Tips for Marketing and Hosting a Successful Food Bank Fundraiser
Here's the essential tips needed to market a successful food bank fundraiser, from effective promotion strategies to creative fundraising ideas.
Hosting a food bank fundraiser can have an incredible impact on your community. Think about all of the lives you can change with just one fundraiser!
Putting together a successful fundraiser can take time and planning, so here are some essential marketing and hosting tips to get you started.
Keep scrolling for:
- The 8 Best Tips for an Online Nonprofit Fundraiser
- 3 Professional Marketing Recommendations for Food Bank Fundraisers
- How to Elevate a Birthday Fundraiser or Special Event Fundraiser
The 8 Best Tips for an Online Nonprofit Fundraiser
You’re raising money for a great cause, so you want to do the best job possible. It’ll be so rewarding when you see the impact your fundraiser can make. A fellow student can be nourished enough to focus in school, a parent can cook and have dinner at the family table, or a grandparent can save their money for necessary medications.
Below are the 8 best tips to make your fundraiser emotionally moving and as successful as you could ever hope for.
1. Tell Your Story
Use one of the email templates in our toolkit to help with your outreach. You can personalize these by including a short, personal note. It’s helpful to share a personal story about why you want to help fight hunger and why you’re choosing to fundraise for Feeding Westchester.
2. Share Your “Why”
Numbers may show the whole picture, but it’s helpful to hone in on exactly who you are doing this fundraiser for — our neighbors in need, who look just like us, and live in our neighborhood, attend school with our kids or siblings. Tell your family, friends, and colleagues WHY you support hunger relief here in Westchester.
3. Enlist Your Network
Who are you reaching out to and how? Try social media, email, word of mouth, calls, or whatever you think would inspire those you know to give.
4. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask
Most people are happy to donate to a good cause and support your fundraising campaign. Don’t shy away from asking your friends and family to support you. It’s for a great cause!
5. Send Reminders
People forget. Reminder emails can be more successful than the initial email. We recommend sending periodic updates on your fundraiser’s progress.
6. Express Gratitude
Those who donate will receive a thank you email on behalf of Feeding Westchester. It’s also nice to receive a personal note about the importance of a donation. Let those who have donated know what their support and encouragement mean to you.
7. Encourage Company Matching
Some companies offer to “match” their employees’ donations. Remind your donors and potential donors to check with their companies, as a matched gift doubles their donation. Someone can also check if their company matches right in the online donation checkout!
8. Plan Your Timeline
Emphasizing the end date encourages people to act now. The sweet spot for a fundraiser is usually four to six weeks, however, you can also pick a date based on a special event, holiday, or another memorable date. Don’t forget to put this date in your emails, posts, and other promotion.
3 Professional Marketing Recommendations for Food Bank Fundraisers
With social media and email being widely available, anyone can be a professional marketer. Here’s some super helpful marketing tips for all the nonprofit fundraisers out there.
1. Share, Share, Share!
Social media is one of the best ways to stay in touch with your network of family, friends, and colleagues. Share, hashtag #FeedingWestchester, go live, make a Facebook event linking back to your online fundraiser page to make sure your fundraiser can’t be missed. Use all the features social media offers to make sure your fundraiser can’t be missed.
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2. Flyers
Make flyers and hang them up around town, with a QR code or URL leading back to your donation page with the details. With permission, post them on bulletin boards around town, in your place of worship, at work or school, at community centers, etc.
3. Word of mouth
Show your excitement and talk about your fundraiser the old-fashioned way. You never know when you’ll encounter someone who shares your passion for alleviating hunger.
How to Elevate a Birthday Fundraiser or Special Event Fundraiser
Looking to host a fundraiser on your birthday? Or do you want to curate a special event to raise awareness? Here’s a few pointers on how to elevate your fundraising strategy!
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- Put the link to donate in the invites, or paste a scannable QR code on invites to guide people to the donate page
- Ask for donations to Feeding Westchester lieu of gifts!
- Print the QR code to be at place settings (napkins, menu, place cards, etc) or put a tablet with the fundraiser page open at the entry table
- Make a thermometer or other visual at entry to show how close to goal you are
- Include an announcement from the DJ “one day left” or “$300 left to reach goal”
- If you have a big screen at the event, create a slide show for the project and how many meals you’ve provided so far with a reminder to donate
- Raise a “toast” to however many meals that have already been raised, as a thank you to those who donated and a reminder there are still a few days left to get to the your goal! You can include what this fundraiser means to you, and some of the statistics about our work
Do you want to make a change in your community and help your neighbors eat? Start a fundraiser for Feeding Westchester today!
