Launch DIY Fundraising In 3 Steps

In peer-to-peer fundraising, individuals or teams will often create pages online, soliciting donations for your cause. These gifts are often tied to an organization-led event, like a virtual benefit, 5k, or golf tournament. Most likely, you are using campaigns on JustGiving to host these events, which run for a pre-established period of time and may have a fundraising goal associated to the overall appeal.

Here is an example of a traditional, event-based campaign with personal fundraising:


About this initiative: You can see that Sam created a personal page to support the virtual benefit’s overall goals. Sam shares a compelling story about personal struggles with stuttering and received 15 gifts from family, friends, coworkers and community members to expand SAY’s mission. This is a perfect example of how friends asking friends for money towards your cause can multiple your dollars raised and brand awareness.

Do-It-Yourself fundraising also involves your supporters soliciting donations on your behalf through their individual pages. Often-times, their pages are independent from a formal event (think: a constituent wants to swim 500 laps and raise $500) but in an effort to maintain some control over the brand or experience, many organizations will use campaigns as the “buckets” for the various types of fundraising. This also allows them to see how much is raised by those audiences easily. There is no one “right way”- it just depends on your purposes.

Here are examples of DIY fundraising pages:




About this initiative: The nonprofit launched a campaign that empowers individuals to customize their message with meaningful virtual experiences, through their “Customizable Campaign”. We see Amy is exchanging her photography skills for donations made directly to the food bank. The Dallas-Fort Worth Muslims created a team to fundraise in the spirit in the spirit of Ramadan. As you can see, these are 2 very different applications of DIY fundraising, but effective and valuable in their own ways!

If you do not want/need a campaign to track the DIY options, you can promote the Start Fundraising button on your organization’s landing page. Read this post to learn about how.



About this initiative: James decided to run a marathon in his back yard. To support missions that are most meaningful to him, in ways that are appealing to him (and in accordance with the Stay At Home ordinance), he streamed lived video through YouTube on his personal fundraising page. Most likely, the nonprofit did not even know he was doing this in advance- He just made he decision to make a difference and in 48 hours, he was off to the races (so to speak)!

By incorporating DIY fundraising with your supporters, you can not only empower them but broaden your horizons to fundraising potential.

Three Steps to Launch DIY on JustGiving

1. Promote “Fundraise Your Way” or “Do-it-Yourself” pages with your supporters.

You may decide to create a “DIY campaign” (of which I recommend you do not create an associated event) or leverage the default Fundraising Page creation experience for supporters through your profile page/charity page. Both are great options and if you do not need to have specific reporting on how much money was raised through DIY fundraising, then it will be fastest and easiest to just use what is already available through your charity page's orange "Fundraise for Us" button.



In the spirit of quick and easy, we are also providing an email template for you to re-purpose.

Pro Tip: As these are informal opportunities, the tone of your email can also be more casual, if that aligns with your brand.

2. Celebrate DIY Impact

Feature personal pages in your monthly newsletter, social media channels and celebrate the impact each individual has. You can leverage Facebook Live to conduct an interview on why someone created a page and what they hope to accomplish. Have a board member call a top performing page owner, thanking the participant for reaching so many. Make sure you highlight the opportunity on your website under “Get Involved” or a slider on the home page.

3. Cultivate Fundraiser Success

It can be very helpful to provide Fundraiser Tools for individuals who sign up. Some organizations will feature these on their website while others will send a personal email after an individual has created a page, sharing an online fundraising guide made of helpful tools and resources. I recommend you provide the following:

• Sample Email that asks for donations from friends and family
• Sample social media posts fundraisers can apply to their personal account(s)
• Fundraising Page Checklist (You can reuse this one!)

Optional:

• Fundraising Dos and Don’ts (this is where you can reinforce your brand preferences, but this can also be a turnoff for some fundraisers)
• Sample images or logos for personal pages

The benefits of individuals advocating and fundraising for your cause is extraordinary. Not only does it help them connect with your mission and feel like a hero, it also allows them to extend your reach, helping you acquire new donors and engage in modern forms of connection. Go ahead, launch your DIY options today!