Seven Fundraising Ideas for Social Media to Boost Donations

Online fundraising trends show that social media is one of your greatest tools when it comes to running a successful fundraiser. For example, at least 15% of donations for individual or family fundraisers are made as a result of simply sharing on Facebook, according to Nonprofit Source. Make your online fundraiser a hit and support your beneficiary and their family with these fundraising ideas for social media, all while inspiring your online audience to donate.

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Using social media for fundraising: Six ideas

Fundraising as an individual might seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. Follow the social media fundraiser tips below, and see how easy it is to spread awareness about your fundraiser and raise more money—all while having fun in the process

1. Hop on trending hashtags

No social media fundraiser is complete without trending hashtags, and adding popular hashtags to your social media posts is an easy way to raise awareness for your fundraiser. Sharing relevant and inspirational quotes for #MondayMotivation, or old pictures for #ThrowbackThursday while adding your fundraiser link is great for your exposure and content strategy. On Instagram, each post can have up to 30 hashtags—included at the end of the caption, or as the first comment.

2. Collect photo submissions

You can get your followers involved in your social media fundraising strategy by collecting photo submissions. This top fundraising tip is a great way to grow your online channels, and if you feature your followers’ content, they will be more likely to share yours. That means more followers for you, which in turn means more eyes on your fundraiser. To persuade others to donate to your fundraiser, you can ask people who submit photos to include a blurb about why it’s important to give back.

3. Create your own fundraiser hashtag

Creating a unique fundraiser hashtag is an excellent way to spread the word about your cause, and can even help your fundraiser go viral. Keep your hashtag short, and do some research beforehand to make sure it’s not already in use. Include your hashtag with every post about your fundraiser, and add in a call to action encouraging other people to share your post using your hashtag.

4. Choose a theme for your profile

If your organization or nonprofit is looking to spice things up on social media, try a unique fundraising idea like creating a social media theme. Among the top fundraising ideas for social media, this strategy can work on any social media platform, yet performs best on Instagram. Whether you post pictures with an overlay of your brand’s color, or only cute pictures of your shelter animals, social media themes will help keep your content brand-aligned and recognizable. Keep each photo that you share relevant to your fundraiser, and remember to always link back to your fundraiser page in your bio.

5. Show up on video

It’s no secret that a fundraising video is a powerful tool to help increase donations. Videos make it easy for potential donors to quickly connect to you and your cause, making it more likely that they will donate. Most major social media platforms—like Facebook and Instagram—support video, making it easier than ever to personally connect with your donors. Regularly talk about your fundraiser on Instagram and Facebook stories, and consider using the live feature to have a real-time conversation with your audience about your fundraising efforts.

6. Reach out personally 

There’s no substitute for reaching out and connecting with any type of donor individually, whether a relative or someone from the community who shares your same interests. You can even shorten fundraising email templates to use as inspiration for sending direct messages through social media.  

Use social media to drive donations

Now that you have a few fundraising ideas for social media to jumpstart your crowdfunding efforts, you’re on your way to hosting a successful fundraiser. For more ways to share your fundraiser without using social media, read Online Fundraising Without Social Media. Start your fundraiser today.

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