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Online fundraising via DonationTo.comis one of the best methods of ensuring a fully funded campaign; however, setting realistic goals is imperative. In many cases, both individuals and businesses who are running a fundraiser place too much of an emphasis on receiving all of the money immediately. Although it would of course be more desirable to reach the overall goal quickly, setting too high of an initial goal may actually discourage people who would have otherwise signed up to donate online.

At DonationTo.com we have stressed the importances of goals in the past. We thought this issue was important enough to go into more detail about setting the appropriate goals and planning fundraising in phases.

So what’s the best course of action when attempting to collect 100K during your online fundraising? Many people would post an online fundraiser asking their donors to help them reach their 100K goal, but a way to raise money online that will add more value is to start off asking for a less amount. Rather than ask for 100K over the course of the next 12 months, ask instead for 18K over the next month. While you would actually only need to raise approximately $8,300 per month to hit your overall goal, going for 18K will allow you more room for error. For example, let’s say your first phase falls flat, and you only collect $5,000. You’ll actually only be about $3,300 in the hole, and you’ll be able to take what you learned from the first phase of the campaign to improve upon the second phase. One of the major perks of doing a segmented fundraiser is you constantly have time to reevaluate and implement new fundraising ideas. DonationTo.com is a advocate of this segmented approach for those with large fundraising goals as each step of the way becomes a new learning experience!

When you’re trying to decide how to fundraise properly for your specific needs, it’s best to consider the impact that a failed campaign will have on those who did decide to donate online. Participating in an unsuccessful fundraiser is very frustrating for donors, and it will be much more difficult to convince them to donate again in the future. People are also much more likely to respond to your attempts to raise money online if they feel that you’re close to meeting your goal. In the 100K example, let’s say that you’re using the money to completely redo a community center. When you set the initial goal at 18K, you need to let potential donors know exactly what that money will be used for. That way, when someone logs on and see that you’re only $2,000 away from building the computer room, they’ll feel more compelled to help you reach that goal. Be specific and use obtainable short term goals to ensure that your followers will feel more involved and become emotionally involved with your cause like you are. When this happens they will be much more likely to become donors who share your cause with friends and family!

In conclusion lets remember a few simple tips

- Goals are important, this creates a sense of urgency for supporters.

- When explaining your goal be specific, give supportes a clear emotional reason why they are helping.

- Goals keep you and your team on track. Make sure you don’t bite off more you can chew by creating goals that are large in dollar amount and last over 12 months.

- If you want to raise large amounts, try breaking your fundraising campaigns into different phases.

- Breaking fundraising campaigns into phases enables your team to increase the success rate but also increase findings from the campaigns: what is working what is not.

- If you fail, it is ok. Learn from your results and try new things!

A significant thought on crowdfunding of succes is the correct setting of goals. To crowd fund with no loss of donations, subscribe to our donation website and start your crowdfunding marathon.

Looking for additional fundraising tips check out these other links: How to Receive Online Donations with 5 Email Tips, How to Fundraise Successfully with DonationTo, How to Keep 100% of Donations with DonationTo, How to Receive Online Donations in 6 Tips, How to Ask for Help in Fundraising

Thanks again! From the DonationTo Team!!

The Fast Way to Fundraise Online

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