Team Asha
fundraising page has excellent
tips on setting up your web-page. Here are fu
ndraising tipsin addition to setting up your fundraising web-page. They're in random order, so read all the tips :).
1. Get started early. In general, several organizations have the same target marathon. Also, develop a healthy sense of competition among fellow Asha runners.
2. Work on your fundraising email, too. People generally spend time on the web-page, but many times neglect working on the email. For example, for work email, folks should get what you're up to within 15-20 seconds or 5-6 lines without clicking on any link. Be succinct, but be passionate. Personal emails can be longer.
3. Use URL shorteners, like http://bit.ly. You can very likely get your custom URL for your webpage, like http://bit.ly/<name>2011. You get the idea. Have this as your status in facebook, gmail chat window, twitter, etc.
4. Remember, you're fundraising for a damn good cause. You're making folks aware of the cause, and they're donating for a good cause. Have that attitude and it will show everywhere, in your emails, in your website, etc.
5. Not everyone you expect to donate may do so, have other plans in place. Be prepared for that, getting started early helps here too. Give your best shot, but don't be bogged down. Keep reading...
6. Expect donations from the most unexpected of people too :). After mentioning the previous item, be prepared for pleasant surprises too. Keep tab of who you've sent an email to and who you haven't. That way, you won't spam people accidentally on multiple lists.
7. Make Masala Chai, bake cookies/brownies, have them at work with suggested donation. Oh, store-bought cookies generally won't work here. People generally appreciate effort, and are willing to pay for it too :). These are generally very safe bets.
8. Organize parties, have a suggested donation. For the part animal kind. Remember, whatever you do in your wild parties are your own doing. Make sure you clarify it's not an official Asha party.
9. Send out periodic significant running updates in facebook/twitter, and via email to near and dear. Email signature should always point to your fundraising page. People, and many times, you yourself are impressed. These running updates are a good fund-raising tool too.
10. Contact people explicitly via email or other means. If not, you don't know if they've received your message. Facebook statuses and twitter updates are fleeting. I'm not saying they're not useful, but you can't rely only on them.
11. Network, ask for tips from fellow runners, mentors, repeat runners. You have folks running multiple times because they were also successful in fundraising before. It's very likely that different runners had vastly different tools and approaches for fundraising. Don't wait for mentors to ask you, be pro-active.
And oh, did I mention this, you're fund-raising for a damn good cause. Get excited about this.
