You started a cause. You recruited a good crew of people. Now, you’re starting to ask the question: How do I get those people to donate? The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) is asking the same question and brought Microsoft in to match all donations made to their cause at www.causes.com/gimmeshelter. They did a lot of things right – they sequenced the campaign well by focusing on recruiting and increasing their membership before they started fundraising and they provided a compelling reason why their members should donate now instead of later (by making a matching donation with a deadline). The campaign has brought in just over $1,000 so far and they have 44 days left to raise the other $9,000. So, here are the 4 pieces of advice I gave to UNHCR, which are also useful for any other nonprofit or cause working on fundraising:

1) Focus on Birthday Wish. The Birthday Wish feature has been an increasingly effective fundraising tool. 121,000 members of a cause means 121,000 birthdays this year. The average Birthday Wish is raising about $100, so if even 10% of the cause members donate their birthday to the cause, they could raise $1,210,000 this year. That’s more than one million dollars from Birthday Wishes! One idea for a Birthday Wish campaign is to have your Executive Director, a celebrity who works with you, or your star volunteer create a Birthday Wish. Then send an announcement asking everyone in the cause to either create their own Birthday Wish if their birthday is in the next 30 days, or donate to the one you are featuring! If you are the administrator of a cause, go to the Birthday Wish tab in your Admin Center for a customized link to create a Birthday Wish for your cause.
2) Post great announcements (and don’t be shy about posting them). Post an announcement when the fundraising goal begins detailing why your members should give now and what impact their money will have. Follow up with announcements at least once a week to: update your members on progress toward your goal, recognize donors and fundraisers, focus more on the impact of donations, or focus on how much time is left before the deadline. Don’t forget to post another announcement when the fundraising goal is complete to close the loop—congratulate the cause and thank everyone who donated. If you didn’t reach your goal, be transparent with the cause members, ask for their input, and thank the people who did donate. Remember, long-term success is all about building a relationship and trust with the community.
3) Offer a prize or incentive for the top donors or fundraisers. You could structure the competition to reward those who donate or fundraise the most, those who donates over a certain dollar threshold, or anyone who donates through a raffle or sweepstakes model. You could do this on a daily basis or overall over the course of a campaign. We’ve seen contests and prizes work very well within the Causes application.
4) Get the Hall of Fame involved. Write a message to your top recruiters, top donors, and top fundraisers. In the case of this matching donation, many of them may not know about the exciting matching campaign, and even if they do, getting a personal note asking them to donate and fundraise can spur them to action. Do you think they need help fundraising? Be sure to let them know about their Action Center, which can be found under the “How You Are Helping” section of the cause. There is a “Raise Money” tab with lots of useful fundraising tools including a fundraising link that even non-Facebook members can donate through.