Raising money for a charity through an online fundraiser is one of the best ways that you can support a nonprofit and cause that you care about. While you could simply donate money to the organization yourself, the social impact and increased awareness that’s generated from a crowdfunding campaign can have a much larger impact and raise more funds for the charity.

This guide is full of fundraising tips and best practices to teach you everything you need to know about how to successfully raise money for charity.

With over hundreds registered nonprofit organizations, choosing one to raise money for can often be the hardest part of this entire process. With great resources like EduAdvisor and numerous news sites, who offer free online directories of all the different charities, you can easily find detailed information about every organization you’re considering raising money for. 

If you’re not sure where to start when researching nonprofits, start by asking yourself what kind of charity you want to raise money for. What kind of causes are you passionate about supporting? Some of the most popular type of causes include:

Orphanages & Homes

Environmental Protection

Animal Welfare

Homeless & Hungry

We’ve listed a few charity bodies for every category for easy reference. Don’t be afraid to spend some time researching all of the different organizations to find the charity that most closely aligns with your values. 

Don’t be afraid to reach out to the charities you’re considering raising money for. They’ll be able to give you information about upcoming events, a breakdown of donation amounts and the impact it has for their organization, and access to any free marketing and promotional assets they have.

Now that you’ve selected the charity that you’re going to raise money for, it’s time to create your fundraiser. We recommend using an online fundraising website that allows you to launch a crowdfunding campaign for free, has minimal processing fees on donations, and gives you the option to have the money you raise sent directly to the charity.

At Yeefu, we strive to make it as easy as possible for you to raise money for the charity or cause that you’re passionate about. That’s why our fundraising platform is 100% free to use. You can easily select the charity you’re raising money for so all of the proceeds are sent directly to them, with no donation fees when the proceeds benefit a verified nonprofit.

We also give you all of the resources you need to create a great-looking design for your t-shirt. Whether you want to upload your own custom artwork to our design tool, or request our concierge custom design service, your success is our number one priority.

As a final step before you officially launch your fundraiser, edit your campaign page to tell everyone why you chose to raise money for this charity. Talk about what resonated with you when you came across this organization, and how you hope to help push their cause forward. Telling your story about why this charity and their cause means so much to you will drive your community to support you and your campaign and show everyone that you genuinely care about this mission.

Once your fundraiser is live, it’s time to start promoting your campaign. Start by posting it across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Instagram Stories. Don’t forget to update your social bios to contain your campaign link so your followers can easily find your fundraiser.

Try to work with local news stations, blogs, and newspapers to get your campaign featured in the news. This type of news story has become more and more popular with news outlets in recent years, so it’s likely you can find someone who’s interested in covering your fundraising campaign.

Send out an email newsletter promoting your fundraiser so your community knows how they can help you raise money for your selected charity. Be careful that you don’t overwhelm your subscribers with daily emails, which can lead to people getting annoyed with your messages and not making a donation at all.

Instead, we recommend sending an announcement email when your fundraiser first launches, a mid-campaign email to remind everyone that your fundraiser is still going on, and a final reminder email when there are only 24 hours left to participate. 

You can drastically increase the reach of your campaign by having the people you’re closest to repost and share your fundraiser across their social platforms. This can help your fundraiser pick up some initial momentum by getting some additional shares from the very beginning, and it will help you reach new people who you don’t know but would be interested in supporting your fundraiser.

Publish a blog post on your website about the campaign you’ve launched and the charity that you’re raising money for. This can be a good place to really tell your story about why you’ve chosen to become actively involved with this charity and how people can support this cause through your fundraiser.

Don’t forget to link to your fundraising page from your website’s homepage and main navigation to make it as easy as possible for people to find.

Once your fundraising campaign has ended, it’s time to make your donation to the charity! If you hosted your fundraiser on Yeefu, then we send all the money you raised directly to the charity for you. 

Then, let your supporters know that the campaign has successfully come to an end and the money has been donated to the charity. Have some fun with it, and post a picture with your donation receipt! 

Fundraising for charities is as important as it’s ever been, and they rely on the help and support of people like you to keep their mission alive. Launch a free fundraiser on Yeefu today to start raising money for your favorite charity.