Micro-Fundraisers to the Rescue: How Lonely Orphans galvanised 200+ people to raise over £40,000
How do you eat an elephant?
One bite at a time… but what’s that got to do with fundraising?
Well it’s the difference between raising £40k in one go, or breaking it down into smaller pieces, and that’s where micro-fundraisers come into action.
In the age of coronavirus and social isolation, charities aren’t able to host large events where you could ask a room full of 200 people, for £200 each. In this example, that’s a £40,000 opportunity lost.
So how else could you raise that figure? Turn that potential audience into fundraisers… and that’s exactly what UK-based charity Lonely Orphans did by creating a micro-fundraising campaign on LaunchGood. Lonely Orphans’ campaign supports Rohingya, Uyghur and Thai children and families with food sustenance. In the space of a few weeks, over 200 micro-fundraising pages have been set up raising over £43,000 (and counting!), all without the cost of a fancy venue, food and entertainment.
There are a few things that can really make or break this type of effort:
1) Lots of volunteers or engaged (online) audience
Micro-fundraisers work great when you have an army of volunteers or people willing to run them. It’s a numbers game, the more micro-fundraisers you have, the more money you’ll raise (sounds so simple, right?).
2) A clear and simple ask
Micro-fundraisers rely on people sharing the same cause en masse, and so your messaging needs to be really simple and clear so anybody and everybody knows what you’re trying to do, and what you need from them. Lonely Orphans’ campaign did just that, Iftar for Orphans — does what it says on the tin! Simple messaging and good graphics go a long way to conveying this.
3) Link the donor/fundraiser to the delivery
What I mean by this is to highlight the impact of each micro-fundraiser. For example if it costs £300 to feed a family for a year, then make that the target for each campaign. You’ll see micro-fundraisers perform better and people ask with more passion if they can link their effort to a specific tangible outcome that impacts someone’s life.
Once you have the above in place, you’re well on your way to having a great micro-fundraising campaign. But there are some more tips and gems you can do to boost its performance:
Gamify!
Boost engagement and activity across your micro-fundraising volunteers by gamifying the initiative. You can offer prizes for the first one to reach their target or for the micro-fundraiser that receives the highest amount in donations. Stay tuned for a bespoke leaderboard that LaunchGood are putting together for these types of fundraisers that can help boost this. 😉
“This time, it’s personal”
Make each micro-fundraising page personal to the volunteer running with it. The messaging isn’t that charity X or Y is doing this, help them… but rather I’m doing this, help me feed a family this Ramadan, for example. Researchers have found that in many cases, giving is a social act, and people give significantly more to causes where they know the person asking for a donation.
Focus on the fundraisers, not the fundraising!
With this type of effort, your focus as a charity or organisation isn’t on getting the donations, it’s on getting the fundraisers who are going to do the rest for you. This is where your time and effort would be most valuable to seeing the fundraiser succeed. Share tips and best practices from those performing well across to others, and make sure you motivate ones that are slow to start, or yet to get their first donation. By doing this, you’re not only benefitting this particular fundraiser, but you’re empowering your volunteers to do better in future ones too!
Leverage Social Media
92% of millennials own a smartphone and 85% use social media. Use these tools to attract people to getting behind your cause. One well-crafted call to action online, can reach more families and people than a large event. The good news is that LaunchGood is tailored to the online/smartphone/social generation so with just a few clicks, someone can turn their brother, sister, or friend into a donor towards your amazing cause!
The team at LaunchGood are always happy to support inspiring causes around the world, and if a micro-fundraising campaign sounds like the right thing for you, try the above ideas and also get in touch so we can advise you further!
