends. You can ask people to share photos, videos, memories, and comments there. Be sure to paste your campaign link in the event description!
- Share your campaign on LinkedIn. Make sure to post a professional and creative update when posting on LinkedIn.
- Write your campaign link in an unexpected place. On your car? Chalk it on the sidewalk? Write it on a poster and hold it up at the World Series? The more creative, the better—this is a great way to create excitement around your campaign!
- Reach out to your local media. While sharing with your social network is the most important thing, it can also help to reach out to your local news organizations and blogs to let them know why your campaign would interest the community and their readers!
- Post your campaign on Instagram. The best advice for posting your campaign on Instagram is to post a screenshot of your campaign’s main image when viewing it on a mobile device, and sharing it to your feed with your campaign title, hashtag, and link (in your bio!).
- Add a special perk or reward. Check out this article for some great free rewards you can offer your donors.
- Make a Pin about it. You’ll have to get creative with this one, but posting to Pinterest (and any additional social media outlets) means more clicks to your campaign. Here’s some information on how to post a Pin.
- Create urgency. Kindly challenge your friends to donate by a certain date, creating an incentive to donate sooner, rather than later!
- Team up with a local business. See if they’ll offer a fundraising night for your cause in which they donate a percentage of the proceeds to your campaign. Or, see if a coffee or sandwich shop will temporarily name an item after your campaign! Think “The Daniel’s Dream Deluxe,” or “Cathy’s Battle Cappuccino.” We’ve even seen a great campaign organizer team up with a sock company to offer cozy socks as a reward to all donors! Make sure to thank the business in your campaign Story.
Creating Your Campaign, and last minute advice:
- To get started, just click here to sign up.
- If you’re raising funds for yourself or a friend, you can create a personal campaign. Or, if you’re raising funds for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, you can create a Certified Charity campaign. All funds raised from Certified Charity campaigns are sent directly to the charity and donors receive tax deductible receipts for their donations.
- Don’t forget to customize your campaign link to make it easier to remember! The campaign link is the easiest way for your supporters to locate and donate to your campaign!
Best of Luck!
-The MSC Team
Questions? Comments? We’d Love to hear from you! Click here to contact us!
