How to start a faith-based successful fundraising campaign

Whatever the faith or religion, fundraising is a common aspect that people connect with when in a community. Faith-based fundraising involves your religious organization and the cause can vary depending on the culture and beliefs. Houses of worship have always supported the concept of giving. Talk to your religious organization about supporting any worthwhile cause and they will whole-heartedly involve their supporters to fulfill your charity goals.   

If you’re eager and want some general tips on how to start a faith-based successful fundraising campaign, this guide is here to answer any questions you may have. We’ll cover the various ways in which you can start your faith fundraising.

1. Peer-to-peer fundraising campaign

Peer-to-peer fundraising relies on the network of your supporters. The more your supporters, the better your chances of faith fundraising. It can be made super effective by recruiting volunteers who can help with their resources to spread the word about the campaign to different audiences and get more and more money. It is in your hands to keep the momentum going by recruiting active volunteers. 

One benefit of peer-to-peer fundraising over crowdfunding is that the people donating personally know the individual promoting the fundraiser. Wouldn’t you donate if one of your friends, coworkers, or family members comes to you requesting donations? If you have the time, resources, and budget, you can even organize events and get your supporters to invite members. For faith-based campaigns, peer-to-peer fundraising works as it helps to spread the word of your mission.

2. Fundraising appeal during services

A short message about your fundraising campaign before the Sunday morning collection is a good way, to begin with. You can also include it in the announcements before and after the services. Similarly, you can tell about the campaign on other occasions like Wednesday-night church, Bible studies, and gatherings. Remember one thing though; your members already support the church. Asking for additional money may overburden them. Instead, involve them in the faith fundraising by holding events. This makes them excited and they relate to the cause easily.

3. Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is a cost-effective way to raise money for a cause. It is simple thanks to advanced online fundraising platforms such as givingx. All you have to do is set up a faith-based fundraising page using the various tools provided by the platform. Once you are done, you can share it on your social media channels and request supporters to spread the word to increase donations.

Online fundraising platforms are easy to access and there are no barriers to getting started. You can set up your page in 15 minutes with no coding skills. Additionally, it is easy for donors to access your page from anywhere anytime. With donations of as little as $20 or $50, you can collect quite a handful in crowdfunding. It helps you in expanding your donor base.   

4. Strengthen your presence on social media

Millions access various social media channels such as YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok today. Do not forget to spread the word about your faith-based fundraising on such channels. You can use the features provided by these platforms to increase the number of people who will see the campaign. Paid or sponsored ads (how much ever your budget permits) are also great when you want to reach a targeted audience. Google provides grants to nonprofits for search advertising. Even though Facebook has no such grant, you can make use of its “Donate Now” button to drive donors to your donation page set up on the online fundraising platform.

5. Encourage recurring giving and memberships

Another great source to ensure you keep getting donations is to recruit supporters who donate on a recurring basis for the faith-based cause. By encouraging supporters to become recurring donors you benefit from a more predictable revenue stream for your cause. Also, recurring donors have a retention rate of 90%. Another statistic not be missed is that the combined funds collected through recurring donations usually add up to 42% more than one-time donations. You can choose gifting, emails, event invites, and many other tactics to enable one-time donors to switch to a recurring donor program.

Membership drive is a great initiative to not just start faith fundraising but keep it going. Identify those donors who have donated a couple of times to your charity. Email membership forms to such donors encouraging them to be lifetime members. Set up a tiered membership fee structure and pitch your cause to these donors. Reward them with recognition if they become members.

6. Event-based fundraising campaign

Crowdfunding lacks in the aspect that no matter how hard you try, it does not personally connect the donor to the cause. In event-based fundraising, you set up events that have the guests excited and make them connect to the cause. There are hundreds of faith fundraising ideas based on your time, effort, and budget. Some of the noteworthy ideas are-

• Walk-a-thons or marathons
• Adopt-a-mile fundraiser
• Pledge donations
• Activity classes
• Holiday carnival
• Sporting events
• Gala dinner
• Used book sale
• Family photo day
• Small group luncheons  

Event-based fundraisers are popular in the community as it brings a sense of belonging. It motivates people to give more as they are totally involved in it. But it limits networking and connecting to a larger audience.

7. Virtual event fundraising

The onset of the pandemic has taught people the art of staying connected online. At times when attending physical events is not possible, you can do it the virtual way. You can mirror it to give the look and feel of a live event. Make use of advanced features and tools on your website and social media channels to make it a success.

• Have an easily customizable faith donation page on an online fundraising platform.   
• Synch both offline and online donations to one software
• Give impetus to social sharing to reach a wider audience
• Allow donors to opt for recurring donations by the click of a button
• Show a sense of urgency through powerful videos and images on the fundraising page and on social media.
• Try online faith fundraising campaigns to reach the targeted audience.

When the virtual faith fundraising event mimics the physical event, you’ll not only be able to make it successful, you will raise much more than your goal.

Planning a faith-based fundraising campaign?

givingx makes it easy, with no headaches. Set up your faith fundraising page in minutes and get started. With this online fundraising platform, donors from your social sharing, peer-to-peer fundraising, or virtual events can all be diverted to the donation page to get maximum donations.