Planning a fundraising campaign? Make sure it's a success!

We've written an article to shed some light on what makes a great charity appeal. Follow these 5 top tips to encourage your supporters to donate and feel a part of something bigger.

1) Clear message and purpose

When wanting to connect with your audience and potential donors, it is essential to make your messaging on who you are and what your fundraising purpose is as clear as possible!

Your loyal supporters will have their own personal reasons for investing their money and time with you. However, a great charity campaign is one that appeals to supporters, old and new. After all, if a charity doesn’t acquire more supporters, how can they attract new funds to help them sustain their activities? So, you need to present a clear case for support and make it relevant, relatable, and re-tellable.

Be appealing in every sense of the word and make it easy for people who don’t know you to be able to communicate what it is that you want to do.

2) Easy and clear communication with your donors

Ditch the jargon! Use normal language and say things that an ordinary person would be expected to understand in a tone they recognise. Be careful not to patronise and tell them that supporting you will be a good thing for them to do. Paint a picture of inspiration, but in plain English!

3) Make donations relatable

It is important for donors to understand the impact their donation makes in order to go forward with the process; explaining the impact of a donation makes your call to action more powerful. For example saying that a single donation of £32.90 will cover the costs of bereavement for an individual for one hour a week or a monthly donation of £15.60 will help towards providing healthy and nutritious homecooked meals for patients in a care home has a lot more of an impact than ‘please give generously’.

People buy into a transaction and go away knowing where their kindness has been invested. Provide a variety of choices may including a desirable minimum donation, one that is slightly above your expected average and then an aspirational one plus the option of another covers all bases. The odd amounts that are not rounded up do feel authentic and fundraisers do see specific amounts coming in.

4) Simple ways to donate

You have won their hearts and minds, educated them on where their gift will go, now…make sure it’s easy for them to give or more likely give online. We don’t want all that hard work to fall at the final post because the ways to give are cumbersome and tricky to navigate. All fired up, those kind hearts will consider going elsewhere if you haven’t got your payment portals in place.

5) Thank you’s and follow ups

People love to be appreciated. Charities must acknowledge gifts, or it is certainly good practice, make sure that the thank you contains real gratitude rather than resembling a financial receipt. See if you can get a fundraiser to write your response and not someone in the finance team who may be more used to writing business sign offs.

Think warm and fuzzy and reminiscent of the feeling that person had when they decided to give. Replicate the emotion of doing a good thing and you will keep this support and build upon it.

As for follow ups, record, remember and re-engage. Keep excellent records of your donors and their journeys. Update your CRM and plan to get back in touch next time you re-run your brilliant campaign.

These are the bare bones of 5 ways to boost your campaign planning, now think how you can add some meat to them, tailored specifically to your cause. Good luck, have fun, spread the joy of giving!