Donate with us on World Malaria Day 2023!

How to set up a fundraiser

For Canadian fundraisers, we recommend raising money through Charitable Impact using Giving Groups.  Like other common fundraising platforms, Giving Groups allow participants to create a fundraising page where people can learn more about your cause and donate. If you are not residing in Canada, you can still start a Charitable Impact fundraiser or donate to a Charitable Impact campaign, but you won’t be able to receive a tax-deductible receipt from Charitable Impact. 

Here’s how to create your very own fundraiser through Charitable Impact:

Step 1: Sign up for a Charitable Impact account

To create a fundraiser, you first need to have a Charitable Impact account. Simply go to Charitable Impact’s sign up page, enter your name and email, and choose a password. Then, confirm your email so you can use your Charitable Impact account. 

Step 2: Select the charity you’d like to fundraise for from the list below, and click the “Create Group” button on the right-hand side.

*Note: if you’re having trouble with this step, make sure you’re logged in before you click on the fundraiser. If you’ve already logged in, try refreshing the page, or closing the window and reopening the link below.

Here’s a list of RC Forward-endorsed charities and their Charitable Impact pages:

We’re always adding new charities to our platform. If you don’t see a charity on our Donate page on this list, let us know.

RC Forward also has several funds that donate money to charities that are doing effective work in impactful areas and can effectively use additional donations:

RC Forward is always happy to receive donations from fundraisers. You can set up a Giving Group through our Charitable Impact campaign.

Step 3: Follow the prompts to create your fundraising page. You’ll find that much of it is pre-filled, but feel free to add your own personal touch.

Step 4: Share your fundraiser!

Once you’ve created your fundraising group, it’s time to share it! You can share your Charitable Impact group by navigating to your Giving Group dashboard and clicking the share icon.

You can also invite friends and co-workers to fundraise with you by inviting them to be members of your group. From your group’s dashboard, click “Edit Group”, then click “Invite Members” on the top part of the page.

Tips for Creating a Successful Fundraiser

  • Ask family and friends to give to your fundraiser instead of buying gifts. Less spending on gifts = more money for them to donate to your cause! 
  • Email your friends, family, co-workers, acquaintances, and others in your social network. Fundraisers who use email can raise anywhere from 2 to 11 times more than those who don’t.
  • Spread the word on social media. One 2016 report found that social media was responsible for 35% of donations, and it still continues to be a key resource in fundraising in 2018. Facebook and Twitter are especially effective for sharing fundraising pages and campaigns.
  • Add updates to your fundraisers. Fundraisers who post updates can raise 7 to 18 times more than those who don’t. A short post every week or two can make a huge difference. 
  • Don’t be afraid to ask more than once! It’s easy for someone to ignore one social media post or email. Sometimes, it takes a few posts for someone to notice your fundraiser. Remind people about your fundraiser so that people don’t miss it. 
  • Make a Facebook event for your fundraiser. This makes it easy to invite people to donate and to easily notify people with updates, rather than just posting to your newsfeed.

For tips, tricks, and inspiration, check out this article on effective fundraising from a person who used his birthday to raise $5000 for an amazing charity, and this article by Charity Science about the impact of fundraisers. 

Templates for your Fundraiser

Not sure how to ask for donations? Here’s one email template for a fundraiser for the Schistosomiasis Control Initiative: 

“Hi [Person A]!

How are things? How are your kids doing? Over here, things are going really well. I just came back from a trip to Chicago, which was surprisingly beautiful and very cold. It snowed! The buildings were gorgeous and ornate though. It felt like I’d come to a steampunk city. [Note: start with something personal]

So I know we never really exchange gifts at holiday but I’m hoping you might be up for making an exception this year. The thing is, as I generally have way too much stuff already and I’d rather gift money go towards saving lives, so I’ve decided to run a birthday/holiday fundraiser in lieu of gifts.

All of the money I raise is going to give kids in the developing world medicine. Here’s the charity it’s for (LINK). Just $1.25 pays for the pill which treats them for an entire year. My goal is to raise $1,000, so that will treat 800 kids for a year. Would you like to help me reach this goal and donate to my campaign? Even just $10 would help eight kids. [Note: saying even just a small bit helps makes it so people can donate just a little and feel OK about it. Makes them know that what they can contribute matters] To donate you can just go to this link (LINK) If not, no worries. 🙂

Thanks and Happy Holidays!

[Insert name]

Here’s a template for a Facebook post. These can be short, sweet, and to the point — long posts are often overlooked — but being personal can also go along way. You can always add more information about the charity of your choice on your page itself.

In lieu of presents this year, I’m asking for donations to one of my favorite charities, [charity name]. [charity name] helps [short sentence on what they do]. I am extremely lucky to have everything I need already, so I don’t need anything for Christmas [/Hanukkah/my birthday/etc.]. But I know that many [people/animals] in the world lack the basic [necessities/healthcare/etc.], so I wanted to help out a cause that’s important to me. 

Donating is easy, and every little bit makes a difference! To read more about [charity] and donate, check out my fundraising page: [Link to your page]

Feel free to add a picture to your post as well! Photos often make Facebook posts more interesting and appealing.