Fundraising for Teams: Tips for a Successful Fundraiser

Whether your team is comprised of an entire company or a group of four, fundraising with a team is an exciting way to unite for a common goal. The beauty of fundraising with a team is that you can lean on each other for support and share the fundraiser management responsibilities—it’s truly a group effort. This guide covers everything you need to know about fundraising for teams and helping your team reach their fundraising goal.

Start a fundraiser

teams-football-campaign
Women's soccer team posing with their trophy

Build your fundraising team

Anyone you invite can become a member of your fundraising team. Neighbors, co-workers, friends, and family members can all join your crowdfunding efforts in a support role and help rally others around your cause.

  • Assemble your team

    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.

  • Assign team roles

    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.

Three men in suits sitting at a table

Create a game plan

After assembling your team, you can sign up for a GoFundMe account and officially start your team fundraising page.

  • Add a team name and picture

    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.

  • Invite your team members

    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.

  • Prepare your team members for your fundraiser launch

    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?

Two young girls writing in notebooks

Build an engaging team fundraiser page

When people view your fundraiser, you’ll want them to understand right away why your team is raising funds. Apart from having a fundraiser with a clear goal in mind, having a compelling title, story, and visuals are what will draw in potential donors.

  • Write a compelling title

    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.

  • Write a clear and interesting story

    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.

  • Use high-quality images

    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.

  • Create a video

    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.

Group of people posing in front of a football field

Create a sharing strategy

Sharing your fundraiser is one of the most important factors in its success. You’ll need to share your GoFundMe continuously to reach your fundraising goal. Brainstorming with your team to create a sharing strategy is a great way to involve everyone and split up the sharing efforts.

  • Start with your immediate network

    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.

  • Continue sharing with a wider audience

    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.
  • Sharing on social media

    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:

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

  • Other ways to share

    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:

Hands together

How to keep up the momentum

Even the best fundraisers can stall at times, but there are a few actions you can take to help your fundraiser pick up steam again.

  • Plan to post updates regularly

    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.

  • Highlight your team members

    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.

  • Show your impact

    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.

  • Throw a fundraising event

    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.

Four women running a race

Reaching the finish line

You can run your fundraiser as long as you’d like, even if you surpass your original fundraising goal. Once you and your team have decided you’d like to end your fundraiser, there are a few things you’ll want to take care of.

  • Withdrawing the funds

    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.
  • Thank all donors through a final update

    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.

  • End your fundraiser

    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.

Teaming up for successful fundraising

Your team might be helping support you through a crisis or tragedy, or perhaps your team is raising funds for that out-of-state baseball competition. Whatever the cause, a team fundraiser allows you to collaborate with others while raising funds for what matters. And you can feel secure using GoFundMe’s fundraising model, which helps you keep more of the funds you raise. Sign up for your team fundraiser and start raising money today.