How to Create a PTA Fundraiser Online and Crush Your Goal

Part of leading your PTA is raising the funds necessary to make a difference in your unit. Unfortunately, orchestrating a computer drive to give your school a tech upgrade, a jump-a-thon to save at-risk student programs, or any other type of fundraiser can feel like a full-time undertaking. Lucky for you, memberplanet makes it easy. And if you need proof that launching an online fundraiser really makes a difference, check out how Wittmann Elementary School increased its membership funds by 75 percent. Here’s how to set up a donation campaign on memberplanet, which will get your PTA a couple steps closer to crushing your fundraising goal.

Create a fundraiser for your PTA

1. Hover over Donation Sites on the left navigation sidebar and click Create Donation Site in the submenu
2. Choose to raise funds for your own group on memberplanet
3. Select one of the following choices:

• Use a Template -- Select a template from various categories
  • Click on the row of the + sign to expand the category. A preview will appear to the right of your selection.
  • Once you have found the template you want to use, click the Use This Template button
• Copy a Campaign -- Make a copy of an existing campaign you wish to use
• Blank Campaign -- Start from scratch to completely build your campaign
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Note: The main difference between using a template and a blank campaign is that a template will have the site already formatted and designed with filler text. 

​4. Finish creating a campaign by filling in the required information: Campaign Title, Category, Why Are You Fundraising?, Campaign Goal, End Date, and Default Donation.

Pro Tips: In this section, you can add videos and giving levels to your Donation site. Although it’s optional, adding a video is an effective way to convey your unit’s mission or cause. Giving levels can be used to help convey what a specific amount of funds will be used for and give an idea of how much donors can contribute.  Use both to optimize the impact you have on those contributing.

5. Click Save & Continue

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Customize the look of your donation campaign

These next steps allow PTA admins to customize their Donation Sites. Use a memorable custom URL, choose specific colors, and upload a banner -- key identifiers for brand recognition and consistency. You can also upload a photo album that you’ve created on the platform; images are a great way to strengthen the connection between your cause and your donors. For example, including pictures of who will benefit from the funds raised or showing how the funds will be put to use is an effective way to convey your donors’ impact. You can go all out in customizing your fundraiser, or you can breeze through this section and hit Save & Publish Now.
 
To customize, hover over any of the page sections and click the Edit icon that appears on the top right of the section.

You can always come back and make changes to this page if you decide to navigate away from it.
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1. On the left navigation sidebar, hover over Donation Sites and select Manage Donation Sites in the submenu
2. Select the campaign you wish to customize
3. Click the Edit button on the top right
4. Update desired information on the campaign page and hit Save & Continue
5. Make desired changes to color palette, add photo albums, videos, and choose to hide or display the donor ticker and other elements before selecting Save & Close

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Get the word out

As soon as you publish your Donation Site, your campaign page link will be provided, and you can share your campaign to social media directly from the platform, mobile app, or the page itself. We recommend sharing your fundraiser on as many channels as possible – through email, your website, text message and more.

Use our built-in URL shortener if you’re on a character limit, or customize the full URL.
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To customize the URL or get the short URL, click on the campaign you want to manage. Select the Copy or Customize the Campaign Page URL feature.

​Click Customize or Copy to Clipboard for the URL you desire.

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Mobilize your PTA supporters – create Supporter Pages

What’s a Supporter Page, you ask? It’s an individual’s fundraising page created in support of your PTA’s donation campaign. Supporter Pages are more effective in helping you reach your fundraising goal for these reasons:

1. Supporters (you, your unit members, and anyone else) can promote the fundraiser with an individual goal
2. Your supporters can emphasize their connection to the fundraiser, which is more appealing to donors
3. Funds go straight to your PTA’s bank account, and your supporters don’t have to deal with collecting cash or check donations

All you have to do is keep Supporter Pages enabled (they are by default), and ask your PTA members to create one when you share the link to your fundraiser.
Here’s how your PTA members (or anyone, really) can create a Supporter Page:

     1. From your Donation Site, click Support this Campaign

     2.  Users will be prompted to log in to memberplanet or create an account if they don’t have one
    3.  After logging in or creating an account, a new browser window will appear in which supporters can set their own goal and add their own reason why they’re supporting the campaign

​Pro Tips: Setting an individual goal on a Supporter Page is a great way to make it more achievable. The PTA’s Donation Site might list the overall fundraising goal – say $5000 for example – which could seem overwhelming. Encourage your PTA supporters to set their own realistic goals for themselves, and when they share their supporter page, the goal will be more attainable to themselves and donors.
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Personalize the page by adding the reason you’re supporting the campaign and include your profile picture if you feel comfortable. This page is meant to be shared to your social network, so including your own story and connection to the cause will give your friends more of a personal reason to donate.

    4. When finished, click Publish
   5. The Supporter Page URL will be provided, and you can share it to social media directly from the platform, mobile app, or the page itself

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If you haven’t already, set up a bank account to receive funds. Our platform features were created to help you build a great campaign and maximize PTA donations – without creating a ton of paper work in the process. Follow these steps to set yourself on a clear path to crushing your fundraising goal. 

Start Fundraising

PTA Simplified is a series of tips for PTA and PTO leaders to get the most out of managing their volunteer members and growing their membership all year long. 

Originally published: 8/10/2017

About Greg Beilstein

As the Director of Onboarding and Engagement, Greg loves helping groups get started on the platform. A memberplanet system pro, he works with admin leaders to better engage their members. In his free time he likes to play video games and brew the perfect cup of coffee. ​