After hearing "but I can't DO anything" on repeat from the most surprising places, I spent tonight messing around and made a printable double sided mini zine with 10 (Mostly Free) Ways to Support Non-Profits right now.
this post is intended for people who do not fluently speak english and people who are new to tumblr. however, anyone else might also find this useful.
if you have a fundraiser campaign and post it on tumblr, you might get a message or reply that offers you some kind of help. these messages are often fake.
you might get a message like one of these:
"i am a marketing professional and i would love to help you boost your campaign"
"i had a successful campaign because of a person who offered me some advice. would you like to know more?"
"have you seen the classes about making your campaign successful?"
"a charity helped my family reach their campaign goal, and you can apply to their fund"
these messages are the start of a scam. the people sending these messages are not legitimate people. they want to take your money away.
How the scam happens
these "professionals", "charities", and "classes" are scams. they will not help you. they either want to take money from you, or they want to take your personal data and pretend to be you so that they can scam other people.
people who send you these messages will scare you into accepting their help. they will say that without their help you will never reach your goal. please know that you can have a successful campaign without paying somebody to help you.
they might make you pay money before they give you advice. they might ask for a lot of money, and they tell you that you should increase your goal amount to pay for it. they might ask for a percentage of your target donation.
they might give you advice for free until your campaign is successful, and then they demand money because they "helped" you. they might harass you on other websites. if you give them personal information, they might harass you in real life. they might create many accounts if you block them. they might make threats about hurting you or your family. they might make false claims that you did something illegal, and sey that they will report you for it. they might report your campaign so that it gets deleted and the donations are taken away from you.
they might take your money and then never talk to you again. they might take your money and then give you advice that you can get for free. they might take your money and then give you advice that is bad or wrong. they might take more money than the advice they give you is actually worth.
Free legitimate information on running a fundraiser
if you need help running a fundraiser, you do not need to pay for advice. all of these resources are from actual fundraising websites, so you can trust them.
GoFundMe's tips for starting a fundraiser: https://www.gofundme.com/en-gb/c/fundraising-tips
GoFundMe's tips for writing an effective story: https://www.gofundme.com/c/fundraising-tips/funding-proposal
GoFundMe's tips for promoting your campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/en-gb/c/fundraising-tips/promoting-fundraiser-online
GoFundMe's tips for giving your supporters updates on your campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/en-gb/c/fundraising-tips/update
GoFundMe's general questions page: https://www.gofundme.com/en-gb/c/questions
Chuffed's tips on starting a fundraiser: https://chuffed.org/how-it-works-crowdfunding/before-you-start
Chuffed's video series on fundraising: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmwGrSOb4Ls&list=PLTYTquYYeup8HRVPns1jaJeJ3L-r9D5cY
Chuffed's tips for what to do if your campaign is going slowly: https://chuffed.org/academy/articles/detail/how-to-recover-from-a-slow-start-to-your-campaign
Just Giving's fundraiser tips: https://www.justgiving.com/for-fundraising/top-10-fundraising-tips
Just Giving's checklist for fundraiser campaigns: https://www.justgiving.com/for-fundraising/fundraising-page-checklist
Mark Calima: Holding a Fundraiser Tips for Success
Mark Calima: Holding a Fundraiser Tips for Success
Mark Calima is an accomplished Director of Bands who is no stranger to fundraising. As the founder and director of the non-profit, Houston Area Summer Wind Ensemble (HAWSE), Mark Calima became knowledgeable in the process of raising funds for the organization. Here are some tips to help you get started with fundraising and find success: You need to make sure your staff is organized. This includes…
