If you have a charity you’re passionate about, you’ll want to raise money for it. That is great! But where do you start and how do you go about doing this? One of the most effective ways to raise money is with an online fundraising campaign. If you’ve never launched an online fundraising campaign you may be a bit intimidated. But if you do your background work first, it is not hard at all. Here are 12 things you should take care of when launching your first online fundraising campaign.

You Have to Have a Plan

Like all things online fundraising takes planning. You have to know how much you want to raise and how you will go about it.

  • Write out a plan. Make it clear and concise. This will be what you share with your fund raisers and your donors.
  • Know how much you want to raise. No fundraiser is open ended so have a concrete goal in mind.
  • Use people’s emotions to your advantage. What this means is use emotionally compelling stories of how your charity will help people, and real stories of how it has helped people in the past.
  • Dream big, really big. Just because your charity may be small doesn’t mean you can’t raise a large amount of money.

Spread the Word about Your Online Fundraiser

Get people excited about your fundraiser. Have the local news cover it, and if you can get regional coverage as well. Announce it on your social media accounts and make a big deal out of it on your website.

  • Enlist the help of your team by asking them to spread the word.
  • Use your social media accounts on Facebook and Twitter to create a buzz before your fundraiser starts.
  • Send out emails to everyone asking for their support.
  • Use videos on your website and on YouTube to get people excited about your fundraiser. Encourage viewers to share your message.

Keep the Momentum Going

Now that you have your planning stage finished, it’s time to raise some money.

  • Keep the buzz going by sharing your goals and how close you are to meeting them. Sometimes people will donate more if they know how close or far away you are from your goal.
  • Create challenges. Break up the amount of money you want to get into smaller increments. This creates a sense of urgency and gets people excited when you meet these smaller goals.
  • Have a central website that people can go to in order to not only donate, but find out about your charity. Make the donation process easy and secure.
  • Use outposts like social media sites, emails, and blogs to drive people to your main website.

An online fundraiser is an effective way for a charity of any size to raise money for their cause. If you lay the groundwork with proper planning and implementation, you will reach your goal. Get people excited about donating and then cultivate a relationship with them. This will keep the donations coming in, and recruit more people to help you in your next online fundraising effort.