Brian Riegel
In this time of COVID-19, your clubs can still help your community… your club can develop a virtual fundraiser. These funds can be raised to go to your club’s sponsor fund or to support a local charity, helping people affected by COVID-19. Even from your home, you and your club members can serve your community. Below are a few easy online fundraising ideas you and your club members can start this today.
Who knows, if your club likes doing this during the time of social distancing. You may want to make this type of fundraiser a regular part of your club’s fundraising plan.
Virtual Fundraising Ideas
Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding has been around for years and has a proven track record of working with charities around the world. These are the very simple “donate to a cause” pages that crop up often, such as Gofundme.com. You simply go to a crowdfunding site, set up your page, then have your club members promote it through email and on their social media pages. Crowdfunding works best if you set physical material goal: for example, raising $500 for a washing machine and detergent for a local Boys and Girls Club or $500 to purchase a hundred meals for the local Meal of Wheels. Links to two of the most popular crowdfunding sites are listed at the bottom of the page.
Online Auction
It’s tempting to go to eBay and set up an auction with items, donating proceeds to charity. However, there are platforms that can help plan a virtual event for you (even if that event spans a longer timeframe, like two weeks). These platforms create an auction “space” for your group, and it can be just as fun as a regular auction! Options range from planning entire virtual events, setting up just an auction, or just selling a few items. Check the links below for some recommended sites for each.
Virtual T-shirt Sale
This one will take a little creativity, which I know our clubs have in spades! You can design a fun t-shirt on the Bonfire website, set up your page, then have all your club members promote it through email and on their social media pages. The key to this fundraiser is developing a great t-shirt design and promoting it. Getting the word out can make all the difference! A link to Bonfire’s website is below.
Facebook Fundraising
We have all seen them: those fundraising posts for your friends on Facebook. You and your club members can put the power of Facebook to use to promote your cause. While you are writing your posts remember to ask your friends to repost your fundraiser and multiply the effect. You can set up the fundraiser through your club’s Facebook page and have members push it out to their contacts. You can also add incentives—what if each member selected a local charity and had a race to see who raised the most money? The winner can have his or her their donation matched by the club’s sponsorship fund! Competition can push members to get their networks involved. Below is a link to get your Facebook fundraiser started and a bonus with 5 Tips to Facebook Fundraising.
Fundly
Fundly is the next level up in virtual fundraising for those of you who are comfortable with online marketing. It’s a fundraising platform that allows you to do many different types of fundraisers, both in-person and online. What makes fondly different are the different media available to build your message and story. Fundly can be your “home base” for a larger campaign that encompasses elements we’ve talked about here. Fundly has all sorts of fun fundraising ideas to work from and design your fundraiser. A link to Fundly is below.
Sertoma clubs have helped their communities for 112 years, and COVID-19 won’t stop us! If you find some more ideas to share, post them in the comments below and we’ll add them to this page as a resource!
Sites to do Virtual Fundraising Sites