Fundraising Tips: Using Your Social Network

March for Babies is in 11 days! I know this last week and a half will be when a lot of us are motivated to get donations, so I thought I would post a series of tips for the best, most efficient efforts you can make to raise your dollars.

The first of this series is truly the best tip I can offer: use the networks you already have in place to spread the word and ask people to sponsor your walk. To get the most bang for your buck, start with the Internet. It's super easy to send a bulk email to your contacts or send a message to all your friends on Facebook and ask a whole lot of potential donors at once. Then, you can take it up a notch with your "real life" friends and colleagues, asking for donations in person, by phone, or with an old-fashioned letter (this works especially well with contacts you don't see very often and have a more formal relationship with, like your doctor).

Some tips for each type of electronic communication:

Facebook
March for Babies has a Facebook application that's easy to add to your Facebook page. Login to marchforbabies.org and click "Cast a Wider Fundraising Net - Get a Custom Widget" on the lower left side of your personal dashboard.

You'll see an option for Facebook Application. Click "Get It Now" and follow the simple instructions.

Once it's set up, you'll have a cute little badge on your Facebook page that looks like this:

Anyone who visits your Facebook profile can click on that badge to go directly to your fundraising page and donate. It's a great tool to spread the word, especially if you use wall posts to enhance it. Post to let your Facebook friends know you're walking and include the link where they can donate, post about why you're walking, post to update your friends on your progress, and post to thank each one of your donors personally.

(Update: I just saw another fun use of the Facebook application: the "Baby Steps" virtual board game. Check it out here for instructions.)



Blog
You can see samples of how to use the blog widgets all over this page. The progress bar badges like the one at the right are easy to get (using the "Cast a Wider Fundraising Net - Get a Custom Widget" button) and another way to show all your readers you're walking and give them a chance to click through to your page to make a donation. Post a blog with your own personal reasons for walking, some information on why you're raising money and what the donations will support, and some photos of the babies you're walking for. Include the link to your personal fundraising page and share your goal.

Twitter
Similar to Facebook, but without the cute application. With Twitter, you've only got 140 words, so use them wisely. Use hashtags like #marchforbabies, #pregnancy, #babies, #womenshealth, etc. Send direct messages to people you think might be willing to donate and ask them to retweet to help you spread the word. Twitter is its own world, so if you use it and are familiar with it, you know what will work best. You'll probably have the most luck with this one if you have followers who regularly read your tweets and feel a personal connection to you or to the March of Dimes.

Emails
If you can only do one thing between now and March for Babies to raise donations, focus your efforts here. Go through your address book and find the email addresses of anyone who might be willing to sponsor your walk. Friends, coworkers, former colleagues, teachers, classmates, family members. Send an email to the whole group to let them know you're participating in March for Babies, what you've set for your fundraising goal, and be specific about how their donation can help you on your way. Tailor it to the group you're asking - if they don't have a lot of money, suggest how small donations spread throughout the group will add up; if they're wealthier, suggest that they donate as much as they're able and remind them their donation is tax deductible; make it personal! You can find a template for emails under the "Send E-Mails" tab, but it's really best if you can personalize it. Remember to connect it all back to your reasons for collecting donations and the benefits to your donors from the March of Dimes research they're funding.

Good luck everyone, and thank you!!