If you go to our homepage at GiveSendGo.com you’ll notice various trending campaigns, most of which have gone viral on social media and have raised a substantial amount of money. And all of those campaigns started off in the same way - one person saw a need and believed they could make a difference in their community by using GiveSendGo. And you can too!
Our mission has always been to share the hope of Jesus through crowdfunding, but now we want YOU to use GiveSendGo to share hope with those around you. Here are 5 ways you can use GiveSendGo to make a difference in your community.
Disaster Relief
When you think of crowdfunding you probably think of fundraising for the relief and support of a community recently affected by a natural disaster. GiveSendGo is never short of these types of campaigns. We can’t control when a natural disaster like a hurricane, tornado, wildfire, etc. is going to strike, but when it does rest assured GiveSendGo will be there for you to raise money for your affected community.
Food for Shut-Ins
Sometimes you may have to look a little harder for things in your community you can help with. Ask around and I bet you’ll find that even your community has people who are stuck at home and need your help to get food and other supplies. But these basic needs are often expensive (eggs alone more than doubled in price), not to mention buying for several shut-ins.
Start a GiveSendGo campaign and share it with those in your community! Before no time you’ll have raised the money you need to help the shut-ins in your community without breaking the bank.
Church Fundraiser
Maybe your church is raising money to replace the pews, put in a new parking lot, or take a team on a mission trip. Whatever the cause, GiveSendGo is a simple solution to your church’s needs. In fact, this is how GIveSendGo began! When first launched almost () years ago, we were much smaller than we are today, we started as a platform for Christian causes, especially mission trips. Now, GiveSendGo has extended its purpose far beyond just Christian crowdfunding, but our mission remains the same - to share hope - and we hope you do the same in your community!
Grade School or College/University
If you’ve lived long enough you’ve probably had a child come knocking on your door asking if you could buy some candles, cookies, or candy for their school fundraiser. And every item is always double if not triple what you’d be willing to pay if you saw it in a store. But how could you say no to that adorable face, right? Next time, instead of purchasing out of a guilty conscience, reach out to the school and suggest they start a GiveSendGo campaign the community can donate to instead. Or, with the school’s permission, start a campaign to collect donations in your community for a current school fundraiser. If there’s a college or university in your community, there’s almost always a need for fundraising whether it’s for students studying abroad or going on an educational trip, a better volleyball net, or their annual booster banquet. Call around and see what you can start a campaign on GiveSendGo for.
Community Project and Events
Has your community recently announced they want to repair a bridge, build a new library, or they’re hosting a community-wide event? Sometimes the city has enough money for its projects and other times they ask for donations from the community to make their project happen. See if they’ll allow you to start a fundraiser on GiveSendGo to streamline the donation process and make it easily shareable on their social media pages.But not every community project is led by or thought of by the city. Maybe it’s something you personally want to do or need to do to improve and support your community.
Here at GiveSendGo, we’ve seen it all! Right now there are people on our site raising money to build a shooting range in their town, purchase a vehicle to start a local taxi service, support a struggling farm, buy Christmas presents for kids in their community later this year, and even purchase books and supplies for a school classroom.Whether big or small there’s always a need in your community that you can help with!
Who knew crowdfunding could feel so good?
“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to do it.” - Proverbs 3:27
Hospital visits, surgeries, ambulance rides, physical therapy, and other health related treatments or resources can all be costly medical expenses. People worldwide live with the burden of paying off these bills all while trying to help their bodies heal. Both are stressful and can take a toll on any individual or family. Some people go without getting medical help at all, even though they might desperately need it, simply because they can’t afford it.
GiveSendGo serves as a resource for anyone who’s looking to raise money to pay off their medical bills or help a loved one with their medical expenses. Money shouldn’t be the determining factor as to whether you receive medical help or not, so here are some fundraising tips to help pay off these expenses easier.
1. GiveSendGo Campaign
You never know when a medical emergency, surgery, or illness may happen. With the right treatments and medicines you can work on getting better, but it typically costs a pretty penny to get medical care of any kind. Even planned medical treatments or care can cost a lot of money. This is why GiveSendGo has several families and individuals using our platform to create fundraising campaigns to raise money for their medical expenses, unexpected or not. If you or anyone you know is looking to raise funds for their medical bills, whether immediate or in the future, we encourage you to use our platform as a resource to help you raise that money more effectively!
Just like with any other campaign, it’s important to tell your story and explain your situation on your GiveSendGo campaign page. With this specifically, you want to communicate the details of what you’ll be needing the money for. Explain what the money you’ll be raising will be going towards such as medications, treatments, therapy, wheelchairs, etc. You don’t have to share every detail, especially sensitive details you want to keep private, but it’s important to explain the important things to your potential backers. Additionally, include any details on donating and other ways people can support you, your loved ones, or your family throughout this situation. You should also include specific amounts people can give, so they don’t have to guess what you need, such as $50, $100, $150 - you get the picture!
Once you’ve shared your story, share your campaign as much as you can with your family, friends, social media community, church family, co-workers, and your local community. Share it on your social media sites, send the campaign url through email to relatives and co-workers, and text the campaign url to your closest friends and family. The best way to raise funds to help pay for those costly medical expenses is to spread awareness and get as many people involved as you can, so don’t be shy with that share button!
2. Virtual or In-Person Walkathon or 5K
Virtual 5K’s and walkathons are becoming more and more popular in today’s day and age! With this fundraising method, you can get in some healthy exercise, while raising the money you need, all at the same time!
Now, if you’re in the hospital or have been advised not to walk, run, or take part in any exercise of this kind then this method probably isn’t for you to also be participating in. However, if you are able to move around in this capacity, or you’re a loved one fundraising one someone else’s behalf, then start inviting friends, family, co-workers, church family, and even your community to walk or run with you in a virtual or in-person 5K or walkathon! Due to the flexibility of this fundraising method, even if you aren’t able to be there in person due to your health, this event allows people to run or walk on your behalf.
All this method takes, whether it’s in person or virtual, is for people to pledge certain amounts of money based on how far they run or walk. That walking or running course can either be preplanned by you or a loved one in-person, or if it’s a virtual event, it can be a course mapped out by the runner or walker in their area. Whatever each person decides to pledge, based on the distance they ran or walked, they can donate directly to your GiveSendGo campaign page!
3. Used Book Sale
A used book sale is a wonderful way to get your community involved in your fundraising! Ask your friends, family, co-workers, church family, and community to donate any books they’re wanting to get rid of to your cause. You can also reach out to your local library and see if there’s any books they’re wanting to discard or are selling for a low price. They may even just donate them to you! It’s also worthwhile to stop by any local thrift stores to pick up cheap books they’re selling for a low price. (Many places like this will sell you a bundle of books for only a couple of dollars).
Once you’ve spent some time collecting as many books as possible, you can set up a book sale (much like a garage sale) and invite everyone you know (as well as those in your community) to come buy books at your book sale! You’ll be surprised how many books you can sell, especially at a fraction of the cost most book stores would sell them for. Whatever money you raise can then go directly towards your medical expenses!
4. Writing Letters
Writing fundraising letters is a great way to let people know what your situation is and ask for support. It’s such a popular method, it’s used to raise money for all sorts of causes.
Start by collecting the addresses of family, friends, church members, co-workers, and more. Then, write a letter explaining your, or your loved one’s, medical situation and your fundraising needs. If you or your loved one needs money for surgery expenses, ambulance rides, crutches, a wheelchair, rehab, etc. communicate that in the letter. People are more apt to help if they know what they’re helping with, so be sure to include all the details they’ll need to know. Also share specific amounts people can donate such as $50, $100, $200, etc. People don’t like guessing how much they should donate, so adding those specific amounts (as well as mentioning what your end monetary goal is) will be helpful to them.
You can also include the link to your GiveSendGo campaign, so they can give directly to you online! We live in a time where people are more prone to giving online rather than through cash or check, so this is a great way to include another donation option.
Lastly, if you want to go the extra mile, include another stamped envelope with the already sealed letter, so it’s easy for them to put their money in the new envelope and send it off as quickly as possible. The more convenient you make it for people, the more donations you’re likely to receive!
5. Potluck Dinner
Who doesn’t love a good potluck? Churches especially will find any excuse to hold a potluck, so why not ask your local church if they’d be willing to host a potluck dinner as a fundraiser for you? Members of the church will already be invited, as well as any of your friends and family. You now have an opportunity to personally explain your situation and ask for donations. (This is also a great time to implement some of the other, smaller, fundraising methods mentioned throughout this article). Church families love to swoop in and support those they know, so this method is a great way to make your needs known and enjoy a meal with people you care about!
6. Collect Change
If you’re like me, you have change lying around your house, your car, probably in your dryer, and somewhere in your purse or wallet. Most of the time this change just floats around and gets lost, so why not ask your friends, family, community, and church family to collect all their loose change and donate it towards your medical expenses?
Better yet, if you know people who want to donate their extra change, give them a container they can collect their money in. As an added personal touch, add a custom title or hashtag representing your situation on the container. Then, let everyone know what their deadline is (the day you’ll be collecting their change) and allow people to save up their money until that date. Pocket change may not seem like a lot, but once you add it all together you’ll be surprised by just how much money you can raise to cover medical expenses with this method! And, it’s so easy due to its minimal planning or resources!
7. Host a Game Night
Game nights, similar to trivia nights, are highly effective! Invite your family, friends, community, co-workers, and church family to your event. Be sure to communicate to those thinking of attending that your event is a fundraiser to pay for you, or a loved one’s, medical expenses. Then, charge a set amount per table or per person. This allows people to come as a group or for people to attend and play games at any table. Whatever works best with your game night event!
All you really need for this event are a variety of board games and maybe some snacks and drinks for people to enjoy while they play (which you can also charge money for). Games like chess, UNO, Clue, checkers, Monopoly, Sorry, dominoes, LIFE, and Phase 10 are all great games to include at your event, but you can really bring whatever games you think those in attendance will enjoy playing!
Also, make sure to secure your event space ahead of time. If you’re a member of a local church, ask if you can use one of their buildings to host your event. You may even get to use it for free!
8. Envelope Fundraiser
This fundraising method can be easily implemented into any fundraising event you may be hosting or you can do it completely on its own! It’s also affordable and incredibly low maintenance. Buy a pack of envelopes at your local store, label them 1-100 or 1-150 (you get the idea) and hang them up on a cardboard presentation board or on a corkboard.
Then, let your backers choose an envelope and insert the cash corresponding to that number directly in the envelope. Now cross out that envelope’s number to show the remaining amounts left to donate to. You can also simply keep the envelopes in a box and carry it around with you. With this method you can easily raise more than you spend, so have fun with it!
9. Read-a-Thon
If you love reading or know people who do, this fundraising method may be for you! Encourage your friends, family, co-workers, community, and church family to read as much as they can in one month, or to pledge money for the amount of books or pages each participant reads. Whatever part people play in this challenge, they’ll be helping to support you! You can set goals such as pledging $50 for five books read, or $100 for 3,000 pages read.
This method can be pretty flexible as you get to choose the goals and amounts people can donate. Then, ask people to donate their amounts straight to your GiveSendGo campaign page when those reading goals are met. This not only gets people’s minds active, but encourages participation from children and families! You can even offer the person who reads the most books or pages a prize at the end of the challenge!
Classes are in session for many schools around the nation! This means that many educational trips and opportunities to study abroad over the course of this school year will start becoming available for student’s consideration (if they haven’t already).
Students who have studied abroad or gone on an educational trip describe it as a unique, unforgettable experience everyone should get to do at some point in their lives. However, many students forgo these opportunities altogether simply due to the cost. Flights alone can cost a few hundred to a few thousand dollars depending on where you’re going, not to mention the cost of hotels, ground transportation, food, and other activities.
So, in the following 10 fundraising ideas, we will hopefully provide some tips to help you raise the money you need to take the trip of a lifetime!
1. Create a GiveSendGo Campaign
GiveSendGo has a lot of individuals and groups using our platform to raise money for their educational needs. If you click on our education campaign category, you’ll notice that we have a lot of educational campaigns and each campaign listed is unique, ranging anywhere from raising funds for the classroom, for an educational organization, for homeschooling, tuition, and more. If you or anyone you know is looking to raise funds for education, especially to study abroad to go on an educational trip we encourage you to use our platform as a resource to help you raise that money more effectively!
Just like with any other campaign, it’s important to tell your story. Be sure to share your heart and why you (and/or) your group is studying abroad or taking that educational trip. Share what you’ll be learning or studying while you’re there. Be as detailed as you can, so people can understand what you’ll be needing the money for. If the money is going to be used to cover flights, housing, food, or any other expenses be sure to explain that in your campaign. You can also include specific amounts they can give, so they don’t have to guess what you need, such as $50, $100, $150 - you get the picture.
Once you’ve shared your story, share your campaign as much as you can with your family, friends, social media community, church family, co-workers, and your local community. Share it on your social media sites, send the campaign url through email to relatives and co-workers, and text the campaign url to your closest friends and family. The best way to raise funds for your trip is to spread awareness and get as many people involved as you can, so don’t be shy with that share button. You can’t share it too much and you might even be surprised by the amount of people who want to help support you and your group on this journey!
You can also implement several of the following ideas into your GiveSendGo campaign or vice versa!
2. Letters To…
Sending letters is one of the easiest fundraising methods you can do. Just as we mentioned before with the GiveSendGo campaign, be detailed in your letter as to what you’ll be doing on your trip, what the money people will be sending will cover, and how their donation will be making a difference in your trip. Be sure to also include the various methods they can use to give. The best part about this method is that you can provide the url to your GiveSendGo campaign in the letter, so people have another option to give aside from sending cash or a check through the mail. If you feel stuck and aren’t quite sure what to say in your letter, you’re not alone! There are hundreds of templates online geared specifically towards how to write a fundraising letter about studying abroad or an educational trip to help get you started in writing your letter.
Once you’ve completed your letter, all you need to do is print it off, seal it in an envelope, and mail it off to you family, friends, church family, co-workers, community, professors, etc. For an extra personal touch, you can personally sign each letter before sealing it. Another tip is to include a stamped or plain envelope inside your letter. This makes it easier for the giver since they only have to send their money in your already stamped envelope, meaning you’re likely to receive more donations.
3. Sell Items Online or at a Garage/Yard Sale
If the weather outside is nice you can hold a garage sale or yard sale to help fundraise for your trip. Weeks before you plan to do the sale, ask your family, friends, church family, and community to donate items they no longer want to you for your sale. Whatever money you raise can then be put towards your trip. You can apply the same steps to an online sale if you choose that method instead. However, you should keep in mind if you sell items online you will be responsible for also mailing all of those items out as well and if you have larger items that might end up being more of a hassle on your part.
4. Do a Presentation for Your Church About Your Trip in Exchange for a Scholarship
This is a pretty common method also used for educational trips, studying abroad, and even mission trips if you’re a member of a church. Ask your church if they have any scholarships available or if they would be willing to either take up a love offering or donate money to your trip. If they say yes, you can offer to do a presentation on your experience for the church when you come back. This method not only gets you money for your trip, it also gives everyone the chance to hear about the trip they supported which is another way of thanking, or giving back, to those who donated and prayed for you!
5. Ask People to Donate their Frequent Flyer Miles
This method is starting to become more and more popular. Whether you’re studying abroad or taking an education trip, most likely you’ll need to pay for your own flights, which aren’t cheap. If you know friends or family members who travel a lot, or if people aren’t able to give you monetary donations, you can ask them to donate their frequent flyer miles. Sometimes these points even cover hotel stays.
6. $10 Destination Photos
People really enjoy having pieces of art to hang on their walls. This is especially true for photos and artwork that has special meaning to them. This fundraising method allows you to ask friends, family, co-workers, church family, etc. to prepay $10 for a photo, or per photo, from your trip. You could also charge extra if you plan on printing and framing those pieces when you return, but that’s up to you! Likewise you can charge $5 (prepaid before your trip) for a postmarked postcard sent from your destination. Just be sure to be intentional about taking decent photos while you’re gone and don’t forget! Now, everytime that person sees your picture on the wall, they’ll be reminded of how they helped support you!
7. Clean Houses or Do Yard Work Around Your Neighborhood
This is a great way to reach out to your community for donations in exchange for practical help inside or outside of their homes. There are a lot of people who need help with various projects around the house, whether it’s a job they need extra hands for, or they’re an elderly person who can’t do extensive labor. Use these opportunities to reach out to those in need around your community to clean homes, do yard work, build something, or just help out with whatever they need for a few hours in exchange for a donation for your trip. You’d be surprised how many people will take you up on your offer! This also gives you the opportunity to get to know people around your community or church too!
We’d suggest you dedicate a few hours each week to doing these jobs so you don’t take on more than you can handle. This method will earn you a few hundred dollars plus tips if you do a good job! Depending on how frequently you take up jobs like this, you could raise most of the money you need in just a few weeks!
8. Offer Private Lessons
If you have some extra time in your schedule and either a skill or knowledge you can share, offer lessons or even tutoring to raise some extra money for your trip. What’s great about this method is that you can take on students in your community and even online! You could teach violin, dance, or simply help out a student with their math or science. Either way, people will pay a pretty penny for someone they trust to teach them, or their child, something they’re interested in, especially if they know their money will also be supporting you too!
9. Custom Calendar
This is very similar to the destination photos method. However, this custom calendar idea might just be even simpler and more creative! Before leaving on your trip, explain to those interested in supporting you that while you’re away you’ll be taking pictures of your experience, which you will then be transforming into a custom calendar when you come home. Let them know that by donating to your GiveSendGo campaign or directly paying you, they’ll be preordering/prepaying for this unique calendar they’ll receive when you come home.
For this method, all you need is 12 good photos (or more) from your trip and you can start creating your custom calendar when you return from your trip. There are tons of websites out there that will allow you to create your own custom calendar with whatever photos you choose. Design your custom calendar, include your personal touches, and maybe even sneak in a “thank you!” to your supporters. Then, you can just send your calendars off to everyone who donated to you and your trip. Make sure to include another thank you note for their support along with your calendar!
10. Become an Uber or Lyft Driver
Although this method isn’t donation based, it’s a great way to earn some money towards your trip and also meet some new people! For this method to pan out, you’ll need a qualifying vehicle, sign-up for either Uber or Lyft, and make sure you’re verified to drive on their behalf. Once that’s settled, you can start earning money for your study abroad trip or educational trip.
