Raise More for Your Nonprofit Summer Camp: 3 Tech-Savvy Tips
Raise More for Your Nonprofit Summer Camp: 3 Tech-Savvy Tips
Summer camps are a memorable experience for everyone involved. It’s where you make meaningful friendships, develop important skills, and most importantly have fun. However, outside of these exciting summer months, your nonprofit has to focus on raising funds to hire new staff, maintain campgrounds, and provide scholarships to children who may not be able to afford camp.
Fortunately, with the right technology and virtual fundraising ideas, you can inspire meaningful support with ease. Whether you already have an established online donation page or you’re just getting started with online fundraising, this guide covers three tech-driven strategies to help maximize your efforts, including:
Launch a Social Media Fundraising Campaign
Host a Virtual Fundraising Event
Apply for a Google Ad Grant
Ready to raise more for your nonprofit summer camp? Let’s get started!
1. Launch a Social Media Fundraising Campaign
Social media presents an important opportunity to grow your online visibility and engage with your community. In fact, according to fundraising statistics from 360 MatchPro, 97% of nonprofits use social media on a regular basis to engage their supporters. So, if you want to get the word out about your summer camp, this is a cheap and effective place to do it.
Follow these tips to drive donations and make an impact on social media
Decide on the right platforms. Certain social media channels will appeal to the demographics and preferences of your camp community. For instance, you could use Tiktok to post short promotional videos that build anticipation among campers, while leveraging Facebook to engage with parents and share important updates. Where available, you should also integrate in-app donation features to reach your fundraising goals.
Tell compelling stories. Capture the faces and experiences of your organization by recording videos, taking photographs, and collecting testimonials during the summer months. Then, bring the camp experience directly to your followers. Just remember to ask for parents' permission before posting photos of their children!
Promote peer-to-peer fundraising. Include campaign information, such as your fundraising goal and a link to your donation page, in each social media post. Then, ask your audience to share the post with their own networks. This will create buzz about your summer camp and hopefully spark a chain of peer-to-peer donations.
Include calls to action in your fundraising letters and other marketing materials to encourage readers to follow your social media pages and stay up-to-date with the latest camp news!
2. Host a Virtual Fundraising Event
Hosting a fundraising event helps not only to drive donations but to boost morale and bring your camp community together as well. Virtual fundraising events, in particular, are effective because they offer a high level of flexibility for everyone involved. Donors can participate from anywhere, meaning your nonprofit can engage a larger audience with fewer additional costs.
Here are some family-friendly virtual fundraising events that can raise meaningful support for your summer camp:
Virtual auctions. According to Snowball’s guide to virtual auctions, these types of charity events can generate a lot of revenue when done correctly and are great for engaging participants. All you have to do is gather items (such as sporting event tickets, branded merchandise, gift baskets, and paddle board lessons) and set up an online catalog to get your followers excited. Then, your auctioneer will rattle off the items using live-streaming software while attendees bid in real-time. In the end, your donors can receive something tangible in return for their charitable donations.
Virtual walk-a-thon. In a walk-a-thon, participants commit to a number of miles that they will walk during a given timeframe and collect donations from their families and friends as a form of sponsorship. The challenge could be 5 miles in a day or 30 miles throughout the month. You’ll then be responsible for choosing an online platform to collect registration fees and online donations as well as motivating participants to raise money on behalf of your camp!
Online giving day. This event focuses on raising money or in-kind donations during a 24-hour window of time. Set a challenging but attainable goal and encourage your community to help you achieve it. For instance, If your organization is in need of supplies such as flashlights and first aid kits, look into creating a wishlist on Amazon. On the day of the event, supporters can flood your wishlist and order items to help your mission.
After your virtual fundraising event, reach out to everyone who participated to thank them for their support. Then, as you put their gifts to good use, share the impact that their contributions have on your camp. For instance, were you able to use the donations to build a new cabin or provide 50 much-needed first aid kits to your nursing staff? Relaying this information can inspire them to give again.
3. Apply for a Google Ad Grant
If your organization already has a strong web presence, you’re in a good position to qualify for the Google Ad Grant. With $10,000 in paid advertising per month, this is one of the most cost-effective and powerful marketing resources available to your nonprofit summer camp.
Here’s how it works: With a Google Ad Grants account, you create ads to show on Google. Then, as people search for topics related to your mission, your organization appears at the top of the search engine results page (SERP).
That means, when a user searches for “summer camps near me,” your organization has a greater chance of attracting new campers, recruiting volunteers, and reaching your fundraising goals.
Plus, it doesn’t take much to be eligible for the monthly ad spend. To be considered for the grant, your organization has to meet these basic requirements:
Hold a current and valid nonprofit status (501(c)(3))
Have a functional and secure website
Be able to meet the terms of service
Beyond that, it's simply a matter of persuading Google of your summer camp’s importance. There's a short essay as the last step of the application where you explain your impact and express your need for the grant. Once Google agrees to support your mission, you can effectively expand your reach and connect with more campers!
The right tools and technology can help you raise more so that you focus on what matters most: providing an unforgettable experience for your campers. Just remember to begin each fundraising strategy with realistic goals that align with your camp’s size and past campaigns. Setting these goals will help you stay on track and improve your approach for years to come.
Guest Author: John Killoran
John Killoran is an inventor, entrepreneur, and the Chairman of Clover Leaf Solutions, a national lab services company. He currently leads Clover Leaf’s investment in Snowball Fundraising, an online fundraising platform for nonprofit organizations.
Snowball was one of John’s first public innovations; it’s a fundraising platform that offers text-to-give, online giving, events, and peer-to-peer fundraising tools for nonprofits. By making giving simple, Snowball increases the donations that these organizations can raise online. The Snowball effect is real! John founded Snowball in 2011. Now, it serves over 7,000 nonprofits and is the #1 nonprofit fundraising platform.
