How to Raise Money for Charity: 5 Quick and Easy Tips

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| 7 min read Fundraising Strategy

Is there a cause that inspires you to give back? Whether you’re passionate about helping refugees, funding cancer research, or fighting poverty and hunger abroad, chances are there’s a charity committed to that cause.

While not everyone can afford to give money to their favorite nonprofit, there are still ways to raise money for charity through different fundraising strategies, whether that’s through online donations or traditional fundraising events like a bake sale.

This charity fundraising guide offers tips on charitable giving so you can support the organizations that mean the most to you and your loved ones, regardless of your financial situation.

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Crowdfunding for a good cause

Traditional in person and peer-to-peer fundraising helps to foster relationship-building, especially in your local community, while online fundraising makes it effortless to spread the word about your cause and reach people around the globe. Some of the most successful charity fundraisers use a combination of fundraising strategies to try and reach as many people as possible.

Crowdfunding allows you to support a charity close to your heart and has become an essential fundraising tool for individuals and small groups. It provides a simple, efficient way to accept any online donations for any amount of money. Many people even turn to crowdfunding to pay for the cost of throwing a big fundraising event like a gala or a dinner party as it helps to raise awareness about a cause and increase overall donations.

5 strategies for charity crowdfunding success

If you’re searching for ways to take your fundraising campaign to the next level, this guide can help. From grassroots volunteering to social media competitions, find charity fundraising ideas for any cause that can help you increase donations and raise money for for your chosen cause.

How to Raise Money for Charities

1. Talk to the nonprofit you’re raising funds for

While people can absolutely raise money for nonprofit organizations without contacting them, it’s best to reach out before getting started. This will help you follow any specific fundraising rules outlined by the nonprofit in case it is strict about the sources they accept charity funds from. It will also ensure that you’re fundraising for the correct division of the charity as a single nonprofit can have dozens of individual chapters, each with a unique tax number.

When you contact the nonprofit you’re helping, be sure to:

  • Ask if they have any upcoming events, sponsorship opportunities or partnership events you could take part in with other supporters.
  • Ask for any tips they might be able to share about getting your fundraising page noticed and how to reach new donors.
  • Ask if they have any swag you’d be able to use to promote your cause to potential donors, such as keychains, bumper stickers, and pens.

2. Host your own fundraising event

From walk-a-thons to good old car washes, there’s no shortage of fundraising event ideas you can look through to find the best fundraising activity for you. You can turn almost any event into an opportunity to raise money for a good cause—it just requires a bit of planning and ingenuity.

Fundraising events are a fantastic opportunity to build relationships with your local community, too. The more your volunteers and supporters enjoy what they’re doing, the more likely they are to keep supporting your fundraising efforts for your chosen cause, and bring people with them when they do.

Keep these tips in mind when planning your fundraising event:

  • To avoid stress and burnout, round up others who share a passion for your cause and ask them if they’d be interested in helping you out.
  • It costs a bit of money upfront to host any kind of event, but planning an event on a budget is still possible. Try asking local businesses to donate food for a games night or prizes for a raffle or a silent auction.
  • Ask a restaurant or other business for an in-kind donation by letting you host a fundraising event you want to throw in exchange for the customers you’ll bring in to their business, or if a venue is hard to find, set up a games day in a local park.
  • Think about ways to increase even small donations at your event. You could charge a small entry fee to your games night or karaoke night, charge for raffle tickets, or sell event t-shirts.
  • Using social media to promote your fundraiser can drum up support for your cause and encourage others to get involved. You can even livestream your event on social media for those who can’t attend in person, which will also help drive people to your donation page online.

3. Get a little help from your friends

When you’re fundraising, you’ll often have supporters ask how they can help beyond making donations. The perfect reply? Ask them to volunteer their time.

If a volunteer is a fantastic baker, ask them to bake items you can sell, perhaps at a lunch or dinner event. Can an artist donate work you can sell at a gallery event? If you’re raising money for a sports team, can the coach and players host an afternoon sports camp as a fundraiser? There are endless ways for volunteers to utilize their skills and bring in money for your charity.

Another way people can contribute is by sharing fundraising responsibilities. Our team fundraising feature makes it simple for people to chip in and help manage any charity fundraiser, whether that means reaching out to and thanking major donors or sending out updates from the charity’s board members on the progress of a project.

For more information on team fundraising, see our blog post Fundraising for Teams: Tips for a Successful Fundraiser.

4. Empower others to do their own outreach

You can increase your fundraiser’s reach exponentially by asking friends and family to share your fundraising page with their friends, family and colleagues. Try using one of these fundraising email templates to reach your goal faster and make it as effortless as possible for others to ask for support.

Another approach is to craft the perfect public Facebook post about your fundraiser, then tag a few contacts and ask them to share the post. Try to include compelling pictures and videos to get people to stop scrolling and pay attention to your message.

5. Sharpen your strategizing skills

We want to help you reach your fundraising goals, and we offer fundraising tips on our blog to make it easy for you to organize nonprofit fundraising events, matching gifts with companies, and find and help charity beneficiaries. If you’re eager to learn more about how to raise money for charity, here are a few of our favorite posts:

Support your favorite charity today

Nonprofits do an incredible amount of good, but they also need help to continue their mission. GoFundMe makes charity fundraising easy, and our fundraising platform allows you to keep more of your donations. Check out honest testimonials from users on the GoFundMe reviews page.

We hope this charity fundraising guide has helped you understand how to raise funds for charity and rally your community around your cause. To make an even bigger impact, start a fundraiser for your favorite nonprofit today.

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Written by GoFundMe