Tips

Successful fundraising campaigns involve many hours of thought, planning, and execution of those plans. Following are some tips on how to run a successful fundraising campaign...

• Invest your time wisely. 
• Give yourself a very specific goal not only for the amount you hope to raise, but for the timeline in which you'd like to achieve that goal. 
• Spend your time talking about the mission, emailing, making pitches, posting on social media and blogging. Do this daily.
• Build your targeted audience. Before you even send that first email out, create a list of potential donors (individuals and institutions). Begin talking with them about the mission and the fundraising campaign. Ask them if they would be willing to partner.
• Build a campaign team. Find a small group of friends, family, neighbors or co-workers who will back your campaign and work with you to achieve your goals. Just as someone who is running for political office has a campaign team, you can have a team helping send out communication, creating ads, posting on social media, etc.
• Make a video. YouTube is free so use it. Seek the help of someone you know who can produce a high quality video for your campaign. Speak clearly, letting your audience know about the mission of your nonprofit and your personal goal.
• Have a goal. Be creative. Tell everyone you hope to be the top fundraiser nationally or that your goal is to be the top fundraising participant in your nonprofit of all time! Write your goal on your Facebook page or blog and on your fundraising web page: "$3,000 in 30 days" or "$5,000 in 5 weeks" or "$50,000 in 50 days", etc. Make your goal and mission known right away and give the audience a limited time to get this done. With a sense of urgency, they will donate!
• Start a blog. And create a Facebook fanpage and twitter account specifically for this campaign. Have someone on your campaign team help out as an administrator. Post weekly or even daily on your blog with updates. Get the audience to interact with you, posting comments on photos or stories. Stir their hearts for the mission while you fundraise.
• Seek corporate sponsors and large backers before you launch! Find a corporation willing to sponsor your entire fundraising campaign. Place their company logo on your blog and other social media sites. Place their logo on your emails/letters and any printed materials you send out. Mention them on your YouTube video. Get those sponsorships before you even launch your fundraising site for the public.
• Offer incentives to donors. Small rewards are all that are necessary. These "prizes" serve as a token of appreciation. Think about ordering in bulk. Get a T-shirt or hat made for your campaign. Or have a keyring or pens made that say "Proud Sponsor Of ___".
• Brand yourself. Design a logo for yourself and place it all over your websites/social media, shirts, hats, car decals, etc. (for example, "Marathon Mary" or "Miracle Matt").
• Create some serious buzz. Get people excited about this campaign. Have them turn their profile picture red (or whatever color your cause is) for you. Have them follow you on twitter and get their friends to follow you too. Be fun, funny, and interact with your audience so that they really enjoy this campaign and feel very much a part of it.