New GoFundMe Template: Check it out here. It’s all about crowdfunding personal expenses. Get Funding for Education, Travel, Volunteering, Emergencies, Bills, and more. Get the free audio book with Audible’s 30-day Free Trial.

 

Whenever my students and I discuss GoFundMe campaigns, there’s one big question that keeps coming up: How do you go about promoting your GoFundMe page, and what are the best practices for advertising it to strangers?

I think this is a question worth asking, especially since GoFundMe campaigns rarely find success without deliberate marketing techniques.

Advertising is often the only way you can bring attention to your campaign so that donors can find it.

Before we discuss the things you can do to increase views and get more donations for your GoFundMe campaign, I want to share a few relevant facts from GoFundMe’s Support page:

• People who know you or have a personal connection to your campaign will be the biggest sources of donations (source).
• Most GoFundMe donors don’t browse the platform for new campaigns. Sharing your campaign through email, social media, and online communities is a much more reliable way to bring traffic to your GoFundMe (source).
• GoFundMe campaigns that gain virality and media attention usually start out as local successes.
• Donations from strangers don’t usually come in until a campaign has already achieved success in its own communities.
• You won’t be listed in the GoFundMe search engine until you’ve raised at least $500 in online donations, are verified on Facebook, and have an appropriate photo or video. This means you’ll have to do some marketing before you become visible on the site.

By the way, if you want more stats like these to help guide your GoFundMe campaign to success, check out my book Crowdfunding Personal Expenses: Get Funding for Education, Travel, Volunteering, Emergencies, Bill, and More. It’s a great source of best practices and proven tactics for GoFundMe success, and you can get it right now on Audible! Get the free audio book with Audible’s 30-day Free Trial.

Based on these facts from the GoFundMe Help Center, it’s pretty clear that you can’t just wait for benevolent strangers to find your campaign and donate to you. If you want a viral GoFundMe success story, you have to start with your own community.

Your best bet is to target your promotional efforts toward your friends, family, and local community before you even think about reaching strangers.

So, is there anything you can do to improve your chances of raising money from your local community and attracting viral attention?

Yes, absolutely!

But before we get into that, I want to let you know about the GoFundMe Cash Machine program I have available right now.

I designed this program to share how you can raise money for personal and charitable causes, and it includes access to proven fundraising email templates, a complete fundraising checklist workbook, step-by-step crowdfunding videos, and other resources to help you raise more funds on GoFundMe. Check it out!

Now, let’s talk about the best way to advertise and promote your GoFundMe page!

1. Prime Your Network

Not everyone in your social network is going to know what GoFundMe is or how to donate to an online fundraising campaign.

Don’t just announce your campaign on Facebook and hope people will donate. Reach out to them before your launch.

This is a great opportunity to reconnect with old friends, catch up, and let people know about the fundraising you’re going to be running.

I recommend directly messaging, emailing, or calling each person individually. Yes, this can be time-consuming, but it’s the most effective way to educate people about GoFundMe and raise awareness for your campaign.

When it comes time to explain your upcoming GoFundMe campaign, be ready with a compelling story about why you are raising money and the benefits of contributing to your campaign.

2. Tag and Thank

This phrase is owed to DepositAGift and the webinar we did with them on personal fundraising.

Basically, it means that you should use every excuse possible to share your project on social media and to remind potential donors about your ongoing fundraiser, and there’s no better way to do this than by saying “thank you”!

Publicly thanking each person that contributes to your campaign and mentioning them in a Facebook update not only makes people feel good about their decision to give to the initiative, but it also gives you an opportunity to further advertise your campaign to your social network!

3. You Must Ask to Receive.

People are unlikely to share your campaign on their own.

You need to ask them.

Asking people to vouch for your fundraiser is your best chance of attracting donations from second-degree friends and family.

The same logic applies to asking for donations.

It can be intimidating to explicitly ask people in your network for a share or a donation, but it could be the difference between a campaign that fails and one that succeeds.

If you’ve been nurturing the relationship before the ask and continue to do so after, it’s unlikely that this type of request will compromise your relationship. Usually, getting turned down is the worst that can happen.

4. Think Local

You can leverage the ways in which you already are an active participant in your local community to appeal to a greater audience. Any visibility you have in your community could pay dividends in the form of donations or shares for your campaign.

For example, if you’ve been an active member of your local church, church leaders might be willing to mention your campaign to the congregation. It never hurts to ask!

If your town has a local newspaper, consider reaching out to ask if they will feature your story.

5. When to Consider Long Shots

Based on what we know about GoFundMe success, the time you spend promoting your campaign to strangers, posting on message boards, or reaching out to journalists probably won’t have as much impact as putting in the work with your own social network.

However, I think that once you’ve put in that work, it can’t hurt to share your cause online and with journalists as a human-interest story.

Only a small number of campaigns go viral, but reaching out to a wider audience can still make a big difference for you.

Conclusion

When it comes to advertising and promoting your GoFundMe page, the cardinal rule is to start with the people that are closest to you.

Since they already know you, your cause is likely to resonate with them the most, so don’t hesitate to share your story with people in your network and ask them for donations.

They’ll be giving you the funding you need for your campaign, and you’ll be giving them a chance to support a cause they care about.

Of course, it’s worth noting that there’s more to marketing your campaign than just spreading awareness among people you know.

You have to be able to craft a compelling story that sells your vision.

That might seem like a challenging task, but I have a lot of material out there that will help you find the best ways to attack it. 

If you really want to find out what you need to do to take your campaign to the next level so the donations start rolling in, make sure to check out my FREE GoFundMe course, which will break own the path to success step-by-step so that you can start raising funds now.

Good luck, and remember: your vision is worth it!