Tuesday Tips with Sean Shapiro

Another Tuesday, another set of fundraising tips curated by Stupid Cancer just for you!

Sean, Director of Development at Stupid Cancer, constantly hears that people are intimidated to ask for money.

“People always say, ‘I’ll never raise that much!’ or ‘I don’t know how to ask my friends and family for money.’”

Sean continued, “Your community wants to support you. If they hear your story and why you’re passionate about the cause, they will want to help you hit the goal you set.”

Here are Sean’s top tips on how to reach your goal:

1. Mix up how you reach out to people by asking over email, social media, mailed letters, in-person when talking with people, and more! We’re all different in terms of how much attention we give to different channels of communication and how responsive we are for each. By spreading your outreach across the board, you will be successful in reaching everyone and tapping into their attention in different ways.
2. People need deadlines to give, otherwise, they think they have time and will hold it off to a later date. The obvious deadline is the final one you set, however, maybe you have a birthday coming up where all those folks who simply post a message on your Facebook timeline could instead give a $5/$10/$20/$50 donation to help you hit your goal for a good cause. Or maybe an anniversary of some type worth celebrating or a creative/goofy holiday that captures your personality as an ideal date for people to give on that day.
3. People “give to people”. They don’t “give to organizations.” Make sure your messaging has a human element to it and that you express how their donation will change people’s lives to Get Busy Living in the face of cancer. It sounds better than simply explaining that their gift will benefit Stupid Cancer. If you have any personal connections with cancer, be sure to share them if you’re comfortable in doing so. Ultimately, it is truly making an impact on young adult cancer fighters, survivors, and caregivers so tug at those heart-strings! Also, let them know their gift is helping you reach your goal. They want to help YOU be successful!