Crowdfunding Ideas for Nonprofits
Online crowdfunding lets you collect gifts from people who can’t make it to an event, in any amount, on their own timeline. Here’s how nonprofits actually run a campaign that raises real money instead of just sitting there.
How this fundraiser actually works
Pick a platform built for nonprofits, GoFundMe Charity, Classy, and Givebutter are the common ones, and set a specific dollar goal tied to a specific project. “Help us buy 20 new laptops for the after-school program” raises more than “support our mission” ever will, because people can picture exactly what their gift does.
Campaigns rarely take off on their own. They work when a handful of your most engaged people personally share the link with their own networks in the first 48 hours, that early window is what tells the platform’s algorithm and everyone else’s feed that this campaign is worth paying attention to.
A crowdfunding page by itself doesn’t raise money, the people sharing it do. If your board and your most engaged donors aren’t willing to personally text or email the link to people they know, the campaign will sit at a few hundred dollars no matter how good the page looks. This works best as a supplement to something with more built-in reach, not as your only ask.
Want a fundraiser with more built-in reach?
A raffle gives people a reason to share it wider than a straight donation ask does, since there’s something in it for the person buying a ticket too. See why a raffle is usually the best idea on this list, or jump straight in.
Or call The Chance2Win Team at (813) 699-9325 and we’ll walk you through it.