Birthday fundraiser: Complete planning guide
Birthday fundraisers are a fantastic way to raise money for charity. Take the guesswork out of present-giving for your loved ones and encourage them to donate to a cause that’s near and dear to your heart. Alternatively, celebrate a loved one by setting up a fundraiser in honour of their birthday.
Fundraising appeals run for a set period of time, and birthdays make a great end date for any appeal. In this guide, we’ll go over how to set up a birthday fundraiser, the best ways to reach out, and how to maximise donations. Many of the same principles apply to other meaningful dates in your life, such as anniversaries and memorials.
On GoFundMe, we often see people tap into special occasions to give their crowdfunding efforts a big push on their special day.
A successful birthday fundraiser
Erica Flament started a GoFundMe fundraising page for her friend’s daughter Maddie, who was battling leukaemia. Erica raised over £8,000 – and £1,000 of that was raised in the space of just one day: Maddie’s birthday. This is how she did it.
For Maddie’s sixth birthday, Erica asked friends and family to each donate £6 to help Maddie beat cancer. She sent out a request on Facebook, asking friends to donate and share. News of the birthday fundraiser spread, and more than 85 people donated. A lot of the donations were for the requested £6, but the majority were for £16, £26, £56 and even £106.
To raise as much as possible, Erica didn’t send just one Facebook message in the hope that everyone would remember to donate. She also sent reminder emails as the date approached and asked people to share the news with their friends.
You can take the same approach around a birthday or any other significant date related to your fundraiser – whether it’s for a personal, medical or charitable cause. As well as special dates in your own life, you can also tie your fundraiser into public dates, such as Giving Tuesday or awareness fundraisers, such as Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
Raising funds around a birthday or another key date creates a natural deadline that can compel people to donate. It also gives you a genuine opportunity to gently remind people to make a donation by that date.
Birthday charity fundraising ideas
Boost your birthday fundraiser with some creative fundraising ideas:
- Turn your birthday party into a fundraiser with donations at the door and donation buckets/QR codes inside.
- Birthdays aren’t complete without a cake. Consider a bake sale or a fun bake-off competition to raise more funds.
- Dry January is always popular. You could give something up for your birthday month, perhaps abstaining from alcohol until your birthday bash.
- Is your birthday in October? You could train for the Dublin marathon to help raise awareness for your fundraiser.
- If you’re raising money for a charity addressing homelessness like Focus Ireland, you could organise a sleep out for your birthday eve.
- Love to game? Why not raise some money with a birthday gaming marathon and stream it on Twitch or YouTube?
- Football fundraising ideas are always popular, from hosting your own match to hosting a football-themed quiz.
- Instead of asking for presents, ask your friends and family to offer up skills/crafts that you can auction off to raise money.
For more ideas, see our creative suggestions to help you raise money.
More tips for special-event fundraising
Make the birthday or other key date the fundraiser deadline
With any fundraiser, you set a deadline for meeting your fundraising goal. With a birthday fundraiser, you can make the birthday (or maybe the day after) the deadline. The countdown to a deadline can create a sense of urgency and make donors respond more quickly. If you’re doing a fundraiser that’s also connected to an existing national awareness campaign, such as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, think about making your deadline the same as that one and using the birthday or other special date as a call to action, as Erica Flament did.
Tell your story
Birthdays and other special dates create a natural storytelling opportunity, and telling your story is key to raising funds. With a fundraiser, your story needs to answer basic questions such as who, what, where, when, why and how. What will the funds be used for? What’s your connection to the cause? How will the donations help you or others? When it comes to fundraising, the why is particularly important; i.e. why does the recipient need this donation?
Crafting a compelling story about your cause and why it’s important to you can help your fundraiser reach more people and inspire greater support. Here are some templates to help:
Birthday fundraiser email template
Dear [insert name],
This year, all I want for my birthday is to help [insert charity/cause you’re fundraising for]. This cause is important to me because [insert a personal story/reasons that will appeal to the reader’s emotions].
My goal is to raise [insert € amount] by [insert birthday or other date], which will [insert tangible impact of the donations].
To donate, simply follow the link to my fundraiser below:
[link to fundraiser]
I would also really appreciate it if you could share my fundraiser link on social media.
With love/Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Contact info]
Birthday fundraiser SMS template
Hi [name]! This year, for my birthday, I’m asking for donations to support [insert charity/cause]. Follow this [link] to learn more and help me reach my goal.
Note: consider adjusting the text with emojis or other ‘text-speak’ if it suits your usual style. You want to make sure the text feels like it’s coming directly from you.
Birthday fundraiser Instagram template
Hi everyone! My birthday is coming up on [birthday date], and I’m hoping to raise money for [insert charity/cause]. This cause is important to me because [insert a personal story/reasons that will appeal to the reader’s emotions].
Check my stories or follow the link in my bio to learn more and donate!
I would also really appreciate it if you shared this post to help me reach more people!
Note: Links can’t be inserted into Instagram posts. Instead, you can include links in your bio or add the link sticker to any of your stories.
For more tips on how to tell your crowdfunding story to raise more money, see our posts, great ideas for naming your online fundraiser, how images can lead to fundraiser success, and The Power of Video.
Use social media to spread the word
To get the most out of your birthday fundraiser, combine your special-occasion-based fundraising approach with social media tools. For ideas, see our guide to using social media to promote your fundraiser.
Host an offline fundraising event, such as a birthday party
Fundraising events serve several purposes – they help you raise money for your cause, get people together for a common purpose and raise awareness about your cause in unique ways.
For event ideas, see our post Top 10 Fundraising Event Ideas.
Make the most of GoFundMe’s resources
We’ve put together a comprehensive set of fundraising tips, success stories and lots of other resources, including the following posts to mention but a few: viral fundraising and online fundraising tools you need to revamp your efforts.
Let’s make a date
The beauty of fundraisers is the act of people coming together to reach a common goal. What better way to bring people together than on a birthday or another special occasion? With the ideas we’ve outlined here and the resources we’ve provided, your birthday crowdfunding fundraiser should be extra special! Get the party started by starting your fundraiser.