Raising awareness about your online charitable raffle can greatly contribute to its success. There are many simple and effective ways to raise awareness about your charitable cause without breaking the bank. The key is to attract audience attention, retain it, and engage with them to get them involved with your cause. In this article, we will discuss eight ways you can spread the word about your cause while running an online raffle-based fundraiser.
Tips to raise awareness for your cause while running an online raffle
1. Promote the cause on social media while sharing the jackpot
Online raffles such as 50/50 and Catch the Ace attract donors because they allow supporters to win exciting and life-changing amounts while helping them make a difference. The jackpot is usually a marketable incentive because it keeps growing in size as these raffles are typically repeated weekly or monthly, thus presenting several opportunities to promote awareness about your cause.
Raising awareness about your online charitable raffle can greatly contribute to its success. There are many simple and effective ways to raise awareness about your charitable cause without breaking the bank. The key is to attract audience attention, retain it, and engage with them to get them involved with your cause. In this article, we will discuss eight ways you can spread the word about your cause while running an online raffle-based fundraiser.
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2. Write a press release
Writing a press release about your online charity raffle and sharing it with the local press and online PR services is another great way to raise awareness about your cause. It not only helps you get the word out about your online raffle but allows more people to learn about your charity or nonprofit and what it stands for. Moreover, getting associated with local journalists and the press in general also lends credibility to your nonprofit, especially if it was recently established or isn’t widely known.
3. Introduce challenges for the audience to participate in
We all likely remember the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge that surfaced on social media a few years ago and kept popping onto our feeds. It grew on to become one of the greatest awareness success stories in history and ended up raising more than $115 million for ALS research after it began in 2014. Not only did the Ice Bucket Challenge help spread the word about this progressive neuromuscular disease, it also added a fun twist to a serious topic thereby encouraging thousands of people around the world to participate. Introducing a quirky challenge for your audience is an excellent way to promote your cause and attract more participation for your online raffle-based fundraiser.
4. Hold social media contests
Social media contests go a long way in helping garner much-needed traction for your online charity raffle and are a great way to spread the word about your cause. Photo and video contests help amass user-generated content thus giving your account higher credibility for new followers. Another common way to hold social media contests is to host a ‘comment, like, and tag to win’ contest. Create a social media post that links to your online charitable raffle and then select a winner at random. You can also get a local business on board to sponsor a prize or gift card.
5. Give swag to winners of mini-contests
Swag are personalized giveaways that can also become great items to give to winners of mini-contents. These include trinkets such as stickers, buttons, bookmarks, mugs, t-shirts and the like. The best thing about these giveaways is that as they are branded for your charity, they turn into items for organic promotion as people use them or sport them around town — thus building brand/cause awareness.
6. Offer volunteering opportunities at your nonprofit
While a lot of people may not (yet) be interested in or able to financially support your cause, they may still be happy to offer support in other ways. When you’re running an online charity raffle, it’s a good idea to offer options for volunteering opportunities in areas of marketing, social media, graphic design, copywriting, etc. to offload some of the burden. It also gives supporters first-hand experience into the inner workings of your nonprofit and charitable organization and better equips them to spread the word about your online charity raffle.
7. Share donor and volunteer stories on social media
Stories are a powerful medium to elicit the desired action from your audience. Sharing donor and volunteer stories on social media humanizes your campaigns and adds a personal touch to them. Human beings are acutely impacted by stories which is why storytelling needs to be an important part of your fundraiser and cause promotions. Weave in stories about donors who created major impact for your communities and volunteers that helped make key events successful.
8. Sell merchandise
By creating and selling custom merchandise for your online raffle, you essentially broadcast your message to the world. It literally turns your supporters into walking signboards for your online charity raffle. A smart strategy is to not buy the merchandise in bulk, but instead only get limited stock and once sold out, place a new order. Alternatively, you can also use a t-shirt fundraising platform that is free to use and allows you to only print what you sell.
There are many other ways to raise awareness for your online charitable raffle but the ones mentioned here are easy as well as inexpensive. It is best to start your awareness campaign well before your online charity raffle launches and continue running various campaigns throughout its lifetime to generate more buzz and more funds for communities that rely on your support.
