Getting more out of Firstgiving
1. Talk about Firstgiving at your board or staff meetings
There's nothing like leading by example. Challenge your staff and board members to set up their own personal fundraising pages and email them to at least ten people each, and give regular updates at every meeting.
2. Add a link to your Premium Start Page on your web site
Your organization's web site is the most important communication vehicle you have. Adding a link to your Firstgiving Start Page shows the importance you place on your online fundraising efforts. Try adding links to your homepage and your "ways to help" section. Here are some great examples:
You can find simple instructions on how to add a Firstgiving badge to your web site at: www.firstgiving.com/Design/1/badges_start.asp
3. Send an email or newsletter introducing Firstgiving
Remember how busy people are. Keep reminding them about your fundraising efforts, starting with an announcement that you're working with Firstgiving. Here's an example you can use or modify:
We are partnering with Firstgiving to help us with our online fundraising programs. Firstgiving is the leading social fundraising platform. Their site gives us the tools and resources to raise more money and reduce our development costs.
Raising money online with a Firstgiving personal fundraising page is simple. You can easily create a personalized fundraising page and email it to everyone you know. With email and Firstgiving, it’s easy to ask lots of people, and collect lots of donations. It’s amazing how simple and effective email can be at reaching old friends and distant family members and turning them into donors.
It’s even easier for people to make secure online donations and leave supportive messages on your page. Firstgiving automatically processes these donations for us, saving you the hassle of collecting and forwarding checks.
To get started, visit our start page, www.firstgiving.com/YOURURL. Setting up a page takes about five minutes. Thank you for making a difference.
4. Encourage your fundraisers to promote their fundraising on their web sites, blogs, Facebook and MySpace pages
Many of your younger supporters have embraced social media sites like Facebook and MySpace. Ask them to spread the word by adding a badge to their MySpace profile, a widget on their blog, or our Fundraising application to Facebook. They can find all this in their Firstgiving account.
5. Add your start page web address to brochures and other printed promotional material
Just because its online fundraising doesn't mean you can't promote it offline. Here’s a great example of a printed piece that encourages people to raise money online http://www.theangelfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/af08-woh-broch_web.pdf.
6. Add your start page web address to your email signature
Think about how many emails you send every day. This way you can give everyone you email the chance to visit your Firstgiving start page. Here’s an example email signature:
Pat Lee, Executive Director
The Example Foundation
(800) 555-1212
plee@example.orgJoin us for the 12th annual walk on Nov 31 – our goal is $50,000
Sign up or donate today at http://www.firstgiving.com/example
7. Keep the momentum going
Once you've asked your supporters to set up fundraising pages, make sure you find out how they're doing and give them encouragement.
- Log in to your Firstgiving nonprofit account and check your reports
- Send thank-you emails to people who have set up pages or donated
- Send gentle reminders to supporters who haven’t created pages
We all know how busy people are, and even those who mean well sometimes need an extra reminder.
Good luck with your fundraising, and remember, you can read our blog or visit our support community for more ideas.
