Today we received a question from Amy from Sydney, NSW. Her questions is:

“How should I determine my goal? Is there a limit or minimum?”

Creating a fundraising page for medical expenses is easy. One of the first components that you will be asked to fill in is the online fundraising goal. This is the amount of money that you want to reach. There is no specific minimum or maximum however it is important to understand that setting a goal of $50.00 will not encourage your supporters to donate as your goal is too small. On the other end, setting it as $100,000 with no explanation of how the money will be used is not helpful for your supporters as well.

Here are 3 tips to help you make a well informed online fundraising goal.

1. Tangible Goals With Clear Intentions

When making an online fundraising goal, it is important to have goals that can be reached through the use of donations given by supporters. It is difficult to measure for example, how much money is needed for your loved one to feel happy, but it is easier to measure the amount of donations needed for medical treatment.

Having a clear understanding of the intention of using donations for a special cause or reason can help get you more donations. For example, ‘to cover medical bills’ might be board for your donors to understand. However, if you rephrase your goal and be more specific like ‘$34,000 for special education for my child who has Autism’, your chances of donations will increase. In this example you can understand that there is a tangible goal that the fundraiser would like to reach. When you reach the amount you require, you can then provide an update on your child being enrolled in school and his/her progress in school. This is a tangible outcome that can be accounted for and one that supporters are more willing to support.

2. How Do You Define Success

There is not one right definition of success as we all define success very differently. When setting up your fundraising goal, ensure that you reflect on:

– What would make you feel that you’ve accomplished your goal?

– What is realistic?

– And what do you need?

Understanding your answers to these questions will help guide you to the right path of setting up your fundraising goal.

3. What Will Keep Me Motivated To Fundraise?

Once you understand what you need, you can then work out how to get to your goal. For example, if you are a cancer patient and what you need at the moment is support to cover the loss of salary caused by ongoing treatment and rest, you can then work out how what amount of donations will help cover all the costs for your family while you undergo your battle with cancer.

Being clear on your goals and why you need them can help give you the motivation you need to continuously promote and share your story to your network. Keeping active as a fundraiser means you have more chances of connecting with your supporters and getting more donations to reach your goal. We understand that spending hours on end fundraising online can mean hours apart from your loved ones or days absent from work. Therefore, it is important to ensure that your donation is enough for you to continue your efforts.

The People Pledge team would like to say good luck to all Australians who are fundraising for their loved ones. The best examples and tips are always from the fundraisers themselves and therefore, we would like to ask, What fundraising goal did you set and how did you reach this goal? We look forward to hearing from you and hope to be able to share your ideas and tips to other online fundraisers.