How to Write Stellar Copy for Your Fundraising Page

A well-timed and executed fundraising campaign can help your sports team get a financial boost right when they need it. Whether you urgently need new equipment or you need to renew the lease for your match and training venues, fundraising can help you meet your goals.

But, before you launch your fundraising campaign and start to spread the word, you need to create a page on your website that will have all the necessary details. You also need to convince visitors, fans, sponsors, and anyone else who wants to donate that your fundraiser is worth donating to, which means you will need stellar copy. In today’s blog post, we’re sharing the tips and tricks you need to write eye-catching (and convincing) copy for your fundraising page.

How to Create a Stellar Fundraising Page

Creating a stellar fundraising page starts with some thoughtful planning and research before actually sharing the reason for your campaign and all the details related to it. Here’s how to do it right to ensure you meet your fundraising goal.

Plan and Research First

Before doing anything else, you should dedicate some time to planning your campaign and researching other successful fundraising campaigns to use as inspiration.

Start by deciding what the main purpose of your campaign is. You might have several ideas in your head, but trying to fulfill all your goals in one campaign can dilute it and make it more confusing for potential donors.

Once you focus on one goal, you need to decide on the duration of your campaign and choose a realistic deadline by which you need to gather the necessary funds.

The last part of this phase is to do some Internet sleuthing and see what kind of fundraising campaigns other sports teams have going on and learn from their examples. You can see how long they run the campaign for, what ways of donating they support, and how they promote their campaign on social media as well as what type of incentives they offer to people who donate.

Share the Purpose

Once you have a plan in place, it’s time to start putting your fundraising page together. You’ll want to share the purpose of your campaign at the beginning so potential donors immediately know what this page is about and why you are trying to raise the money.

Consider briefly sharing what your team does and how it was founded. Then, you can transition into specifying why you need the funds and how the funds will be used. Include a call-to-action that clearly tells visitors what action you want them to take and provide a clear description of different ways to contribute to your campaign.

Make It Personal

As you’re writing the copy for your fundraising page, don’t forget to include your team’s personality and voice. If you inject your personality and show why this matters to your team, you will be able to connect with potential donors on an emotional level, which will help you achieve your goal.

Consider including photos and videos that show your team’s human side and share your team’s story.

Show Your Gratitude

Showing people that you appreciate their support can go a long way toward encouraging them to make a donation. There are a couple of ways to show your appreciation.

You can include a “Thank You” message at the bottom of your fundraising page that will thank potential donors in advance.

Another way is to consider updating your fundraising page to include individual thank-you notes to people who contributed to your cause during the duration of your campaign.

If you want to take it to the next level, consider tweeting out a “Thank you” tweet and including the donors’ Twitter handle. This serves as a subtle reminder and promotional message that encourages your followers to go check out your fundraiser and contribute themselves.

Photo Credit: Aaron Burden

Use Action Words

Throughout your copy, use action words to drive more donations. Action words are nothing more than verbs that describe an act and in this case, will create a sense of urgency and importance in your calls-to-action.

Action words should be used in the title, description, and any updates to your fundraising campaign. Here are a few things to keep in mind for each part of your copy:

  • Come up with a catchy title that will grab your visitor’s attention and encourage them to click through to your fundraising page.
  • Use several calls-to-action throughout the campaign description, preferably one near the beginning and one at the end. Keep the calls to action short and specific and don’t be afraid to try different text formatting so they are easily noticeable.
  • Lastly, you’ll want to update your fans and supporters on the progress of your campaign and also encourage to remain involved. They can help you spread the word and even donate again so you’ll want to make sure to use action words here as well.

Be Concise

Keep in mind to keep the copy concise. You don’t have to share the entire team history in depth nor do you have to provide a detailed, line-item description how the funds will be used. Sharing the why and the what is necessary but long paragraphs of text might have the opposite effect and drive donors away.

Instead, take advantage of the other pages on your site and link to them as necessary to provide more context.

Brainstorm an Incentive

A good way to encourage people to donate is to brainstorm and provide an incentive when you can. For example, you could share a social media update with the donor’s name or a link to their website like we’ve mentioned earlier. You could also offer to have their name printed on your team’s jersey or displayed on a banner during one of your games.

Proofread Everything

Once you have written the copy for your fundraising page, let it sit for a day and then come back to it with fresh eyes. Look for any typos and grammatical errors and correct them. The last thing you want is to ruin a good first impression by having a glaring error somewhere on your page.

Promote With Social Media and Email

Lastly, once your fundraising campaign is live, promote it on your social media channels and send an email to your list. Doing so will give the campaign initial attention and trigger the first donations. Then, continue promoting your campaign on social media to keep it fresh and ask your fans and followers to help you spread the word.

Wow Your Donors With an Awesome Fundraising Page

Creating an awesome fundraising page with effective copy will help you impress potential donors and convince them that your fundraising campaign is worth donating to. Use the tips in this article to create your page and market your fundraising campaign. Don’t forget to download our cheatsheet with all the steps above so you can reference it when you need to.

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