If you nurture it well, you will come out on top. Your first few campaigns may feel like a grind, but each success and experience layers on the other and it only gets better as you continue to build trust, maintain, and grow relationships with your donors turning them into your support base for the long term.
It takes grit, proper planning, a clear strategy, dogged implementation, keeping your eyes on the prize from start to finish, maintaining transparency, and nurturing your donors. Fundraising is an ongoing process that requires effort.
Yes! You can run a successful campaign and hit your target!
You can also partner with FundACause to publish your success story which can be published on the FundACause Blog and shared across all social media handles further amplifying your achievement and inspiring others.
Publish the content on all the channels you used while trying to raise the funds. Even those who did not donate but saw your posts will give you a nod, and take note of your integrity, transparency, and accountability. Who knows, you may have won secret donors waiting to support your next campaign.
No success is too small to celebrate. You can make a short video or write an article talking about your motivation at the start, what your cause was about, what kept you going, any challenges and how you overcame them, your incredible donors, the project execution and how the funds were judiciously utilised.
4. Publish your success story
This way, you inspire others, attract positive curiosity to your cause that can generate donations to future projects, and keep your donors feeling great whenever they see the success story, they were a part of.
You may wish to leave your campaign public by extending the end date from your campaign dashboard using the ‘Edit Campaign’ feature until your next project is out.
This will further reinforce your commitment to integrity and accountability. Nurturing your relationship with your donors will make them feel like your partners and they will be more likely to support your subsequent projects.
Remember that once the end date is reached, the campaign will no longer be available for donations or visible to the public, so you need to maintain the connection with your donors.
As the campaign winds down and you are about to reach your target or surpass your target, do not lose the momentum. Keep celebrating your wins alongside major milestones or success stories with your donors. Show the concrete difference their contributions made.
3. Done with your fundraising? Celebrate your wins with your donors
Metrics on the number of donors, frequency of shares, number of followers, percentage raised, and total amount raised versus target amount are all visible to the public so that there are no disparities with your personalised updates.
Transparency is key to the success of any campaign. Make your campaign donor-centered and see them back you up. On FundACause, you can easily demonstrate integrity and transparency using the ‘Donations log’ that highlights every donation for accountability even the ones made anonymously.
Beyond the customised ‘Thank You’ email they receive, provide donors with exclusive updates on the progress of your campaign using the “Send Donor Update” feature on your campaign dashboard.
As the funds begin to roll in, you need to keep up with your metrics and know when to re-strategise if needed. Go out of your way to thank your donors personally and quickly.
2. Closely monitor your campaign progress & carry donors along
Remember that donors can only act if they are aware of your cause and have access to the campaign link.
Your campaign link can be shared on any social media channel and even as an official letter to target organisations. Be ingenious, creative, and ask for ideas and opportunities to spread the word. Where possible, leverage friends and family with a high social media following.
Don’t be afraid to talk about it anywhere and at any time, remember your donors are everywhere.
1. Make some noise
Let’s dive into the Final Part of this Series that speaks to how you can reach your fundraising target with ease.
Awesome! Your campaign is published and visible to the public and you have a unique donation link to share with anyone anywhere in the world. Now, it is time to aggressively implement and follow through on the ‘workable plan’ you developed in Part 1.
By Debbie Wale-Temowo
(Final Series of ‘How to Raise Funds Successfully’)
