If there is anything encouraging that we have seen during the pandemic, it is that many people have been coming together to help out for good causes. It has been over a year since the global battle with COVID-19 began, and yet news reports of fundraisers and donations have not stopped coming up.
Your organization or local community may be looking to start a fundraiser to help out a friend in need, a chosen charity, or even support those who have been severely affected by the virus. However, with the many live fundraisers today, how do you make sure your small fundraiser is noticed?
Digital engagement is a must, especially now, for doing fundraisers. But as the country continues to do wider vaccinations, physical events are also becoming safer to do.
Here are some great ways to hold a good physical and online fundraiser for your cause.
For Your Physically Distanced In-person Event
If in-person events are now allowed in your area, a one-day event can engage the locals in your community. Since safety is still a primary concern, make these two features available for a safe and fun environment.
1. Have a first aid area
A well-equipped and visible first aid area reassures every visitor in your fundraiser that you are holding the event safely and are prepared should anything happen. But don’t just put the area up for show. Make sure that the people manning the booth are qualified to perform first-aid tasks.
You should also have the proper equipment, such as an adequate amount of medicines and bandages. Before the event, shop in bulk for rags, gloves, and other tools that are disposable to avoid contamination, too.
Check with the location of your event to see if they have any particular rules you should comply with when it comes to first aid stations.
2. Play games that allow people to stay apart
You can’t have fundraisers without fun games! Since the people visiting your fundraiser are also there to see and experience the happenings, prepare games that they can enjoy while staying a safe distance from each other.
This sounds like a challenge, but there are actually quite a few activities that you can enjoy together while still physically distancing. It just needs a bit of creativity.
Take the usual musical chairs and obstacle courses, for example. You can play musical chairs by placing the seats in different parts of the game area for an extra challenge to participants. For obstacle courses, they can function much the same way, just with more attention towards the spaces between players’ lanes.
For the Virtual Fundraising Component
The internet can be your most powerful weapon in raising funds for a cause. Have your in-person event work as a supplement to your fundraiser while focusing a lot of your efforts in the online space, especially on social media.
Here are some ideas to make sure people pay attention and donate.
1. Campaign on social media
Statistics show that users in the United States spend around two hours and three minutes on social media daily. Facebook is also the most used social media platform globally. If you want your fundraiser to be noticed by as many people as possible, then the internet is the best place to do that.
There are many approaches to a social media campaign. Still, one simple method is to create a page for your cause and promote it on your personal social media accounts to gain followers organically first and then boost should you need to. Make sure that all details for donations are visible on the page.
Don’t forget to create a catchy and concise hashtag for your fundraiser. This way, you can track all posts related to it and more easily promote across other platforms such as Twitter and Instagram.
2. Do some crowdfunding
Many crowdfunding platforms let people donate to your cause. On these platforms, you can set goals and deadlines that allow people to see your progress before the end of the campaign. For a more creative route, you can crowdfund through sites such as Patreon, in which you have patrons pledging an amount in exchange for creative output.
Make people notice your fundraiser by telling your story in a compelling manner, with a clearly stated goal and vision. Visitors are more likely to support you when they recognize the sincerity of what you are raising money for.
On a final note, while a good amount of strategizing and planning is needed to put up a good fundraiser, what’s most important is that people see the heart of what you’re doing, and they empathize with it.
