1. Use an audience-first approach

In your communication, focus on how your charity page makes it easier for readers to support your organisation. Consider incorporating language such as:

• Start a fundraiser in under two minutes
• Donate safely and securely
• Take action in just a few clicks
• Connect with a community of fellow supporters
• Our charity page is a centralised location where you can support our organisation at any time, however you like
• Donate, fundraise, or share from one easy, centralised location

Adopting an audience-first approach ensures your messaging resonates with your supporters and compels them to visit your charity page to take action. 

2. End with a clear call-to-action (CTA)

Ending your email with a clear ask helps your supporters understand how they can help or what they can do next. Aim to keep the CTA clear and concise, with one primary ask per communication. Use clickable buttons or links at the end of your email to make the ask stand out. For example:

• Support [enter your charity name here] and donate £25 today
• Start a GoFundMe for [enter your charity name here]
• Check out [enter your charity name here] on GoFundMe

These are samples of different call-to-actions you can use. For more inspiration, look at other charity email examples and decide whether the CTA works for your email. Because every charity’s audience differs, it’s important to experiment with different CTAs to see which ones resonate best with your supporters.

3. Keep it simple

Opt for brevity. If your email is too long, readers may feel overwhelmed or unclear on the ask. If your email is too short and lacks context, readers may not be inspired to take action.

To help you strike the right balance, read through your draft and answer these three questions:

• Is every line in this email meaningful and interesting?
• Will readers feel compelled to take action?
• Will readers know exactly how to take action?

If you answered no to any of those questions, you may want to consider revising your email.

Email your supporters today

Before hitting send, make sure you’ve linked to your charity page throughout the body of your email so readers can easily take action. For reference, you can find your charity page link in your charity dashboard. Once you’ve sent the email to your supporters, use your dashboard to monitor engagement and access key reports.

View charity dashboard

The post Your GoFundMe Charity Page: Three Email Tips that Drive Action appeared first on GoFundMe (IE).

Many people have used the challenge as an opportunity to fundraise for their favourite charity or a cause close to their heart. Read on to find out everything you need to know about the 4x4x48 challenge.

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How to get through 4x4x48

The 4x4x48 challenge is a gruelling physical endurance test for anyone who decides to attempt it, but the best part is that it is virtual and non competitive. This means that you can complete the challenge at your own pace. 

David Goggins himself advises non runners to modify the challenge to suit their ability. In an Instagram post he encouraged  non runners to modify their challenge by doing something else like walking or jogging for 45-60 minutes of each four hour leg.

If you do decide to take on the full challenge, you will be covering a huge distance, so many people do some form of training before the actual event.

Here are some tips for how to get through the challenge on the day.

Create a virtual race playlist

Music is a great motivator, so selecting some of your favourite songs to listen to during your virtual race might be the difference between pushing you forward at a challenging point and losing momentum. Create a special motivational playlist for your 4x4x48 challenge to get inspired.

Make it fun

While a virtual challenge may not have the supportive crowds, sound systems and water stations that characterise a typical race, it doesn’t mean you should shirk on pomp and ceremony. Undertaking your 4x4x48 challenge in fancy dress, creating a theme or erecting a ‘finish-line’ ribbon can all add to the sense of occasion. Share photos with other participants or arrange a celebratory Zoom chat to toast your achievements. Awarding prizes for the best outfit or best time is another way to generate some healthy competition.

Stay hydrated

It’s vital you stay hydrated during your challenge. Ensure you factor in water breaks to keep your body operating at peak performance – and don’t forget to stretch after completing to help your body recover.

How to fundraise for 4x4x48

The challenge was originally created to encourage people to raise funds for charity. Goggins encouraged participants to pick a charity or a cause that was close to their hearts and start fundraising. There are many ways to successfully raise money. 

Find the right cause for you

If you’re not sure about which charity or cause you want to support, start with some general interests, such as helping animals, children, or communities in need. The number of causes out there is almost endless and organisations of all sizes may need your help. 

Let people know that you are fundraising

Once you have decided on your charity the best way to raise funds is to let as many people as possible know about it. What better way to do this then to post on your social media networks. Use Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp to reach out to your friends and family and ask for their support.

Launch a crowdfunder

Once people know that you are fundraising they are going to need somewhere to donate to. Launching a gofundme online is a great way to collect donations.  You can create a fundraiser in a matter of minutes after signing up. 

Here are some key tips to remember when crowdfunding online:

Remember to personalise your campaign

Once you have signed up you can personalise your fundraiser by adding a picture and a description about your fundraiser explaining who or what it is for. This gives you a good opportunity to make it fun. 

Set a goal

Setting a fundraiser goal is a good way of giving people something to aim for. If you haven’t decided yet, set a rough goal, you can always adjust it later.

How to get your money to your charity

You can select your chosen charity from a drop down menu when you set up your campaign. Once you have selected a charity all the money raised including 100 per cent of gift aid will automatically be sent to that charity as part of your charity collections . It is a good idea to say in your description why you have chosen to raise funds for your chosen charity and what it means to you, either as an individual or a company.

Start your 4x4x48 fundraiser today

So what are you waiting for? Why not start your 4x4x48 crowdfunder on GoFundMe today?

It couldn’t be easier to set up a fundraiser, share the link on your social media platforms and start racking up donations from supporters.

Unlike other fundraising platforms, there are no hidden fees on Gift Aid with GoFundMe.

Our experts are on hand to offer 24-hour help and advice and you can use our mobile app to check in on your fundraising progress on the move.

Start a GoFundMe today

The post Everything You Need to Know About the 4x4x48 Challenge appeared first on GoFundMe (IE).

Start a GoFundMe

How GoFundMe compares to JustGiving

Whether you’re raising money for educational, creative or charitable endeavours, there’s sure to be an online platform that’s right for you.

With so many different fundraising platforms available, it can be tricky to know which the best option is. GoFundMe and JustGiving are both digital crowdfunding platforms, but what they can offer donors and fundraisers is slightly different. Let’s compare the two to see which one is most suitable for your fundraiser.

GoFundMe fees

GoFundMe wants to make it easy for you to raise funds for the causes you care about, which is why, unlike other sites, we offer 0% platform fees for personal and charitable fundraisers when you crowdfund with us.

For personal crowdfunding campaigns a transaction fee of 2.9% + €0.25 (includes VAT) applies. For certified charity campaigns a transaction fee of 1.9% + €0.20 applies.

JustGiving fees

Similarly, JustGiving offer 0% platform fees personal and charitable fundraisers, but impose transaction fees of 2.9%  processing fee if paying with a credit card.

If the money is paid directly through PayPal, transaction fees of 1.9% + €0.20 fees apply.

Withdrawing funds

GoFundMe: Access your money quickly

With GoFundMe, you can set up withdrawals right away and once verified, donations appear within 2-5 days. Many other platforms place a seven to 30-day hold on funds, but GoFundMe’s speedy process means that financial aid can be delivered urgently. In 2017, GoFundMe delivered over $27 million to the people affected by Hurricane Harvey in the first 30 days after the storm.

GoFundMe organisers can also invite someone else to withdraw the funds as the beneficiary so that they can directly access the donations.

JustGiving: Expect delays

Customers using the JustGiving fundraising platform have to wait 14 days before they can withdraw funds after launching their page – and this is only if your payment details have been verified. JustGiving users also have to wait between 6-10 working days for the funds to reach them once a withdrawal has been made.

GoFundMe: A global community

GoFundMe boasts a huge giving community of more than 120 million donors from around the world. This makes us the largest social fundraising platform in the world. We’ve raised over €9 billion (and counting) for essential causes, evidencing the level of trust users have in our service.

GoFundMe: No deadlines

GoFundMe organisers don’t have to worry about falling short of their target because, unlike many similar platforms, there are no deadlines, limits or penalties for fundraisers staying live. Fundraisers remain online until you turn off donations or remove them. If you choose to, you can leave your fundraiser active indefinitely and continue accepting donations even after reaching your goal.

JustGiving: Expiry dates

All JustGiving pages have an expiry date. This means that if you want to extend your deadline, users are required to log into their account and manually change this.

At GoFundMe, we understand that people have busy lives. We want to make fundraising as simple as possible for our users, which is why we don’t expect our users to spend their valuable time manually adjusting the timeframe in which they can fundraise. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to crowdfund for the causes you care about.

Support and advice

GoFundMe’s hardworking team of Customer Care agents are on hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week. This means that whenever and however you choose to manage your account, we’ll be right here when you need us.

Our user-friendly GoFundMe mobile app also lets you launch and manage your crowdfunding page on the go, and the GoFundMe blog offers plenty of fundraising tips and fundraising ideas.

How we are protecting donors and organisers

The GoFundMe Guarantee

GoFundMe is the safest crowdfunding platform thanks to the GoFundMe Guarantee – the first and only donation protection guarantee in the crowdfunding industry and a welcome JustGiving alternative that offers reassurance to users. For beneficiaries, this means that if an organiser fails to deliver funds, we will donate the difference. Equally, in the rare instance that GoFundMe discovers that funds have been misused, we will refund a donor’s contribution.

Our Trust and Safety team, who comprise a third of our staff, is dedicated to keeping customers financially safe. GoFundMe uses advanced payment encryption technology, with donations stored securely until you request a withdrawal via electronic bank transfer directly into your bank account. Security specialists monitor the site around the clock to make sure that funds go to the intended recipients. With GoFundMe, nobody loses out.

JustGiving: No protection

JustGiving does not offer a fraud protection guarantee. In their Terms of Service, the platform states that it “shall have no liability to donors whatsoever for any use or misuse of donations made to the JustGiving Crowdfunding page. The JustGiving Crowdfunding page may state that page owners will use donations only for specific purposes, but JustGiving cannot guarantee that they will use them for such purpose.”

Pick the right fundraising platform for your cause

When it comes to GoFundMe vs. JustGiving, we believe that GoFundMe offers the best support and protection for our users, at a competitive price. Looking to fundraise? For low transaction fees, 24/7 support and, most importantly, the GoFundMe Guarantee, consider crowdfunding with GoFundMe.

Start a GoFundMe

The post Gofundme vs. Justgiving: Which Site Should You Use? appeared first on GoFundMe (IE).

Start a GoFundMe today

What you Need to Know About Virtual Collections

A virtual collection also known as a money pool is a great way to collect multiple individuals’ money in one place. The beauty of fundraising online is that it makes it easy for everyone to contribute in their own time. They can be used to raise funds for anything you like, here we will outline how the process works. You can also visit our how it works page for more tips on how to set up a fundraiser which will help you collect money online.

How to Collect Money Online For a Gift 

Leaving collection online and gifts

If you are raising funds for a leaving collection online or a gift there are a number of things to keep in mind such as how much you want to raise, what the funds are going towards and so on. The following tips will help you navigate this process and teach you how to collect money online for a gift. 

How do I get started? 

Using a crowdfunding platform is the easiest way to launch your virtual collections. You can create a fundraiser in a matter of moments.

Remember to personalise your campaign

Once you have signed up you can personalise your fundraiser by adding a picture and a description about your collection explaining who or what it is for. This gives you a good opportunity to make it fun. If it is a collection for someone’s leaving gift you can include a photos of them during their time working for your company. 

Set a goal

Setting a collection goal is a good way of giving people something to aim for. If you already know what gift you want to give someone, set the goal as the price of the gift. If you haven’t decided yet, set a rough goal, you can always adjust it later.

Remember to make it private

If your collection is to raise funds for a surprise gift you can make it private so that only the people you share it with can see it.

Make sure the money goes to the right place.

If you are raising money for a particular person and you would prefer to send them the money raised directly, you can do this by making them the beneficiary of the campaign. If you would rather use the money to buy a gift and present it to the person, you can withdraw the funds directly into your account.

Charity collections

If you are raising money for a charity, you can select your chosen charity from a drop down menu when you set up your campaign. Once you have selected a charity the money raised will automatically be sent to that charity as part of your charity collections. It is a good idea to say in your description why you have chosen to raise funds for your chosen charity and what it means to you, either as an individual or a company.

Sharing is caring

Once you are happy with your fundraiser, the next step is to share it with everyone who you think will want to contribute. You can do this through Facebook, Twitter, Whatsapp and emails. Let people know that your collection exists and watch the money roll in.

Start your Virtual Collection today

So what are you waiting for? Why not start your virtual collection on GoFundMe today.

It couldn’t be easier to set up a fundraiser, share the link on your social media platforms and start racking up donations from supporters.

Our experts are on hand to offer 24-hour help and advice and you can use our mobile app to check in on your fundraising progress on the move.

Start a GoFundMe today

The post How to Collect Money Online appeared first on GoFundMe (IE).

Crowdfunding is a great way to lessen the financial impact of the floods, as well as providing help for flood victims in Ireland. There are also charities for flood victims and government aid on offer for flood victims, which this article details below.

Set up your GoFundMe fundraiser today 

Government assistance programs

After recent flooding across Ireland from 23^rd February – 6^th March 2020, the government announced a series of schemes that would provide humanitarian support to those who had been affected by the floods. At the request of the government the Irish Red Cross Society agreed to administer two temporary emergency support schemes. The first scheme provided temporary support to small businesses and to help them with the costs of returning business premises to their pre-flood condition. People affected could apply for  grants and could claim up to €5,000 to help protect them from future flooding.

The second part of the scheme provide temporary emergency humanitarian support to Community, Voluntary & Sporting bodies affected by flooding, offering grants of up to €5,000 to help fix any damaged caused by the flood.

Charities that help flood victims

Along side the government scheme, hundreds of Red Cross volunteers sprung into action support to victims of flooding. Volunteers moved patients and elderly residents from care homes affected by high-winds and power cuts, and provided hot water and power-points to communities without electricity, as storms continued to wreak havoc around the country.

Fundraising for flood victims

If you want to help flood victims in the Ireland there are a number of things you can do.

1. Hold a fundraising event

Invite friends and family to come to a social event in aid of the flood victims. Ask your guests to donate to the cause in return for a ticket to your event. It is an opportunity to come together with your nearest and dearest and it’s for a good cause.

2. Take on a sponsored challenge

If you happen to be taking on a marathon or are thinking about jumping out of a plane to raise money for a cause close to your heart, why not raise funds for victims of the floods?

3. Start a crowdfunder

Crowdfunding is all about community coming together to support one another. It gives you the opportunity to help someone you may know who has been affected by the floods.

Having your home or business destroyed by a natural disaster can make you feel helpless, take back control by starting a crowdfunder to help you get back on your feet.

Crowdfunding enables you to tell your story and lets people know why you need their help. GoFundMe offers a quick and easy way to raise funds.

Start helping victims today

If you would like to help victims of floods you can start a GoFundMe today.

Creating a campaign couldn’t be easier, with the click of a button you can share your story and why you want to help. Share your campaign on social media platforms and let your friends and family know how they can support flood victims too.

Our experts are on hand to offer 24-hour help and advice and you can use our mobile app to check in on your fundraising progress on the move.

Set up your GoFundMe

The post How to Get Help for Flood Victims in Ireland appeared first on GoFundMe (IE).

When it comes to wheelchairs this is the case. There are currently around 1.2 million wheelchair users in the UK. Two thirds of them are regular users. The average cost of a wheelchair comes in at around  £150, with this price quickly escalating to up to £1000 if the person requires any additional adjustments to the chair to suit their needs. That’s a lot of money.

The good news is that there is a way for people to get access to the wheelchair funding they need, if they are prepared to think outside the box and try their hand at wheelchair fundraising by crowdfunding online.

Start a fundraiser

Help from government resources

In the UK, we are lucky to have the National Healthcare System, which offers support to people who may not be able to meet the cost of funding for a wheelchair. 

• If you have a disability and need a wheelchair you can apply for one under the NHS. Wheelchair users can do this by asking their GP for a wheelchair assessment to determine what type of chair they need. Under the NHS you can go about getting a wheelchair one of two ways, by either buying or borrowing one.
• If you need a wheelchair for a short amount of time, for example after an operation, it can be possible to borrow a wheelchair from the NHS. However, if you require your chair for a longer period, or for life, you will need to buy one. 
• If you have a disability and live in the UK, you are entitled to a government benefit called Personal Independence Allowance (PIP) which can range from  £23.20 to £148.85 a week if you’re aged 16 or over and have not reached State Pension age.
• If you are under 16 and living with a disability you can apply for the Disability Living Allowance. This allowance may help with the extra costs of looking after a child who is under 16 and has difficulties walking or needs much more looking after than a child of the same age who does not have a disability.

The government also offers the Armed Forces independence allowance and the War Pensioners Mobility for army veterans who may need a wheelchair.

Organisations that provide assistance

For those who may struggle to meet the cost of a wheelchair, there is the option of opting into the Motability Scheme. The mobility scheme allows people to exchange disability benefits to pay for a wheelchair and allows funding for wheelchair accessible vehicles. 

You can use the Motability Scheme if you get:

• Higher Rate Mobility Component of the Disability Living Allowance
• Enhanced Rate Mobility Component of PIP
• Armed Forces Independence Payment
• or the War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement

However, depending on which type of wheelchair the individual needs, the mobility scheme may not cover all the costs.

Charities that can help with funding a wheelchair

There are a number of organisations who offer help for people in need of a wheelchair, one of which is the charity Motability. 

Motability is one of the organisations behind the motability scheme, but also offers financial help to those who may need a more advanced wheelchair. The charity offers grants for people who would otherwise be unable to meet the cost of a wheelchair.

The walkabout foundation also provide different types of wheelchairs to suit individual needs. 

Depending on your age and needs, there are various charities across the UK designed to help people get access to the equipment they need.

Fundraising for a wheelchair

When it comes to fundraising it can be difficult to know where to start, fortunately there are many ways including crowdfunding to raise wheelchair funds.

Throw a fundraiser

Throwing a fundraiser can be fun and give you a chance to come together with your family and friends whilst also raising money for a wheelchair.

There are so many different types of fundraising events to choose from. Try a pub quiz, a school raffle or even a sponsored silence, there is no limit to what you can do. 

You could even ask a local business to sponsor you in exchange for promotion to drum up some extra cash.

Get in touch with a charity

As stated above, there are many charities who offer support to people in need of a wheelchair. Why not write them a letter explaining your situation and see what help they can offer you. Alternatively, give them a call and ask them about how they can support you.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is an excellent way to cover the cost of a wheelchair. It gives you the opportunity to tell your story and let people know why you need their help. GoFundMe offers a  quick and easy way to raise funds.

William is a 14-year-old with cerebral palsy. He is also a talented wheelchair basketball player. William is currently crowdfunding on GoFundMe for a new wheelchair that will help him maximise his performance on the court. So far he has raised over £2000 in donations.

Crowdfunding doesn’t just have to be about wheelchairs. It can also be a platform to raise funds for the other costs that come when using a wheelchair in everyday lives, for example wheelchair accessible vehicles or wheelchair accessible living spaces.

Mairead and Aoibheann are sisters from Ireland. Without much warning both sisters were diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder which left them unable to walk and reliant on a wheelchair. Thanks to generous donations from the public to their GoFundMe campaign they were able to adapt their home to make it wheelchair accessible and allow them to live an independent life.

Start fundraising for a wheelchair today

So, what are you waiting for? Take matters into your own hands and start a GoFundMe today.

Creating a campaign couldn’t be easier, with the click of a button you can share your story on your social media platforms and let your friends and family know how they can support you.

GoFundMe has no hidden fees which means you can make the most of every donation you recieve.

Our experts are on hand to offer 24-hour help and advice and you can use our mobile app to check in on your fundraising progress on the move.

Start a GoFundMe

The post How to Pay for the Cost of a Wheelchair appeared first on GoFundMe (IE).