Setting Up a Dance Marathon Fundraising Page: 3 Smart Steps
Dance marathons are popular with large fundraising groups for a reason. They’re incredibly fun, social, and engaging events that bring together people from different walks of life that might not have much in common besides the interest in a specific nonprofit.
And, while the dance marathons themselves are super fun events, the majority of the fundraising is done before anyone steps foot on a dance floor.
This means that a proactive, scalable fundraising strategy is key.
Here are three fail-proof steps for setting up a winning dance marathon fundraising page:
Step 1: Leverage dance marathon fundraising software
The success of a dance marathon begins and ends with its fundraising software because it is a peer-to-peer fundraising event. P2P events rely on the networks of participants to raise money. In many dance marathons, the dancers themselves will have individual fundraising pages (more on this later) that supporters can donate to.
The first step in building the ultimate dance marathon fundraising page is to find the right software platform for your organization and its needs. At the very least, your software should have:
- A robust event registration interface to get new dancers signed up (whether they’re individuals or on a team), set them up with their own fundraising pages, and sign them in on the day of the event.
- A secure online giving site to direct all of your miscellaneous donors or new participants looking for information on how to get involved with your cause.
- Text-to-donate functionality to make it easy for mobile donors to support dancers in their network while helping out your cause.
Nonprofit fundraising software is a serious investment for a serious organization, which means it’s easier to look for all the functionality you need in a single platform rather than separate systems. Your donors – and your beneficiaries – will thank you!
Step 2: Create a custom dance marathon fundraising page
As we mentioned above, most dance marathons require dancers and participants to create their own custom dance marathon fundraising page.
This helps separate out donations and creates a sense of competition between dancers. Just make sure to reward the highest performer during your ceremony!
While each dancer is required to set up their own custom fundraising page, nonprofits can create a usable template to make it easier for dancers to get involved. That way, all they have to do is add in the relevant information and hit share. Here are a few best practices to keep in mind:
Include a spot for the participant’s picture.
Most supporters donating to a dancer’s fundraising page likely know the participant. This is why it’s always important to add a picture – it makes donating much more personal.
Let people tell their stories.
Many times, participants in a dance marathon have a reason for raising funds. Make sure your technology provides space on their fundraising pages to share their personal story with their donors.
Customize the pages with your nonprofit branding.
Simply put, add your organization logo and your dance marathon logo to every single page. Make sure people know your name, your mission and values, and the purpose of your organization.
Keep it short and sweet.
Nobody likes filling out forms, and when too many fields are required for an online donation donors are likely to leave and not come back. Cut down your donation form fields to create an easy giving experience and increase conversions.
Include donation suggestion buttons.
Social proof and influence are powerful human motivators – and making nonprofit donations is no exception.
- Instead of just giving donors one person to support, give them options. Make sure your software provides suggestions on others in their social networks that they might want to support.
- It’s an easy way to broaden reach and drive even more donations to your Dance Marathon event!
- Add a link to your event livestream so that even the people who aren’t there can still be involved (and even donate if they want).
Step 3: Share your dance marathon fundraising page with the world
Even if your fundraising page is the most well-designed page in the world, it’s not going to get any hits without the right promotion.
Because dance marathons are so well-ingrained P2P events, most of the corporate communication is already booked and scheduled.
This means success relies on participants and dancers themselves to share their fundraising pages with their networks and actually raise money.
Here are a few ideas to share with dancers to help them get their fundraising pages in front of as many eyes as possible:
Create mobile-responsive fundraising pages.
More and more donors are using mobile to make payments and donations. Additionally, because so much P2P traffic comes from social media, and a majority of social media is conducted via smartphone, having a mobile-optimized fundraising page can increase donations.
Allow dancers to connect their social channels.
A strong P2P campaign only works if dancers and participants leverage social media to the best of their ability. Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are all great places to start sharing.
Lean on innovation, like text-to-give.
With Text-to-Give functionality, your team can simply share a shortcode and a phone number with followers. Then, if you’re posting the right information on the right channels, donations will start pouring in!
Be on the lookout for matching gifts.
Matching gifts are a time-honored tradition of dance marathons. Instead of being needy about finding matching donations, start by matching smaller donations – or finding sponsors to help fill the gaps – and work your way up from there.
Target friends and family first.
Your family and friends are always going to be your number-one fans. Target them first (on social media and through email) to let them know what you’re up to and what you would like their donation to be.
But, all of these people have friends and family of their own. This is the first step in building a network and finding others who you might not know personally but are more than happy to donate.
Not Done? Keep learning with OneCause!
Need some more inspiration for your nonprofit’s dance marathon? Be sure to check out these additional resources!
