Which is scarier? 13.1 miles or asking for donations?

This is the first of three posts on fund-raising tips.

I met a lot of first-timers at the Gilda’s Gang kick-off last month, and I suspect that many of you are like I was the first time out. The thought of doing 13.1 miles was daunting but the challenge of meeting my fund-raising goal was really scary.

Let me let you in on a little secret. Your fund-raising boils down to this one simple thing: You gotta ask. Whatever your reason for joining Gilda’s Gang, you’ve got a great story to tell. Just tell it and the folks who know you and love you will respond.

Over the next three days, I’m going to offer some fund-raising tips to help make your fund-raising easy, fun and – most importantly – successful.

It all starts with setting up your First Giving fund-raising page. The link to that page is the most valuable tool in your toolkit because it ties to everything else you do online. Make your page personal with a photo and your story about why you are doing this and why supporting Gilda’s is important to you.

The greatest advantage of an online giving page is that it is easy to share and convenient for donors to use. A donor is much more likely to give if they can click on a link while they are thinking about it, versus writing a check, addressing an envelope, finding a stamp and walking to the mailbox.

Consider:

• Writing a personal email to all your contacts about your participation in the Gang and include the link to your First Giving page.

• Adding a short message with the link to your First Giving page to your email signature.

• Sending emails at several points during training to update your email list about your progress, always including “an ask” for support with the link to the First Giving page.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about leveraging social media platforms such as Facebook in your fund-raising efforts. In the meantime, if you have any questions about your fund-raising or setting up your First Giving page, give Deb a shout at the Clubhouse. She’ll be more than happy to help.