Medical fundraisers are just as successful as many people are encouraged to support for your cause. Sometimes even the best causes and of those in need do not meet their financial goals just because their word didn’t spread on the internet wide enough. Nowadays there are many causes and fundraisers and it is not easy to persuade people to donate for your cause, and that is what makes a campaign successful. People give a lot of money to charitable organizations and causes. Then again, there are a lot of hands out. More than a million charitable organizations and individuals are asking for those dollars, and many of these efforts end up being inefficient, even if they are well-meaning.

Everyone has heard on the famous Ice Bucket Challenge for donations on Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, or Movember, dedicated to awareness raising on prostate cancer, and while everybody aspires to have a viral campaign, in reality this isn’t that easy.

Even though there’s no way of knowing which campaign will go viral or not, there are key elements to such campaigns that help them being effective. Their initial success has a lot to do with the fact that they have a simple and fun concept, a grassroots appeal that people could easily engage with, while encouraging others to do the same.

Take your time to plan

One of the key steps is initial planning. This the time when you set up your goal, work on your message, target audience and time frame for your campaign. Instead of rushing your fundraiser, take time and develop your promotional strategy, carefully analyse your audience and prepare key message that will reach to them. You will also need a realistic time frame designed in such manner to keep your followers and supporters engaged during the whole fundraiser, as well as contingency plan in case something doesn’t go as planned.

Build a team of supporters

You will also need a team, which will help you with your fundraiser. This can be your family, friends or support group that will help you in spreading the story. One thing that makes such story viral is when people identify themselves in your story, and build it up with personal feelings and past experience. If possible you should grasp the opportunity and connect with people sharing your problem, medical condition and similar and ask for their support in your campaign. By this you are adding importance to your story, since it is no longer one person’s story, but rather a greater problem.

Ask for realistic donation amounts

Ask for little and make it easy to give. If you ask for financial donations from individuals it is much easier to ask for little from many. The odds are that 1000 people will give 1 dollar, rather than 1 person a 1000 dollars. And one of the key steps is to make it easy to give. One click away from donations always works better than making people leave their houses and go out to the bank and donate etc.

Where do you plan to fundraise and market your campaign?

And lastly, and perhaps most important, carefully choose your medium. Campaigns go viral on internet and social media, and social media campaign is a must for viral marketing. But traditional media add up to relevance and importance, so do not forget to send press releases and inform TV stations and newspapers as well.

References:

1) ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and other fundraising campaigns that went viral: http://www.torontosun.com/2014/08/20/als-ice-bucket-challenge-and-other-fundraising-campaigns-that-went-viral

2) Top 10 tips for capitalising on viral fundraising trends: http://www.fundingcentre.com.au/help/viral-fundraising

3) Five things that make a fundraising event go viral…: http://www.fundraisingdetective.com/fundraising-detective/2010/11/5-things-that-make-a-fundraising-event-go-viral.html

4) Loud and clear: fundraising campaigns that work: http://www.pria.com.au/priablog/loud-and-clear-fundraising-campaigns-that-work