What We’ve Learned About How to Have a Successful Fundraiser

Fundraisers don’t just raise funds on their own—you need the power of community and some strategic ideas to raise money and awareness successfully. While that may sound daunting, there are many ways to boost the success of your fundraiser that are easy, free, and fun! Fortunately, Custom Ink Fundraising offers several built-in features that make running a fundraiser a breeze at no cost to you, all while providing awesome custom apparel your supporters can cherish afterward. Below we’ve provided some of the best fundraising ideas so that your campaign starts and finishes strongly. 

Write a Shareable Title

By writing a snappy and memorable title, your fundraiser can gain more attention and traction. If it feels right, you can also make it funny. The goal is to have a short, descriptive title that will catch the attention of potential supporters and compel them to share it with others (as well as donate or purchase an item). This can also be a great way to form a hashtag to attach to your social media posts and add to your design, if desired. If you’re not sure where to start, Custom Ink has a wealth of resources to get you started! Check out our charity and fundraiser design templates and other posts on team names. 

Be Brave. Be Specific. 

Potential donors are much more likely to support a fundraiser when they have personal experience or firsthand knowledge of the cause, so be sure to tell the story of why the funds are needed. Perhaps the cause is something you became invested in after a friend or family member was impacted by it or you were impacted yourself. Being specific about how this money will change lives is also essential—explain how mounting medical bills have affected your family or how losing a loved one opened your eyes to a cause that desperately needs more awareness. Being vulnerable can be a powerful way of attracting donors and raising money.

Use Powerful Imagery

Adding visual elements, like photos and videos, to your fundraiser enhances your message because it attaches real people and events to your cause. It can be a photo of a cute animal in need of a home or a video illustrating the message you’re trying to convey. Writing about your cause is incredibly important, but you can heighten the emotional impact with the addition of photos or videos that show who you are and who the fundraiser will support. 

Start With Your Inner Circle

An easy way to get your fundraiser off the ground is to start with seeking support from those closest to you. Whether that’s family, friends, coworkers, classmates, or your book club, these are the people whose donations will have the most impact at the start. It may be more difficult to share your fundraiser with these people in person since the COVID-19 pandemic, so that’s where the shareable title comes in. Sharing your fundraiser with your social media followers and friends is a great way to kick off raising money! Plus, potential donors will be more likely to donate and purchase when the fundraiser is already off the ground. 

Offer a Variety of Product Styles

In case you didn’t know, Custom Ink Fundraising allows you to offer up to 6 items within a fundraiser! We often see people select the default white or grey t-shirts when selecting a product, but we’ve found that fundraisers are much more successful when customers have a variety of styles to choose from. After all, our products are meant to be customized! Take into consideration who you’re wanting to support your fundraiser and what types of styles they might like. It can be incredibly beneficial to offer women’s styles, hoodies, long sleeve shirts, and tank tops in addition to t-shirts. We’ve seen firsthand that this strategy works well to increase sales since it attracts more people. 

Give the Option to Donate in Addition to Purchase

Of course you want people to purchase the cool custom t-shirts you’ve created, but enabling the option of only donating is also helpful. Turning on the “Donation Only” feature within your fundraiser allows people to still support your cause in a more flexible way, especially if they have limited budgets. If you would like help with turning on this feature, feel free to reach out to us here and we’re happy to help!  

Be Strategic With Social Media

Posting your fundraiser to social media is incredibly powerful and important to being successful, but it’s also important not to post too often and saturate your followers’ feeds with the same content. People tend to lose interest if you overshare, so make sure each post is fresh and contains updates about the progress of the campaign to avoid recycling information. Check out this promotional calendar below for some helpful tips on when and what to post! 

You might also consider creating a dedicated group for your fundraiser or cause. People love following causes they care about, so this will provide them with a forum to discuss their thoughts, ideas, and experiences.

Celebrate Milestones and Thank Those Who Helped

Another helpful fundraising tactic is to keep up the momentum by setting milestones and then celebrating them! When you’ve reached specific goals throughout the fundraiser, post about them on social media or send out an email to thank the donors who helped you reach them. This also applies to people you’re working with on the fundraiser. Expressing gratitude and announcing milestones makes for excellent social media post content and keeps everyone up-to-date on how it’s going. 

Utilize Technology

These technology tips below are like the cherry on top of your fundraiser sundae! And they’ll certainly help keep your fundraiser savvy and relevant. 

• • Embed Your Fundraising Page onto Your Website: If you have a website that you’d like to advertise on, we have a widget that can help you embed it! And as you sell products and raise money, the widget will automatically update itself. 
    • In order to embed your widget, go to your fundraising page and click the “Embed” button. 
    • Copy the code in the pop-up and either paste it into your website or blog HTML.
  • Create a QR Code That Links to Your Fundraising Page: A QR code can be a quick and easy way for people to access the information about your fundraiser. Consider putting them on flyers or even the custom t-shirts you design with us! Here’s a website that makes it easy and free. 
  • Use a URL Shortener: Shortening your fundraising website URL can be extremely useful when posting to social media, especially Twitter. It also simplifies URLs and makes them easier to read. Two of the most popular websites for this are Bitly and Ow.ly. 

No matter the cause you’re supporting, these fundraising ideas are sure to help make your fundraiser be the best it can be and raise money to its greatest potential. Custom Ink is here to support you in supporting your cause every step of the way.