Fundraising for Teams: Tips for a Successful Fundraiser

Before building your winning fundraising team, you’ll want to make sure everyone you have in mind will be comfortable being listed as a team member. Once added, team members will have their names and photos listed on your fundraiser.

Do you want all team members to thank their own donors and post updates on the fundraiser? Or do you want the organizer to handle the majority of the communication? Having a plan can help you avoid confusion or mixed messages when fundraising.

Part of the fun of team fundraising is involving your team members whenever possible, as it makes the fundraiser more engaging.

Choose your fundraiser organizer

The fundraiser organizer will create the GoFundMe, edit the main story, invite and remove team members, and set up withdrawals if they choose not to add a beneficiary. The fundraiser organizer is the main point of contact.

Choose your beneficiary

If the fundraiser organizer prefers for someone else to manage the funds, they can send a beneficiary invitation to the person they’d like to handle the funds instead.

Choose your other team members

You’ll want to let everyone know what their roles as team members include. Through GoFundMe team fundraising, team members will be able to do the following:

• Post updates on the fundraiser
• Send thank you notes to donors
• Share the fundraiser
• Send messages to the team

You can unofficially assign team members to different roles, such as social media manager or writer. This ensures the organizer doesn’t have to do all the work.

Donors will be able to assign their donation to the team member of their choice, so it’s easy to keep track of how much of the total amount raised should go to each individual member.

For example, if you’re fundraising for each member of your high school marching band to buy a new uniform, it will be clear to see exactly how much each team member needs to reach their personal goal.

Choose a name that’s easily recognizable by your community. For your team photo, we recommend uploading a team logo or emblem. It can be difficult to see the details in a group photo clearly, so it’s better to place a high-quality photograph of your team members in the fundraiser story. Remember that adding at least five photos will help you raise more money.

You’ll be able to invite team members through your GoFundMe account. You will just need their name and email address, and they’ll receive the invite right away.

Make sure your team members connect their Facebook profile to their team member account so their photo will appear on the fundraiser page. This will make them easily recognizable to potential donors.

After you’ve sent all your invites, make sure you confirm that everyone has accepted them. You’ll also want to ensure you’ve communicated important details to your fundraising team. Do they understand what’s expected of them to help with the fundraiser? Have you given them assignments for sharing, posting updates, and other tasks?

The fundraiser title will prominently appear on social media channels when others share your fundraiser, so it’s important to make it unique, descriptive, and relatively short.

The title “Help Our Running Club” describes who needs help, but it isn’t memorable. “Help Lincoln High Running Club Make It to Finals” is catchier and entices the reader to click your link to find out more.

Need more tips? Check out our blog post on creating the perfect title.

An engaging story can make all the difference in your fundraiser’s success. Below are some pointers to get you started:

• Add an introduction of your team and its members.
• Explain clearly why you’re raising funds.
• Provide a breakdown of how your team plans on using the donations. Including a budget is a great way to show donors how their contributions will help.
• Clarify which individual member is handling the funds on behalf of your team
• Make your story interesting. Donors love to support fundraisers that stand out, are funny when appropriate, or evoke sympathy for a good cause.
• Pay attention to your story’s length. We’ve found that you’ll want to write at least 400 words, as the length of your fundraiser description can influence donations.

Looking for more information on how to craft the perfect story? Read our comprehensive guide on writing a fundraiser story.

The old adage about a picture being worth a thousand words couldn’t be more true when it comes to raising funds online. The right visuals can provide your donors with a deeper understanding of your cause, create more credibility, and help lead to fundraising success.

Keep these tips in mind when choosing your images:

• Avoid using images that are grainy.
• Make sure to use an image that shows your teammates in the story. Photos of people help potential donors connect with your cause.
• Try to use images that convey strong emotions.

For more tips on picking good photos, read How Images Lead to Fundraising Success.

Videos can take your fundraiser to the next level and are powerful fundraising tools. A short video allows people to get even more excited about your fundraiser and cause. Your video doesn’t have to be professionally done—a smartphone will do just fine. Be sure to keep your video under two minutes and include as many team members as possible.

Most of your first donations will come directly from family members or friends, so it’s best for your team to start sharing with their networks first to get support right off the bat. Those first donations will be crucial in establishing your fundraiser’s credibility, as donors are much more likely to give when they see that a fundraiser already has donations.

Approaching people to ask for help can be tough—even people you’re close to. For tips, read our blog post How to Ask for Donations.

Once your GoFundMe has raised five to 10 donations, start looking beyond your immediate network of friends and family members.

• Ask your team members to post on their social media accounts, email their contacts, and text their friends.
• Set tangible team goals. For example, each team member must share with 20 people via email or text, or post on social media twice.
• Ask two or three close friends if they would be willing to share your fundraiser link with their own network of friends and family members.

Using social media to promote your fundraiser is a low-effort method that can yield fantastic results if done consistently and creatively. Here are the main social media platforms where you can start sharing your fundraiser far and wide:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Instagram
• Snapchat
• Pinterest

Try getting creative with how you share your fundraiser on different social media platforms:

• If team members have a strong social media following, ask them to promote the fundraiser. If done correctly, this can turn social media followers into donors.
• Create a hashtag for your fundraiser so that people can follow along.

For more inspiration, read our blog post on fundraising on Facebook, or this post on how to fundraise on Twitter.

While social media can be an incredibly effective way to get more eyes on your fundraiser, it’s certainly not the only way. If you aren’t very active on social media, there are plenty of other ways to promote your cause. Here are just five ways to share without social media:

• Emails
• Text messages
• Word of mouth
• Fundraiser flyers that you post around your community
• Reach out to local media to cover your fundraiser.

Sharing brief updates about every week with interesting content is a powerful way to engage your community, drive traffic to your GoFundMe, and give your team a fun way to participate. Updates also serve as a gentle reminder that your team still needs help.

Updates can include information about finances, or can simply convey gratitude to your supporters. If you need more ideas, learn how to write a fundraising update through our blog post.

A fun way to highlight your team is to have each member post an update to the fundraiser with an “About Me” section. Each individual update can include their photo, fun facts about themselves, and a sentence about why this fundraiser is so important to them. Donors love knowing that their money is helping real people, and getting a little more personal does just that.

Use updates to inform your supporters about how your group is giving back to the community. Will your team volunteer at a local shelter or clean up a local park once your goal is halfway met? Paying it forward in a way that is related to your fundraising goal is a great strategy to encourage more donations.

Fundraising events are a fun way to unite community members while allowing them to forge connections with your teammates in person. Events like potlucks, fundraising happy hours, or auctions help bridge the gap between online and offline sharing.

People are usually more willing to donate when they can meet face-to-face and hear about why a cause means so much to you. Meeting in person also strongly encourages recurring giving.

Need more inspiration? We share our favorite fundraising event ideas in our blog post.

Either the fundraiser organizer can withdraw the money, or they can designate a beneficiary who will be solely responsible for withdrawing the funds from the fundraiser.

Keep these points in mind when adding a beneficiary to your fundraiser:

• This person should be your team’s financial administrator, or the person whose name is listed on the team’s bank account.
• If your team doesn’t have a financial administrator or designated bank account, you can still add a beneficiary—just make sure you define this person’s role in your fundraiser story. By doing this, you’ll avoid any confusion among donors about who is managing the funds.

While thanking your donors should be done throughout the course of the fundraiser, it’s good to write a donation thank you letter again when wrapping up. You can include photos and even a video of your entire team showing their appreciation. Make sure you post the update to your social media channels and email it to your contacts so it’s seen by all of your supporters.

If you’d like to go beyond a simple thank you letter, we’ve put together a list of 20 Affordable Ways to Say Thank You to Donors.

Once you’ve hit your goal, withdrawn your funds, and thanked your donors, it’s time to end your GoFundMe. We recommend turning donations off rather than deactivating the entire fundraiser: This way, visitors can still see the content on your fundraiser.