How to Market Virtual Fundraiser: 9 Weirdly Simple Tips

You’ve created an online fundraiser. But not reaching the expected donations.

Sounds familiar?

If it does, you are not the only one suffering. Hundreds of individuals and non-profits fail to achieve expected donations. 

Most of the time, the problem is not knowing how to market virtual fundraisers.

Searching for virtual fundraising ideas and inspirations may lure you into unimaginable troubles. You can find some solutions too. But there is no outcome.

You know what?
We have gone through the same problem. And found some fixes.

I am here to show you the 9 simplest ways to reach your potential donors and bring bucks for your cause.

What is a virtual fundraiser?

Remember the time COVID-19 dimmed the bustling motion of your life? The world came to a standstill. Human interactions were restricted. Social distancing was a real thing. As a result, your nonprofit organization was struggling to collect money due to related restrictions. It was painful.

It’s always been a customary notion to launch fundraisers in person. And It’s not always the best in every case. Sometimes, the most feasible way to raise money is through online fundraisers.

Virtual fundraisers are events held online instead of in-person gatherings. You create an event online. Reach your targeted audiences. State your cause. And collect donations. It’s that simple.

Why create a virtual fundraiser?

What goes through your mind when you think about fundraising for your purpose? The cost or the money security? Fundraising event management or where to promote?

An online fundraiser eases the massive workload. The benefits of online fundraisers are –

• Less expensive.
• Easy to manage.
• Secured payments.
• Huge room for promotion.

Don’t need a physical place to launch a virtual fundraiser. You only need a webpage or social media platform, and a steady internet connection to launch a virtual event. And with integrated secured portals, people can send money without worrying about any financial scams they may face.

Also, virtual fundraisers break down the bitter international barriers. You are not bound to any specific region. Instead, people all over the world can contribute. Additionally, It’s easy to check up on your donors online. Send a follow-up email to know about their opinions. 

3 simple steps to create a virtual fundraiser

Getting frustrated while creating a fundraising event is the worst thing that can happen. You need the energy to boost the audience. And put enough effort into reaching potential donors. Not into creating the event itself.

Although you can launch an online fundraiser in many ways, there’s always a common pattern to follow. And I am going to show you the three easiest steps to launch a virtual fundraiser:

Step 1: Create a delicious donation page

Step 2: Add a compelling donation form

Step 3: Aim for social media fundraising

Step 1: Create a delicious donation page

This is your pitching event. Create a landing page on your existing website. Or create a dedicated donation website. 

What is a donation webpage?

A donation webpage is a place to showcase your prime mover. Additionally, you need to include all the information about the fundraising event. State your motivation on the webpage. 

We, humans, don’t like hollow purposes. 

We prioritize the beliefs behind our actions. For what reason are you collecting the money and what are you going to do with it? What purpose does it serve in comparison to other virtual fundraising events? Explain everything on the page.

Step 2: Add a compelling donation form

Think about the last time you went to a fundraising event. What went through your mind? What caught your eye?

One thing that certainly made you look twice was the donation form. The majestic pages contain all those blank boxes to fill. Because donation forms are the place where donors put their credentials and the amount of money they are going to donate.

When you are holding an offline fundraising event, it’s essential to make your donors feel at home. You can do it with selective fragrances, drinks, and attires. But that’s not the scenario for online fundraisers. 

Let me make it sound more obvious. 

Your donation form is the place where donors need to feel at home. This is the place where they need to feel welcomed. You can achieve it by making the process easier. Donors don’t want to get stuck on a clunky donation form, not knowing what to do next. This is the greatest fundraising turn-off.

Read this blog to know an effortless way to add donation forms to your fundraising site.

Step 3: Aim for social media fundraising

Name one place where people are active and unyielding. Don’t think of any physical place. Tell me if I am wrong, the place is social media.

This is a place people tend to spend a huge amount of time. Check your screen time on your device. Don’t be surprised if social media apps occupy the largest part. This is the new norm now.

That’s why, shoot for social media platforms when collecting donations. Nonprofit organizations are leaning towards social media usage for fundraising. With updated user interfaces, it’s pretty easy to set up a donation on popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and so on.

Therefore, why not use an active platform jam-packed with potential donors?

How to market virtual fundraisers

As you are reading this, I am sure you’ve gone through the hassles of generating virtual fundraising ideas for nonprofits. Or say, you are running your social media fundraiser as an individual.

This is a time-consuming procedure, and you want the best outcome. But you are stuck in the vicious circle of low engagement. Which leads to low donations. Let me tell you something. The magic is in showcasing the event. I have shown you how to do a virtual fundraiser. 

Now let me guide you to fundraiser marketing.

1. Market virtual fundraisers by creating tempting videos

Have you ever thought about how videos can be a decisive factor?

Think about the last thing you enjoyed on your device. Chances are, two of the three were videos. Videos are on the rise because we like the content. And we want to consume them as easily as possible. Videos help us with that.

Informative, harmonically narrated, and visually pleasing videos can hold our attention more than any other format right now. Use this to promote your issues. Boost your creative fundraising ideas through compelling, informative videos.

And add these videos to your donation page as well as your social media campaigns.

2. Use the soaring influencer market

Let’s summon the elephant in the room. You are probably tired of influencers. Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn are crowded with them. Not only that but also the huge awkward fanbase they get. You are probably fed up.

I can, however, tell you one thing. Influencers do sell. Do you know why?

Because they are regular human beings like you and me who have plenty of followers on social media. They have insecurities. They have their flaws. As a result, people can relate to them easily. This is what you want. We want people to identify with your cause.

Engaging with influencers can increase your potential leads and bring new donors to your fundraiser. Find influencers with a decent follower base. Send out customized emails or messages to them. If possible, meet them. Pitch them your ideas.

3. Send personalized emails to your leads

Sending emails in this modern and fast world may seem like a setback. But this isn’t true.

Engaging and captivating emails and newsletters are still the number-one lead generators for businesses. Giant companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Meta send out emails to their users. Why?

Because this is a proven strategy. If you have certain followers or subscribers, list their emails. And write engaging, inspiring emails to the people on your email list. Write them about your intentions. Sell them your stories. At the same time, tell them about your struggle and how you manage everything for a single cause.

Invite them over for a virtual meeting if possible. People love a struggling altruist.

4. Create enchanting social media campaigns

Think about the greatest arsenal of social media. Undoubtedly, it’s human interaction.

There’s a saying: Where there’s friction, there is value.

Social media are booming platforms for prejudiced people. Think about the last time you posted something on social media. And someone said something in reply. Thus, the conversation went to a different level. This is the actual power of popular social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Reddit, and so on.

Promote your fundraiser on Facebook. Make posts with enticing captions. Upload photos and videos. Let people know about your doings. Tell them how you are doing it. Let them discuss. On the plus side, you can also create fundraisers on Facebook itself.

5. Send out engaging press releases

Do you know that freelancer journalists and blog publishers are your closest friends?

You need your potential audiences to know about your fundraisers. And you should reach them in every way possible. Some people read online newspapers and blog posts regularly. Your potential donors may fall into these categories. You need them to know about the event.

Write formal and semi-formal press releases. Defining your virtual fundraising events in the notes. Write about the programs and seminars you are going to hold online. Then hand those notes over to journalists and press publishers.

Publishing press releases also help in the SEO category. Most of the time, publishers tend to optimize their content for search engines like Google. They do that for their own benefit.

6. Don’t forget about your local donors

When you work online, you are about to interpret the whole world as your audience. But this narrows down the people in your locality. Whom you could reach, motivate, and persuade at ease.

You should market your fundraising marketing offline. And target a local cluster of potential donors. As they live near you, they are the flag bearer of your cause. They know more about you. It matters. We tend to prioritize the people we already know.

If it’s possible, arrange a local gathering. Or call them over a video conference. Let them know about your event. Show them your virtual fundraising event ideas. Also, tell them how you are organizing the fundraiser. Show them how they can contribute to your collection.

There’s a possibility that local donors will contribute a huge chunk to your donation box.

7. Create unforgettable activities around your fundraiser

Everyone loves having fun. This is a basic human trait. One thing that attracts a huge number of people is fun activities.

Do something exquisite. Plan and organize exciting activities around your event. You can arrange virtual activities like virtual gaming, online dinners, a virtual comedy club, and all this. And there are subtle ways to lure people into your program.

Invite them to a virtual debate on interesting topics. Topics may resonate with your motives or not. Let them talk about how they feel. What are their thoughts?

Try to acquire ideas from them. Their intuitions may surprise you. You never know what you are going to get.

8. Launch an online auction

If I ask you to tell me five money-raising campaigns, you’ll put auctions there. For virtual fundraising, launching an auction can be awfully fruitful. 

What is an online auction? An auction launched over the internet rather than physical gatherings. It saves money. Moreover, you don’t have to book an auditorium for sitting arrangements. You create an online event and sell novelty items.

For ideas, you can sell souvenirs. Put them on the auction list. And ask them to bid for the product. It’s easy and quick. However, you should mention the main purpose of the auction. Make the guests feel at home. And arrange activities. Activities that make people feel like they are into it.

And this is what you want from donors. To feel your event as their event.

9. Embrace the good old blogging and SEO

When you want to learn about anyone, what do you do? You Google it and click on the first few links for solutions. So do your potential donors.

If you are aiming for a fundraising event that has a long duration like a year or so, optimizing for search engines works like a charm. Blogging helps you in this area. 

Blogging can bring a huge number of potential donors and partners to your online fundraisers. If you publish blog content on your website with captivating stories, you are more likely to be found by Google search users. Thus, the traffic count increases. And more people know about your fundraising events,

In this case, you can also take help from SEO (search engine optimization) writers. They can help you with writing interesting blog posts that appear at the top of Google searches.

Pro Tip: Use Paymattic, a well-curated donation collection plugin

Earlier in the blog, I promised to show you how to add a donation form to a webpage. Now I’m going to tell you all about it. There’s an awesome tool called Paymattic.

What is Paymattic? Paymattic is a sleek WordPress plugin that helps you raise funds online. It’s one of the best donation collection plugins available on the market.

It also lets you add multiple payment gateways. There are more than nine payment methods Paymattic currently uses. With easy setup and amount tracking, Paymattic lets you add custom donation forms.

Wrapping things up

Feeling inspired? I have shown you how to market virtual fundraisers using various methods that are handy.

Remember, fundraising is all about reaching out to donors and making them feel good about the value they are creating. Also, showcasing progress is necessary. Present them with how their donations are creating an impact.

Keep an eye on donors and send them gratitude emails.

Hasta la vista!