3 Tips for Launching Your SuccessFund Campaign
You’re ready to launch your campaign and start collecting donations! We’ve got three important tips for you to ensure you’re ready for take off. Clear expectations and alignment are necessary to turn your campaign into a rocket ship, so let’s review what you should be doing at lift off to be sure you are set up for success.
Before we get into the tips of effective campaign distribution, let’s review the launch meeting:
- First, be sure to sit down with your group of students collectively to explain the details of the campaign.
- Clarify what the funds are going to pay for so that students can express those details in their communication efforts.
- Remind them of your expectations that every student should participate to be sure the campaign succeeds.
- Establish a clear timeline for when certain things should be done. (Be sure they know when the campaign officially ends)
- Finally, explain the distribution methods you’ll be using and the requirements you have for student participation (including any incentives you’ve added)
Remember, this is one of the most simple and effective ways to raise money for your program. If the appropriate effort goes into a SuccessFund campaign, it can have a significant financial impact to your program!
So, how do we distribute the message? The following are our best 3 tips for effective campaign distribution:
1 — Print
It’s an underrated distribution method, but printing and handing out flyers works! A Jr. High School in Granite School District (UT) printed SuccessFlyers and handed them to every car dropping off students in the morning. They raised over $3,000 in 4 days doing this! They reached their goal and no other distribution method was used to spread the word. Pretty powerful.
Participants in clubs, music groups, and sports teams should distribute these flyers door to door and will find that donors are happy to contribute, and appreciate how easy it really is with payment methods they prefer like Venmo.
2 — Email and Text
Sending out emails and text messages to friends and family is a baseline activity proven to work. Athletes of sports teams that are raising money should be required to distribute the SuccessFund Campaign Link to at least 20 people in their immediate network. Typically this includes parents, aunts & uncles, grandparents, other relatives, friends, neighbors, and more. If the message is sent directly from a student who participates in the program receiving the donations, the likelihood of a positive response skyrockets.
Be sure the link is copied into the body of the message so that recipient can click on it and immediately take action.
3 — Social Media
Traditionally social media is a challenging method for generating buzz around a campaign — this is because generally the messaging does not have a personal call to action like you might see in an email, text, or handing someone a flyer. This doesn’t have to be the case. Social platforms like Twitter, Facebook, even Instagram, and Snapchat allow direct messages where students can personally request the support of their networks. This requires a bit more effort on the part of the student, but it proves to be more effective than simply posting a general message to the masses.
Both methods should be used in social media — students and facilitators should post a general message to all social channels available, and then students should use the individualized DM options available to make the invitation to contribute a personal and direct one.
Bonus Tip
While this approach may vary depending on the organization, don’t forget that using Custom Comments allows coaches and group & club leaders to ask for the student’s name at check out. This gives the donor the opportunity to “give credit” to the student who reached out to them. This information allows those running the campaign to reward effective fundraising, and encourage those who haven’t participated in the campaign efforts.
Following these tips is a sure fire way to be sure that your campaign is set up for success. Launching is an exciting time, and clear expectations are the key to ensure that your campaign reaches stratospheric success.
