How to Make Your Personal Fundraising Page Awesome

Your page is the most important part of your fundraiser.

All your crowdfunding efforts revolve around this one page so it’s worth the time to make it as heartfelt, personal and interesting as possible. People will base their decision about whether they should donate to your cause based on the strength of your page. If your page isn’t interesting, visually appealing, doesn’t tell a compelling story, or doesn’t seem legitimate, you can push donors away.

Before we get to the nitty gritty, here’s how to create your personal fundraiser from the Mightycause home page:

Go to www.mightycause.com and click  on the top left of the page to start creating your fundraiser:

Our Fundraiser Wizard will guide you through 5 simple steps to launch your personal fundraiser:

Step 1: Do you want to make a single fundraiser, or a team fundraiser? Team fundraisers are only for charitable causes, so select “Fundraiser.”

Step 2: How much money do you want to raise?

Step 3: What are you raising money for? (Choose “Personal cause.”)

Step 4: Who are you raising money for? Yourself, or someone else? Select the appropriate option.

Step 5: Create a user account. If you are already logged in to a Mightycause account, you can simply continue by clicking "Nope, continue with boring old email"

Once you’ve gone through this process, you’re ready to start building your page!

So, what can you do to make your page as awesome as possible?

Now that you’re ready to start editing your page, we’ll go through all of your personal fundraiser’s features, one-by-one.

We will also share tips and best practices that will help you make your page as strong as it can be.

Your page is unpublished at this stage, so you can take as much time as you need to perfect it — you are the only one who can see it before it’s published!

Features in this article that have "(Required in order to publish)" next to them are required, meaning you cannot publish your page without completing this item.

Your Page’s Title (Required in order to publish)

When thinking of your title, consider this: Every time your nonprofit shares this page on Facebook or Twitter, your fundraiser’s title will be one of the first pieces of information your friends and followers see. They will make a decision about whether to click on the link to your fundraiser based on your title. 

Your title should make it immediately clear what and for whom you’re fundraising for.

When you’re logged into Mightycause and on your page with the dashboard open, you can either click directly onto the title to change it…

… or click on "Profile" > "Page Editor", then "Title", on your sidebar:

You have a limit of 50 words, so you’ll need to be concise:

People are more likely to click on a fundraiser title that is catchy, easy-to-read, and makes it apparent what the fundraiser is all about. 

Categories

You are required to choose at least one category before you publish your page, but did you know you can choose multiple categories?

Adding any additional categories that apply to your fundraiser can help boost your page’s visibility, as people can search for fundraisers by category on Mightycause. You can choose up to three categories for your fundraiser.

This fundraiser for Puddles fits into a few different categories, so I added them by clicking the Categories item under Page Editor on my sidebar:

When you click Categories, you’ll see a pop-up window to select a category, with the option to add additional categories. Click “Add another?” to choose another applicable category:

Since this fundraiser for Puddles is for a veterinary problem that needs immediate attention, I chose Medical and Emergencies for my additional categories.

Image/Video (Required in order to publish)

Your cover photo is the “face” of your fundraiser. It needs to represent your nonprofit, your campaign, and the reason you are fundraising on Mightycause. Like your title, it’s one of the first pieces of information people will see about your fundraiser. So, what makes for a great cover photo that will inspire people to donate to you?

You cover photo should be:

• Clear. Avoid using blurry or pixelated photos. The container for your cover photo is 770 x 570 pixels, so your photo needs to be at least that big. If you upload a smaller photo, it may become distorted within the container, which affects the overall quality of your page. If your photo is larger or has a different aspect ratio, keep in mind that you will have to crop it to fit in the container, so a photo with landscape orientation is best.
• Relevant to your fundraiser. Your cover photo needs to represent the reason you are actually fundraising.
• Impactful: Since your cover photo is representing your entire campaign, it’s not a great place to use a logo or lots of text — you can communicate the important details elsewhere on your page. You want your cover photo to have an emotional impact that compels people to click on your page, read your story, and make a donation. Anytime you can include a photo of a person or animal your nonprofit helps, you should!

Mightycause gives you several options for uploading a cover photo. First, make sure you’re on your page in Edit mode. Then hover your cursor over the image container:

As you can see, you have two different options for uploading a photo. You can either upload one directly from your computer or mobile device, or import one from your Facebook photos. (You’ll need to link your Facebook account to your Mightycause account in order to import photos from Facebook.)

You can also link to a video. Mightycause does not host videos, so you will need to upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo first. Both YouTube and Vimeo offer free basic accounts. You can then link your video on your Mightycause page by clicking “Use a Video Link.”

Please note that you should put the link to your video in this box, not the “Embed Code.”

The basic rules for what makes a good video are the same as the rules for photos: It should be clear,relevant, and impactful. Both YouTube and Vimeo offer basic editing tools, so you can splice together multiple videos, add music and text, and let the video tell the story of why you’re fundraising on Mightycause.

Mightycause Video Tip: Why not enlist help from volunteers to help make a video for your campaign? Let your volunteers know you’re looking for someone who can help make a video, or put a call out for video help on social media. You may have talented videographers or editors already in your midst who can help you create something sleek, professional, and cool that takes your campaign to a new level!

Goal (Required in order to publish)

This section is pretty self-explanatory: How much are you hoping to raise? But there’s more to it than that. Your goal should be:

• Attainable. If you have a robust email list and tons of social media followers, it may be realistic for you to raise one million dollars for your campaign. But if your nonprofit is just getting on its feet or has a modest email list and social media presence, you’ll want to make sure you scale your goal to the size of your donor base. If you’re not sure what a reasonable goal is for your campaign, take a look at past campaigns or your nonprofit’s average monthly revenue to get a good handle on what’s feasible for your fundraiser.
• Justifiable. Your goal should not be an arbitrary number you chose, it should reflect an actual expense or financial need. You should be able to break down for your donors just how you arrived at that number (using the Use of Funds feature, which we’ll discuss later).

To set your goal, click Page Editor, then click “Goal”, on your sidebar:

Then type the amount you hope to raise into the window that pops up and click “Save”:

Short Story

This is a short summary of your fundraiser that will appear beneath your goal. When you link to your fundraiser on social media, this summary will also show below your cover photo. You have a limit of 100 characters, so you’ll want to keep it short and sweet.

You may be tempted to get creative here, but since your space is limited, it’s best to stick to the facts. In one sentence, why are you fundraising?

Duration (Required in order to publish)

Every fundraiser must come to an end, and this is where you choose when yours will. To set an end date for your fundraiser, either click “Duration” on your sidebar or click on the calendar in your fundraiser. A calendar will pop up that you can use to select your end date for your fundraiser:

Your fundraiser’s duration isn’t set in stone — you can change it at any time during your campaign. So don’t fret too much about this, if your fundraiser is doing well and you want to keep it going, just go back here and change the end date!

However, consider your goal and the size of your donor base when setting your end date. If your fundraiser goal is $100,000, it’s not realistic for most nonprofits to raise that amount in just one month so you’ll want to be sure to give your nonprofit enough time to meet your goal.

If your nonprofit is still building your donor base, you may need extra time to build support for your fundraiser, so set your goal date a little further out. However, you should be cautious of making your fundraiser too long — setting an end date three years from now means your fundraiser might stall out, and your donors won’t feel any urgency to donate if they have three years to contribute.

Creator Social Links

To add your social media accounts,  click “Creator Social Links” on the page editor section of your sidebar.

You can link to all of your social media accounts on your Mightycause page: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus, Periscope, your nonprofit’s website or blog.

Don’t worry, we won’t steal your information or post anything on your behalf without your permission. We promise.

Note about Facebook brand pages: At this time, you cannot connect a fundraiser to a brand page. This is because of how Facebook sets up permissions for brand pages — they’re connected to individual accounts. So if you’d like to link to your nonprofit’s Facebook page, you’ll have to add it as a hyperlink in your story.

Organizer Info

"Organizer Info" allows you to edit the name and add social media links of the fundraiser's organizer. The fundraising page will automatically load the Mightycause account name of the organizer who created it.

This information will appear at the bottom of the fundraising page.

Any donor who chooses to contact the organizer through this area will have their email sent to the organizer's Mightycause account email.

 

Expense Breakdown

We know from years of fundraising that people are more likely to donate when they know precisely where their donation is going, and some people won’t even consider donating unless they have that information. This is understandable: We all work hard for our money, and when we open up our wallets to help out, we want to be sure our money is being spent wisely. You can pre-emptively answer your supporters’ questions about how their donations will be spent with the Use of Funds feature.

Use of Funds creates a pie chart on your page. To use this feature, either click on “Expense Breakdown” on your sidebar

or click on "Use of Funds," the pie chart, on your page.

The “pie” is your goal amount. The “slices” are the different expenses that add up to your goal amount.

You’ll need to account for the total amount of your goal, but don’t worry! You don’t have to do any math, Mightycause does it for you. At the top of the box you’ll see how much of your goal you’ve accounted for. You need to make sure the full amount is accounted for — and if you can only explain why you need $1,500 of your $3,000 goal, well, you may need to reevaluate whether your goal amount is appropriate.

Description (Required in order to publish)

This is the most important part of your page on Mightycause. This is where you tell your story: What your organization is, what you do, and why people should donate to your nonprofit. This is where you’ll detail your campaign and what it’s all about. Your story is your space to really sell your nonprofit and inspire people to donate to your cause. Having a well-written, compelling and heartfelt story is vital to running a successful fundraising campaign. Mightycause has a user-friendly in-line editor that allows you to add photos, videos, links and more in a snap, so you can really jazz up the formatting in your story to make your page more compelling.

So, how do you make sure your story is good enough to help you reach your goals? A good story is:

• Compelling. No one wants to read a dry account of how many people used your services last year, or a list of your programs. People don’t donate to fundraisers that are focused on facts and numbers. People donate based on feelings. So your story will need to inspire the people reading it to feel something, thereby inspiring them to act. If you’re not sure where to get started, read our blog about communications planning to make sure you set your campaign up for success.
• Personal. A good story makes a large issue feel personal, and that’s a key part of successful nonprofit fundraising. Your nonprofit’s mission might be related to huge, complex social issues, but you’ll need to tie those larger issues to real lives in order to raise money. Giving some examples of real impact your nonprofit has had on lives, or even centering your story around a single person or animal to demonstrate your impact, is a great way to make your fundraiser feel personal and inspire people to donate.
• Laser-focused. It can be tempting to write a novel about your nonprofit, the work you do, and why people should support you — after all, you’re working for a nonprofit because you care passionately about this cause! But in order to resonate with supporters, your story will need to be focused on key points about your campaign and your nonprofit’s key messaging.
• Easy-to-read. People have short attention spans, so a good story should be easy for the average person to read and understand. A giant wall of text is unattractive, difficult to read and unlikely to hold anyone’s attention. But, a story told in paragraphs with photos to help illustrate the story, important points in bold, and maybe some bullet points with essential information, is much more likely to be read all the way through.

Updates

Updates appear right above your description on your page.

When you send an update, an email will be sent to each of your donors, so this feature is most effective when you’ve been fundraising for awhile and have a good number of donors. Updates are a great way to share news about your campaign, thank your donors for helping you hit a milestone, and keep the people who’ve already supported you engaged in your campaign.

Instagram Feed

If your nonprofit is on Instagram, you can link your feed right to your Mightycause page. Linking your Instagram account will show the last four images you posted on the right side of your page, right under your donations.

Linking your Instagram is a great way to add visual interest to your page and give a fuller picture of the work your nonprofit does.

But wait! There’s more in your page’s Settings:

At the bottom of your sidebar, there’s a link to your page’s Settings.

There are even more options for customization here that will help you get the most out of your Mightycause page:

Social Sharing: Customize the image and text social media networks use when someone shares your page.

Custom URL: When you create your page, your page will automatically be given a URL. It’s a boring series of letters and numbers. But you can jazz things up and make your page more memorable, customized, and shareable by giving it a Custom URL. Keep it short and obviously make sure it’s relevant to your page.

Donation Widget: Do you have a blog or a personal website? If so, you can copy and paste this code into your website’s source code to enable people to make donations to your Mightycause page right from your website.

 

Bank Setup

Before you publish your page, make sure you have connected your WePay account to your Mightycause personal fundraising page. Mightycause has partnered with WePay to process on donations for your personal fundraiser. You must have a US bank account to create a WePay account.

Tracking Your Donations

You can track all of your donations in the Donations section.

This will tell you who donated how much on what date. You don’t need to do anything with this section, but it’s important to know where it is as you’ll want to see who is donating to you as your fundraiser takes off.

Publish!

Once you have completed all the steps we have outlined, you are ready to publish. 

If you haven't completed any of the required fields, a pop up will open letting you know what you need to complete in order to publish.

Mightycause has worked hard to provide features that enhance your page and make it easier for you to get donations and reach your goal. We encourage you to utilize as many of these features as possible when creating your page — a lot of thought went into each one, and we promise they’ll make your page stronger.

If you have any questions about the features on your Mightycause page or would like help making it as amazing at it can possibly be, contact support@mightycause.com.